HOUSE Local Bill 22-26, which would scrap Imperial Pacific International’s exclusive license to run a casino on Saipan, is unconstitutional, the Commonwealth Casino Commission said.
In his report to the commission on Thursday, Casino Commission Executive Director Andrew Yeom said in response to the commission’s request for a legal opinion, the Attorney General’s Office stated that “we cannot have a local bill trying to supersede a Commonwealth law, Public Law 21-38.”
P.L. 21-38 amended the Saipan casino law or P.L. 18-56 to clarify the powers of the casino commission.
H.L.B. 22-26, which House Floor Leader Ralph Yumul introduced in October, would allow five casino licenses on Saipan.
IPI holds the exclusive casino license on island, but according to the local bill, “The present situation, where the exclusive casino licensee has not been able to pay taxes and, most relevantly, cannot reliably pay the $15 million guaranteed license fee, demonstrates that it was imprudent for the Commonwealth to rely on just one industry and just one company. Tying the fate of the retirees’ pension to one single industry was risky — it was even more dangerous to tie the funding for the retirees’ pension to an exclusive licensee.”
To “better provide for the retirees and obtain the goal of increased stability and dependability,” H.L.B. 22-26 states: “We must move away from the current single licensee framework that is totally dependent on one business entity.”
But according to Yeom, because an exclusive casino license has already been established, the local bill would violate Article 1 Section 1, the Contract Clause of the Commonwealth Constitution.
H.L.B. 22-26 has been referred to the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Gaming Committee.
Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider earlier this month questioned the authority of the delegation to pass a casino gambling measure on Saipan.
He noted that Rota and Tinian established their own casino acts through local initiatives authorized by Article XXI of the CNMI Constitution.
P.L. 18-56, which was passed by both houses of the Legislature and signed into law by the governor, “was the vehicle that…authorize[d] an exclusive casino license in the third senatorial district,” Hofschneider said, referring to Saipan and the Northern Islands.
