“We will either hold the House session on Thursday to act on the budget and the Saipan delegation will convene on Friday to pass the casino bill — or it may be the other way around,” Rep. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, said.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial submitted a $102 million budget which Torres said is supported by the House.
He said the leadership has also approved the report of the Saipan delegation Committee on Judicial and Governmental Operations recommending the passage of his House Local Bill 17-44, which will legalize casino gaming on island.
The committee chaired by Rep. Joseph M. Palacios, R-Saipan, said the measure is a commonwealth law that a senatorial district is allowed by the CNMI Constitution to enact.
The delegation’s enactment of local gambling law is constitutional, it added.
The committee acknowledged that its interpretation is contrary to the 1988 legal opinion issued by then-Attorney General Alex Castro, who is now a Supreme Court justice.
Castro’s opinion was in response to the Tinian lawmakers’ attempt to enact a local gambling law.
The committee said Castro was “unpersuasive” because his opinion pertained only to commonwealth-wide law, not commonwealth law which, the report added, also includes local law.
In a separate interview, Rep. Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, disclosed that there is an investor from South Korea waiting for the legalization of casino on Saipan.
This investor, the long-time casino proponent added, is willing to pay the CNMI government $25 million upfront to operate a casino in a Saipan hotel.
Variety also learned that one of the hotels here is also waiting for the local bill’s passage because its owners plan to open a casino.
Tenorio said the local bill that they will pass should require a $25 million upfront license fee to restore the government’s 80 working hours and prevent layoffs in the coming fiscal year.
The bill’s final draft requires a $200,000 license fee only, but Tenorio said this will not help the government’s cash flow problems.
Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan, agreed that there needs to be an upfront fee. “We have been telling government employees that if casino operation on Saipan starts realizing revenue, their working hours will be back to 80.”
However, he said, some members of the leadership find $25 million “too high.” Perhaps $5 million or $10 million fee will be enough, he added.
Tenorio said he knows there are people who are against casino on Saipan, but “this is not the time to be protesting against something that will generate revenue for the government.”
The Saipan delegation chairman, Rep. Ramon A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan, will be off-island but Palacios said they will act on the casino bill as soon as the chairman returns later this week.
