SNILD chair: Transcription not an easy task

Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation chair Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) said transcribing all audio recordings of their sessions is not an easy task and takes a lot of time.

The Precinct 2 lawmaker is clarifying the issue after no journals were adopted in last Tuesday’s SNILD session as all audio recording were not yet transcribed.

Sablan said he had already asked Legislative Bureau acting director Antonette Villagomez to assess the situation. “Transcription is not an easy job that’s why I asked the acting director to look into it.”

“We want to know if the staff is overwhelmed by the job since transcription is the clerk’s job. The House clerk has its own staff and so is the Senate but for the three [Legislative] delegations [Saipan, Tinian, and Rota] there’s only one, Alice Deleon Guerrero.”

He said that he had instructed Villagomez to make a study if there’s a need to hire more employees, just specifically focusing on journals. “She told me that she would prioritize the issue and start looking into the best possible way the audio recordings would be transcribed. She would look into all avenues available on how to quickly finish all transcriptions.”

Sablan said there’s also available technology that automatically transcribes audio recordings as suggested by Sen. Justo Quitugua (Ind-Saipan). “These are some of the things that I asked [Villagomez] to look into. Either we hire additional staff or have a private firm do the job.”

“And if possible, the Legislature can appropriate funds for this. The journals are important and it is a constitutional mandate. We must make sure all audio recordings are transcribed and put in our archives for future use.”

He added that it is not only the SNILD that is experiencing the problem and even mentioned the House where 18 journals of all digital audio recordings were adopted in yesterday’s sine die session.

“That’s why during the SNILD’s sine die session, [Floor Leader Angel Demapan] made a motion to adopt and accept all audio recordings. Part of the motion is to allow the Legislative Bureau staff to continue with the transcription,” said Sablan.

Drafting legislation and writing committee reports, resolutions, and other House communications are some of the Legislative Bureau’s duties aside from the transcription of all audio recordings.