Senate Legislative Initiative 16-10, which was earlier unanimously passed by senators, will return to the Senate because the House made several amendments to the proposal.
A legislative initiative needs to be passed by at least three-fourths of the members of each house of the Legislature present and voting.
Fifteen of the 20 House members were present yesterday.
House Floor Leader Joseph N. Camacho, R-Saipan, Rep. Tina Sablan, Ind.-Saipan, and Rep. Edward T. Salas voted against the initiative.
Five were absent — Reps. Ralph DLG. Torres, R-Saipan, Rosemond B. Santos, R-Saipan, Joseph C. Reyes, R-Saipan, Victor Hocog, Ind.-Rota, and Justo S. Quitugua, D-Saipan.
If passed by lawmakers, the legislative initiative does not require the governor’s approval but it has to be ratified by voters.
Mounting debts
Camacho said he has serious problems with the way the initiative was written.
He said the Constitution mandates that only one question should be raised in an initiative to avoid confusing voters.
He added that a public debt is not the solution to help the Retirement Fund.
“I have serious problems with the way the initiative was written. The Constitution prohibits us from posing two questions in the same initiative because it confuses the voters. You may like part A but you may not like part B and vice versa. ‘Do you want to reduce the government workforce?’ ‘Do you want to borrow money?’ [These are two separate questions],” he told the Variety.
“It’s like this, if you have a car loan and you’re behind with your payments, do you get a second loan to catch up? Now, you have two loans to pay. We’re digging ourselves into a deeper hole,” he added.
House legal counsel Joe Taijeron sees the two issues covered by the legislative initiative related.
Sablan, for her part, said the initiative will be a “burden.”
“I don’t see how this initiative would help the Retirement Fund. I see this as burdening my generation and my [future] children’s generation,” she said.
Voters, she added, should be educated about the issue before lawmakers approve the initiative.
Practical solution
But Speaker Arnold I. Palacios, R-Saipan, said the initiative will not result in additional public debt.
It merely allows the government to float a bond, if it so chooses.
The Superior Court ruled on June 29 that the government owed the Retirement Fund more than $231 million, which included penalties.
The initiative also requires the CNMI government to gradually reduce its workforce every year until the total number reaches the equivalent of 60 percent of its available resources.
Rep. Heinz Hofschneider, R-Saipan, said the pension obligation makes sense because it will help the CNMI government address its obligations to the Retirement Fund.
Rep. Ray N. Yumul, R-Saipan, said the initiative will ensure that the government pays the Fund without tapping into the resources for critical services like public health, education and safety.
He said even if voters ratify the initiative, the issuance of pension obligation bond is still subject to the Legislature’s approval.
“We don’t want to have the public at large supporting the pension obligation bond and later on taxing them,” he said.
