FLASHBACK – July 22, 2011

CNMI included in Y2K legislation[/B]

The CNMI and other insular areas have been included in the scope of the Y2K legislation, a measure that seeks to protect small businesses and other entities from costly lawsuits that might arise from year 2000 computer failures. The Y2K measure was transmitted by the US Congress to President Clinton via e-mail. The President is expected to sign the bill next week through digital signature technology, making it the first legislation to be signed without the use of paper or ink. The early version of the legislation excluded the CNMI and other insular areas threatening to leave them unprotected from the costly Y2K litigation. According to the Governor’s Office, the inclusion of the Northern Marianas in the bill was made upon representation by the CNMI’s Washington D.C. attorney Thomas Crowe.

Unable to commit higher spending limit for the Public School System, legislators yesterday turned a budget hearing on the agency into an opportunity to make demands and pitch improvement for schools in their respective precincts. PSS officials, however, pleaded for another $10 million on top of the $38.7 million set aside by the Tenorio administration under its proposed spending package for Fiscal Year 2000. Failure to infuse additional money would mean impact on the quality of education on the island and the delivery of services to thousands of children attending public schools, they told legislators during the day-long hearing.

Bank of Saipan report to be unveiled[/B]

Independent financial advisors and consultants tapped by court-appointed Bank of Saipan receiver Randall T. Fennell are reportedly ready to make a presentation on the bank’s current status and present possible options for its future. Fennell, in an ex parte motion filed before the Superior Court Friday, proposed to slate the presentations at the end of the month—first before the governor and his staff and then to the general public. The suggested schedule for the presentations were July 29 at 1:30pm, at the Office of the Governor and July 30 at 10am, at Courtroom 202A of the CNMI House of Justice in Susupe.

The Strategic Economic Development Council is urging the CNMI government to implement measures that would ensure the continued stay of the garment industry beyond 2004. These include a reduction in the value-added requirement under federal control and a plan to seek pre-clearance of apparel products in Saipan before actual shipment. In a letter to Gov. Juan N. Babauta, SEDC Chair Joseph F. Camacho said that, rather than focusing on the apparel manufacturers’ supposedly impending flight from the Commonwealth in 2004, much can be done to focus on ways to maintain the current revenue stream from the industry.

CHC autonomy proposal passes House[/B]

The House of Representatives sealed its approval Friday to legislation that proposes to make the Commonwealth’s lone public hospital self-sustaining, in a plan that involves reliance on the Commonwealth Health Center’s own cost recovery abilities. Among others, House Bill 13-86, authored by House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider, proposes the creation of a board of trustees that would transform CHC into a public corporation that would depend primarily on fees and charges to run its operations. The House Committee on Health and Welfare, in a report, endorsed the passage of HB 13-86, Committee Substitute 1, which was subsequently adopted by the full House during a session.

The government has identified a little over $1 million to cover the next couple of billings owed to the prison project contractor, Telesource CNMI Inc., acting Gov. Diego T. Benavente assured yesterday. For the rest of the funding shortfall, however, Benavente is counting on both houses of the Legislature to come to an agreement on the pending legislation that would finally complete the prison project. “I’m concerned about the letters that’s been going back and forth and, of course, our inability to pay on time. For the next month’s billing, we’ve been able to identify a little over a million dollars. But approval has been kind of slow coming from the OIA,” he said.