Senators urge passage of casino bill to fund commission

Senators urged the House of Representatives on Tuesday to act promptly on a bill that would amend the Saipan casino law, saying it is critical to the operations of the Commonwealth Casino Commission.

Senate President Victor Hocog (Ind-Rota) expressed hope during a session on Tuesday that the House would consider House Bill 19-95 on Friday during their session on Rota. He said the bill’s funding provisions is critical to the commission’s operations.

“We need to see House action on our action today,” he said, adding that the bill the Senate passed took into consideration the many concerns of CNMI Attorney General Edward Manibusan and incorporated it into the revised bill.

The controversial bill originally passed the Senate last Thursday but, after hearing the CNMI attorney general’s concerns over provisions relating to confidentiality and public inspection of casino regulator records, among others, the Senate recalled and then passed a new version of the bill.

Senate floor leader Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan), who had moved for the recall of the casino bill and then its passage on Tuesday, said it was the prerogative of the Senate to reassess its action upon further review of the bill, which they had passed the week prior.

He said “problematic language” that the members did not fully grasp necessitated the recall in view of the attorney general’s recommendations, which were sent as a comment letter to the Senate a day after they had passed the bill on Friday.

Palacios said the bill includes some of those recommendations to clarify certain provisions that were pointed out as either ambiguous or problematic.

“I believe the full intent of the legislation and the full intent of the Senate is to be transparent in the actions of the commission,” Palacios said. “…[The bill] also authorizes [full time equivalents] for the commission’s personnel to do its work.

“There were other issues, of course, that kind of took on a controversial texture overall to a certain extent in the public view’s, but I believe the new version…does address a lot of these concerns” and will “clarify the actions that we are going to be taking.

“I hope that overall controversies and back and forth communications between the Legislature and the attorney general and the commission are put to rest, and allow the commission to move forward in a transparent, effective manner that eventually will earn the public trust that it should have,” Palacios said.

Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan) said the CNMI is dealing with a $3 billion to $7 billion industry, and the bill was a “good product that will respond to the casino industry” and “the need of the casino commission to do their job to regulate and help the industry move forward.”