House overrides veto of drug testing for elected officials

The House of Representatives overrode yesterday morning Gov. Eloy S. Inos’ recent veto of Rep. Christopher Leon Guerrero’s (Cov-Saipan) bill requiring mandatory drug testing for all elected officials.

But the Senate’s override vote is still needed for the vetoed bill to become law, the first under the Inos administration.

By a vote of 16-2, the House overrode the governor’s veto of House Bill 18-152, House Draft 2.

The two “no” votes came from Reps. Richard Seman (R-Saipan) and Mario Taitano (Ind-Saipan).

Two members were off-island: Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) and Rep. Ralph Yumul (Ind-Saipan).

Press secretary Angel Demapan, when sought for comment, said the governor, in vetoing the measure, “respectfully raised specific constitutional issues and serious concerns about the legality and practicality of the penalty set forth in the bill.”

“The intent of drug testing elected officials is commendable, but, the governor also has a duty to ensure that a bill is legally sufficient and practical before he affixes his signature in approval,” Demapan told Saipan Tribune.

Leon Guerrero said a mandatory drug test for all elected officials helps make these officials accountable to the people they serve. He said this also promotes transparency in government and will help dispel peoples’ bad perception about some elected officials.

“It doesn’t hurt for us to go through drug testing,” said Leon Guerrero, a former police officer with the Department of Public Safety. “The current law which is the random drug testing, I feel does not work because anybody can refuse it. With this mandatory testing, it’s a must, you have to take it.”

Seman, one of two who didn’t support the override, said he supports a drug-free community but cannot support a legislation that infringes on one’s privacy rights as guaranteed by the CNMI and U.S. Constitutions.

“When it comes to this particular legislation, I cannot ignore the fact that every individual’s right is more important than anything else pursuant to our Constitution…I cannot compromise those things,” he told Saipan Tribune.

He said he supports drug tests for people who are holding safety- and security-sensitive positions such as police officers and crane operators because of the nature of their job.

Seman said there are ways to make elected officials accountable without infringing on their individuals rights.

He said the House of Representatives, for example, can require drug testing under its House rules.

“There is a case law in the Supreme Court…I’m talking about a Louisiana case, where the governor wanted to pass those legislation and the Supreme Court knocked it down,” he said, adding that if the vetoed bill is successfully overridden by the Legislature, it could be challenged in court and that court challenge would likely be won because of the case law.

Some of those who voted “yes” to override the governor’s veto did so “with reservation.”

Among them is Rep. John Paul Sablan (Cov-Saipan), who said his reservation had to do with concerns that it may be unconstitutional.

The governor cited three reasons for vetoing the bill. First, requiring elected officials to submit to drug tests could constitute an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the CNMI and/or U.S. Constitutions, the governor said.

He said based on a U.S. Supreme Court precedent, a state law that requires drug testing of public officials must be based on individualized suspicion of wrongdoing unless the state has showed that there is a “special need” for “suspicion-less” testing. He said the bill does not support a special need to test elected officials in the CNMI.

Second, the governor said, requiring the results of drug tests to be made public may violate elected officials’ right to privacy, which is guaranteed in the CNMI Constitution.

Third, the governor said, HB 18-152 is vague and problematic. For example, the bill does not specify whether the elected official or the government is to pay for the drug test.

But Leon Guerrero said the governor himself earlier remarked that “funding” shouldn’t be a problem when it comes to mandatory drug testing. The governor, however, was referring to law enforcement personnel.