House Bill 16-206 was introduced by Saipan Republicans Reps. Heinz S. Hofschneider and Stanley T. Torres.
During the session on Friday, Saipan Republican Reps. Rosemond B. Santos, Ed T. Salas and David M. Apatang were absent.
The 17 lawmakers who were present voted for an override after House legal counsel Jeffery Warfield Sr. said the administration’s interpretation that the CNMI Constitution does not allow land compensation payments to be taken from its operations funds is wrong.
Lawmakers said land compensation judgments usually include compounded interest when not immediately paid.
This causes the cash-strapped local government to be further buried in debt if the settlement money is not paid as soon as possible.
In his veto message to the Legislature, the governor said land compensation wasn’t explicitly mentioned as among the allowable expenses of DPL under Article XI § 5 of the Constitution.
DPL was created in 2006 to replace the Marianas Public Lands Authority.
DPL, which is headed by a department secretary appointed by the governor, gets its funding from public land leases.
