HEEDING the advice of the Attorney General’s Office, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres last week vetoed House Bill 21-106, which proposes to include lawmakers on the Planning and Development Advisory Council.
Ralph DLG Torres
Authored by Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero, H.B. 21-106 states, “It would be appropriate to allow for one member from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to serve on the Advisory Council for Planning and Development to allow for the Legislature to be informed of progressing plans and remain updated until such plans are submitted to the Legislature for adoption.”
But in his veto message to Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, the governor said the attorney general “has advised that the inclusion of two members of the Legislature on the council raises constitutional concerns.”
He cited Article 2, Section 11 of the CNMI Constitution, which states: “A member of the legislature may not serve in any other Commonwealth government position including other elective office or an independent board, agency, authority or commission established by this Constitution or by Commonwealth law. A person, having been a member of the legislature, may not serve in any elective or appointive Commonwealth Government position created by statute during the term for which he or she was elected, for a period of one year following the expiration of the term during which the position was created.”
The governor also noted that although advisory, the council is an executive branch entity that reports to the governor and not the Legislature.
Created by Public Law 20-20, the advisory council within the Office of Planning and Development consists of the director of the Office of Planning and Development, the administrator of the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality, the secretaries of the Department of Public Works, the Department of Public Lands, the Department of Lands and Natural Resources, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs, and the Department of Finance, the zoning administrator, the executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., the managing director of the Marianas Visitors Authority, representatives of the mayors of Rota, Tinian, Saipan and the Northern Islands, the president of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce, the chair of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors, the chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the executive director of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, the chair of the Marianas Alliance of Non-Governmental Organizations, a representative from the Public School System and the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
