Cohen: We respectfully oppose HB 18-195

David B. Cohen, a former deputy assistant secretary for Office of Insular Affairs under the U.S. Department of the Interior and now consultant for Marianas Star Entertainment, told the Rotary Club of Saipan during its weekly meeting yesterday at Hyatt Regency Saipan that they are opposed to House Bill 18-195.

The bill, authored by House floor leader Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), seeks to clear further ambiguities in the casino law.

Cohen

Cohen said the solution in restoring the public’s confidence in the process of picking a winner of the minimum $2-billion integrated casino resort is to not just “award one license, [but] award two.”

Cohen said that the reason they oppose HB 18-195 is that they object the “tactic of repealing and reenacting the Saipan casino law rather than simply amending it.”

“There is only one conceivable reason to use this tactic, to kill the anti-casino referenda, the referenda specifically targets Public Laws 18-38 and 18-43 for repeal,” Cohen said.

“If HB 18-195 were enacted, the referenda would be rendered moot because PL 18-38 and 18-43 would already be repealed,” he added.

Cohen told Rotary members that public laws would be replaced with an “almost identical law with a new number.”

“That new number would protect the casino law from the referenda, but it would not address the concerns of the thousands of voters who have signed petitions against this casino law, those voters are petitioning their government to change the policy, not the bill number,” Cohen said.

Cohen also told the Rotary that they disagree with HB 18-195’s attempt to close the door on judicial review.

The reason for the disagreement of closing those “doors” is that it would create suspicion that casino supporters are trying to shield “a flawed process” from accountability.

Another reason is that if casino were to come into action on Saipan, the community would need an “effective and independent watchdogs” to protect the community’s interests.

“It would be dangerous and unwise to shut out the judiciary, which is one of the most important watchdogs for the people,” Cohen said.

According to Cohen, there was supposed to be an independent casino commission in place with the governor and the mayors of Rota and Tinian all appointing members with all three legislative delegations involved in confirming the members.

“The selection process was designed to be broadly inclusive, involving both the CNMI government and the municipal governments, both the Executive and the Legislature,” Cohen said.

Cohen also said the casino commission was supposed to determine the criteria for awarding the casino license.

“Instead of being driven by the independent casino commission, the process has been implemented by the Executive branch only: The authority to establish selection criteria has been usurped by the governor and lieutenant governor and other important authorities for the casino commission have been usurped by the Lottery Commission,” Cohen said.

Cohen also said that the process “as actually implemented” lacks independence, formality, deliberation, broad participation, public input, transparency, and checks and balances that the Legislature properly intended.

He expressed the fact that the process has been “improperly transformed” and is completely controlled by one branch of the government and that HB 18-195 would approve that transformation.

“Why would this Legislature want to shut itself out of a process that will have such an impact on the future of the CNMI?” Cohen said.

Cohen also said that the powers of the Lottery Commission should be transferred to the independent casino commission.

He noted that the selection of the licensees should not be under the executive branch because they lack independence and minimum qualification standards.

Cohen’s reasons for a two casino license is that CNMI will get a total of $30 million per year from both rather than just $15 million from one.

“Each applicant will get half a loaf, but the CNMI will get twice the revenue for the retirees, for health care, for schools, for infrastructure, for everyone,” Cohen said.

Cohen noted the fact that in Macau, the economy soared when it introduced competition into its casino industry, and its gaming revenues surpassed those of the Las Vegas strip quickly.

“Competition also lowers the risk that the CNMI will be dominated by one big corporate behemoth that will inevitably become more powerful than the government,” Cohen said.

“Most importantly, a non-monopoly assures the integrity of the process, removing any suspicion that legislation was rushed, or designed, for any one bidder,” he added.

Cohen said that the rushing of the casino law is likely to get wrong, and is putting the very future of the CNMI at risk.

“Is it worth exposing future generations to that risk, just so we can speed up the retirement increases by a couple of months? I doubt that most retirees would want us to risk the future of their grandchildren by making monumental decisions in haste,” Cohen said.