Hofschneider, R-Saipan, in an interview on Friday said he originally introduced his proposal as a legislative initiative early this year, but it’s still pending in the House of Representatives.
The popular initiative must be signed by at least 50 percent of the persons qualified to vote in the CNMI, and at least 25 percent of the persons qualified to vote in each senatorial district. It will be ratified if it gets at least two-thirds of the votes cast in two of the three senatorial districts.
There were 12,247 voters who registered this year.
“A lot of people have volunteered to collect signatures for the petition,” Hofschneider said. “This is not a hard decision to make if we want to see a reduction in the size of government.”
He said his proposal will result in the following reforms:
• A Senate with six members — two each from the three main islands.
• A House of Representatives based on three at-large districts — Saipan, Tinian and Rota — with a minimum of nine and a maximum of 17 members. Saipan will get up to 15 while the two other islands will have one member each.
• A provision allowing the lt. governor to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
• A reduction in the salary of lawmakers and new salary guidelines based on objective economic factors.
• A reduction in the budget ceiling for each lawmaker and a limit on the number of full-time employees a member may hire.
• A full-time Legislative Bureau that is independent and free from political coercion, harassment or meddling. Its director will be appointed by a joint special committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The committee will announce a vacancy for the director’s position and solicit applications through a position announcement.
The director will serve for the same term as the Legislature that appointed him.
Members of a part-time Legislature will be allowed to work in the private sector when not in session, subject to conflict of interest rules, and they will receive a reasonable per diem while in session.
Lawmakers cannot serve in any other CNMI government position, including independent boards, agencies, authorities or commissions.
The part-time Legislature will have two regular sessions each year. The sessions will last for not more than a total of 90 calendar days.
Each of the members will get an operations allocations of $75,000 per calendar year and they can hire only one full-time employee.
Currently, each lawmaker can get up to $155,000 a year.
Those who want to sign the petition or who want to volunteer in collecting signatures may call Hofschneider’s office at 664-8830 or fax 664-8831.
