A peculiar provision over the right of entry by law enforcement officers in article XLX is the restriction imposed on premises within the casino establishment that is inaccessible to the public. That is, law enforcement officers are disallowed entry on non-public premises without warrant, notice or explanation. Entry is barred unless consent is secured from “any person having control over such area, or at the request of any person inspecting such area on behalf of the commission or as authorized by law (re. article X, section 1).”
When it comes to budgetary allocation, HB 17-56 overtly discriminates wholly against three (3) of four existing agencies of local government established pursuant to Article VI of the constitution. Of the four (4) agencies of local government established in the NMI Constitution — namely, the Saipan mayor’s office, the Northern Islands mayor’s office, the Saipan & Northern Islands Municipal Council and the Governor’s Council, only the Saipan mayor’s office is provided operational and programmatic funding and the Casino Commission, in addition to the new agency of local government, the Saipan Municipal Treasury Office. Not only is HB 17-56 discriminatory in allocating casino revenues only to the Saipan mayor and the municipally treasury, but also excludes the Saipan council from any direct or indirect appropriation, the Office of the Northern Islands Mayor and the Governor’s Council, a forum provided for in the constitution allowing the respective mayors and municipal councils to directly consult and work in concert with the governor on local municipal matters.
In addition, the budget process prescribed in HB 17-56 does not conform to standard operating budget process and procedure long practiced in Tinian with the allocation of Tinian casino revenues. Rota mirrors the budget process and procedure practiced in Tinian, whereby the respective municipal councils, acting as constitutional agencies of local government, must first receive and scrutinize the budget submitted by the mayor, the commission and the municipal treasury that was packaged by the treasury for council concurrence prior to transmission to the legislative delegation for its separate concurrence, notwithstanding the fact that the local delegation is not part of Article VI on agencies of local government, nor a creature of the constitution prescribed in Article VI.
Finally, the bill’s centerpiece, aside from its attempt at reviving the twice-rejected casino gaming for Saipan, is the prominence and overarching role of the profit-driven Northern Marianas Descent Investment Corporation (NMDIC), a holder of the only casino license for qualified NDMs.
Article III, section 2(a)-(h) establishes and defines the NMDIC organization and its organizational structure, characteristics, requirements, fees, and conditions for sale or assignability. The corporation and its board is also empowered to hold a leasehold interest to the public land designated and issued by the Department of Public Land or its successor agency for casino operation and activities. Upon corporate dissolution, the reversionary interests and all improvements on and to the designated public land would automatically convert to education center for academic learning and vocational training to benefit persons of NMD.
The NMDIC Board of Directors is also empowered to issue additional shares of common (valued at $500 a share) and preferred stocks (valued at $1 per share) to qualified NMDs, but limits the number of shares on and voting to common stockholders only. However, the yet-to-be-named and revealed incorporators of NMDIC are lawfully authorized and mandated in article III, section 2(a)(1) to “publicly announce the issuance of available stocks to persons of NMD in accordance with section 2” of the act. Absent the identity of NMDIC incorporators would appear to make the implementation of this provision self-executing and suspect at the same time! This is especially so when the initial incorporators appear to be the only authorized agent required to schedule a meeting with common stockholders (as preferred stockholders apparently do not qualify) to elect the directors, officers, and other offices as prescribed in the NMDIC bylaws.
Unlike foreign investors, who are required to front $1,000,000 in investor casino license fee on top of the $250,000 application fee, NMDIC only has to put up $100,000 in casino license fee and $150,000 in casino operator permit fee. Foreign investors are also required to build a Las Vegas five-star hotel and casino complex with a convention center valued at least $500,000,000. Yet, only NMDIC is allowed to enter into third-party agreements or franchises (totaling five agreements) with hotels and casino management and business operators, or in a design-build-operate-finance-manage a “first class hotel and casino” scheme. Both NMDIC and foreign investors, however, are allowed to execute a sale, lease, assignment, transfer of casino license, permit and others under certain conditions.
To be concluded
