Senate overrides Fitial’s veto of 2 bills in 1 session

For the first time in at least the last few years, the Senate overrode two vetoed bills in just a single session. One of the vetoed bills—which authorizes the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to establish a student driver education program—automatically becomes law because the House overrode it on May 24.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial vetoed on May 13 Senate Bill 17-20, Senate Draft 1, House Substitute 1, House Draft 2, Senate Draft 2, saying that BMV “is neither ready nor equipped to establish a driver’s education program at this point.”

But House and Senate members, in overriding the governor’s veto, said families find it hard to come up with $350 to pay for a driver’s education program offered by a private business on Saipan.

The Senate bill, introduced by floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), automatically becomes law, but the administration needs to assign a public law number to it.

SB 17-20, SD1, HS1, HD2, SD2 passed by a vote of 7-0 with one abstention.

Sen. Luis Crisostimo (Ind-Saipan) said he abstained from voting on the override, saying he doesn’t think BMV has the resources to provide a driver’s education program. Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota) was absent.

Press secretary Angel Demapan, when asked for comment yesterday, said as Fitial had indicated in his veto message, “BMV lacks the resources it needs to establish a feasible program that will include training instructors, drafting an approved curriculum, acquiring vehicles, insuring them, and factoring in the cost of fuel for the driving instruction portion of the program.”

He said the bill also exposes the government to liability should accidents occur with a student driver.

“The administration had hoped that the legislature would have taken such concerns into consideration instead of going the route of an override. Addressing the governor’s concerns first and maybe introducing a more effective measure—as the Legislature did with the Marshals Service bill—would have probably been the better route to take. Rectifying discrepancies in the measure allows for the passage and enactment of a quality bill, rather than having to come back with numerous amendments down the line,” the press secretary said.

The second vetoed bill was Rep. Ray Palacios’ (Cov-Saipan) House Bill 17-165, House Substitute 1, which authorizes the governor to negotiate a settlement and resolution of judgments entered against the CNMI government.

The bill has yet to be overridden by the House.

The Senate initially failed to muster two-thirds vote to override the House bill when it only received five “yes” votes.” It needs at least six votes for a successful override.

Initially, Senate floor leader Jude Hofschneider (R-Tinian), Sen. Henry San Nicolas (Cov-Saipan), and Crisostimo voted “no” on the override.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) called for a short recess, and the senators held a closed-door meeting. When they emerged from the Senate president’s conference room, the senators reconsidered their vote and Hofschneider changed his vote from “no” to “yes.”

Hofschneider later told Saipan Tribune he misunderstood the bill and the voting. He said he supports the intent of the bill.

The press secretary, in commenting on the override, said the Fitial administration stands by its decision to veto the measure due to grave concerns on the matter of overstepping the legislature’s appropriations authority.

He said 1 CMC §7207 already allows for the Legislature to appropriate funds for matters such as the intent of the bill.

“All this legislation would do is open doors for claimants to circumvent that law and in effect, take hold of the legislature’s appropriations authority while impacting the General Fund by offsetting and crediting tax obligations,” Demapan said.

He added that the governor had informed the legislature that the language of the legislation is also of concern, “as it is broad and sets no definite boundaries for settlement negotiations, which may result in more harm to the general fund and other government agencies.”

“At this point, we hope that the members of the House will heed the concerns of the administration and not vote in favor of an override,” he said.