Senate Bill 16-51 also known as the Attorney General Confirmation Act of 2009, was introduced by Senate President Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, and was passed last week by the Senate.
Rep. Tina Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, said she supports the bill.
“The courts were pretty clear about how the governor cannot circumvent the law and continually nominate and pull back the nomination — this issue is about the circumvention of the law,” she said in an interview on Friday.
Baka, the deputy AG, has been the acting AG since Matthew Gregory resigned in Sept. 2008.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said he did not nominate Baka because the acting AG declined the offer.
According to Sablan, “The main problem here is that the governor has not appointed an AG. He has an acting AG, the deputy AG, who succeeded to the position, and it has been seven months now. It’s just unconscionable. We have an impotent Attorney General’s Office. The legitimacy of the office is being questioned.”
According to the findings of S.B. 16-51, an acting AG may be necessary due to an unexpected situation but the government must be mindful that such appointee does not carry the same status as one that has been formally nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.
The bill mandates that an attorney who served as an acting AG should not be allowed to be nominated for the post within a two-year period unless the governor nominates him within 30 days after his designation.
The bill will also make it unlawful for anyone to act as interim AG for 90 days without Senate confirmation.
“Any contracts or purchase orders signed or timesheets certified by individuals acting in an appointed, acting, or interim capacity or in any way representing themselves as capable of wielding the expenditure authority of the attorney general who have not been confirmed by the Senate within 90 days of the date required for their submission to the Senate, shall be null and void,” the bill stated.
Reyes also wants the acting AG who has held the post for over 90 days to be personally liable for violating the law.
But Baka, in his letter to the Legislature, said there is no need to “re-invent the wheel” on how Senate-confirmed appointments should be handled.
He cited the federal law concerning vacancies and appointments codified as Title 5, United States, Sections 3345 to 3349d.
“The federal time limitation for service by any one person as an acting officer is generally 210 days, except longer when due to sickness or a pending Senate confirmation…or transitions between administrations,” Baka said.
The acting AG said the biggest flaw of the bill is the unspoken premise that the governor has “failed to nominate a qualified candidate as if there were some intention by the executive branch to circumvent the confirmation requirement.”
“To the contrary, the reason we have an acting AG is that no qualified individual has been identified who is willing to serve under the current circumstances. The government cannot force an unwilling individual to be nominated to serve as attorney general,” Baka said.
“However, unless we want an acting-attorney-general-of-the-month club, or the same for other acting department heads, the 30-day limit in that section should be changed to something more reasonable, such as the 210 days used by the federal government,” he added. (With Zaldy Dandan)
