Fitial said the Legislature has no right to clip his executive powers or redefine emergencies contrary to the CNMI Constitution.
Any governor, he added, should not approach an eventual disaster “with a “wait and see” stance as the end result will be much more disastrous and costly to the people of the commonwealth.”
“Even assuming the Legislature is authorized to restrict emergencies, the governor’s authority to declare a state of emergency for events leading up to and including financial crises and financial hardships should not be restricted when such restriction may affect the health and welfare of the people of the commonwealth,” said the governor in his veto message to the Legislature.
Offered by House Floor Leader Joseph N. Camacho, R-Saipan, H.B. 16-108 seeks to prohibit any governor from declaring a government agency under a state of emergency unless the situation involves natural or manmade disasters using as basis definitions contained in the Commonwealth Disaster Relief Act of 1979.
The House of Representatives passed H.B. 16-108 on May 23. The Senate passed it with amendments on Sept. 18.
Subsequently, the House passed again the bill on Oct. 31 to include the Senate offered amendments.
“The Northern Marianas Constitution and commonwealth law provide ample remedies to address government financial crisis or hardship. Accordingly, the purpose of this legislation is to restrict the application of disaster emergencies by governors exercising their emergency powers by clarifying that a disaster emergency does not include government financial crisis or hardship,” the bill states.
The measure came about amid lawmakers’ fear that the governor may be abusing his executive powers to take control of autonomous agencies.
The Commonwealth Ports Authority, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the Public School System were all placed under a state of emergency one after another.
Of the three, only CUC remains under the governor’s control due to a state of emergency declaration.
Fitial said Article 3 of the CNMI Constitution allows the Legislature to “enact legislation to add other emergencies; it does not authorize the Legislature to take away, restrict, or redefine emergencies contrary to the NMI Constitution.”
“For example, in the case of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., if the governor cannot declare a state of emergency to avert an eventual loss of public utilities, the people of the commonwealth will undoubtedly suffer without power and water,” he said.
“I urge the Legislature to work together with the administration in finding solutions to the many crises that the commonwealth is facing, instead of restricting the governor’s power to avert or fix the disasters that are before us today,” he added.
