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House, Senate to act on Sept. 30 expiration of LB chief’s contract
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Posted on Sep 28 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
The House and Senate leaderships plan to meet this week to tackle the Sept. 30 expiration of Legislative Bureau director Glenna SP.-Reyes’ contract and to ensure that the Legislature has a “constitutionally appointed” bureau director.
House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) wrote a letter yesterday to Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota), requesting a meeting with the Senate leadership on the matter.
Cabrera said the contract pertaining to the LB director signed by former speaker Arnold Palacios and senator Frica Pangelinan expires on Sept. 30.
He said a timely meeting would be necessary to address the matter before the start of fiscal year 2012 on Oct. 1.
Cabrera, in a phone interview, said the Legislature has to follow the Constitution in appointing an LB director.
Article II Section 17(a) of the NMI Constitution holds that the LB shall be headed by a director “to be appointed by the joint leadership of the legislature consisting of the presiding officers, vice presiding officers, floor leaders, and the chairmen of the standing committees.”
Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan), when he was speaker last year, asked Reyes to vacate her office, citing her contract expired when no budget was passed on Oct. 1, 2010. The Senate blocked Tenorio’s request.
Tenorio said yesterday he is not privy to the latest matter involving Reyes’ contract.
Manglona, in a separate interview, acknowledged receipt of Cabrera’s letter.
“I will bring this up to the leadership and will meet with the speaker. Yes we will sit down with the House and talk about their concern,” the Senate president said.
As of yesterday, there’s no telling whether the House leadership plans to replace Reyes with a new director. Reyes declined to comment.
Some LB staffers said yesterday they would like the Senate president and House speaker to allow LB employees to be heard in considering whether they want to retain or replace Reyes, since her contract expires on Friday.
“All we want is to be heard. Can the leadership also ask us LB employees about our opinion?” one of them asked.
