Bill that creates exemption to marriage certificate requirement is now a law

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios has signed into laws a bill that creates an exemption of the requirement that a marriage certificate include the “places of residence” and a bill that will lower the interest rate of civil money judgements from 9% to 3%.

House Bill 23-10, House Draft 1, is now Public Law 23-03. House Bill 23-1 is now Public Law 23-1.

House Bill 23-10 was authored by Rep. John Paul P. Sablan (Ind-Saipan) and co-sponsored by several others. The House passed the bill, with amendments, last Feb. 3. The Senate passed the legislation without amendments last March 9.

House Bill 23-1 was authored by Rep. Marissa Renee Flores (Ind-Saipan). The House passed the bill without amendments last Feb. 3. The Senate passed the legislation, without amendments, last March 9.

With respect to House Bill 23-10, House Draft 1, Sablan stated in the legislation that Public Law 22-25 amended 8 CMC Section 1204 to remove the 10-day restriction to submit a marriage certificate by any religious and/or non-religious entity that was enacted into law on Nov. 3, 2022.

Sablan said the time limit was preventing otherwise valid marriage certificates from being filed with the CNMI Recorder.

John Paul Sablan and Marissa Renee Flores

The CNMI Recorder is authorized to file marriage certificates only if the certificates detail certain information, including “places of residence” for the bride and groom.

However, Sablan said, before the modernization of marriage certificates for governmental purposes, church certificates did not always include information regarding residences.

He said this was particularly true during the time when marriage was administered when the Northern Marianas islands were still under the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

Sablan said the inability of a person to file an otherwise valid marriage certificate can prevent a government agency from confirming the marital status of that person.

He underscored the need to create an exception to the requirement that a marriage certificate include “places of residence” if the certificate was executed at the time when the islands of the Northern Marianas were under governance of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and to make the amendment apply retroactively to allow such marriage certificates to be recognized by the CNMI government and filed at the Superior Court.

With respect to House Bill 23-1, the legislation amends the Commonwealth Code to lower the interest rate of civil money judgments from 9% to 3%.

Flores stated in the legislation that, pursuant to law, the respective CNMI judicial court is given the prerogative to grant money judgments, with each money judgment consistings of an interest rate of 9%.

However, the lawmaker said, many of their constituents, particularly those whom the judicial courts ruled against in regards to money judgments, find it problematic and extremely burdensome to compensate for the amount set forth by the court as well as its corresponding excessive amount of interest.

Flores said it is imperative to lower the interest rate from 9% to 3% to provide financial relief for individuals who are struggling to pay the money judgments without violating the integrity of the judgments and allow for them to efficiently continue their court-ordered obligation.