Must reduce size of legislature

The Issue: The bicameral legislative system is a luxury for these isles.

Our View: Must reduce it to a unicameral body with 10 lawmakers.

Recently, neighboring Guam reduced its membership from 21 lawmakers to 15. It did so successfully to cut cost and the needless exercise of strangling its growth and development with too many laws and regulations. Guam has a population of over 110,000 people.

The CNMI’s population is al little over 60,000 people. It boasts a 27 member bicameral legislative body, nine senators, and 18 representatives. That is quite a sizable number of lawmakers for a population far smaller than Guam’s.

Imagine the savings that would accrue to defray the cost of debts owed Honolulu hospitals where our people receive critical medical care. Imagine a savings of some $2.8 million annually that would be better spent on cuts made to on-island scholarship program. Imagine if our lawmakers can ably build up the resolve to partake in the actual cut of public sector expenditure by pushing for a unicameral system with 10 membership elected on an at-large basis. Imagine the accolades they’d receive for finally biting the bullet of accountability to make every penny count.

The CNMI would be spared of strangling laws and regulations that have piled up in our books over the years. There are too many laws, relics of the old TTG, useless and outdated at best, encouraging the build up of more strangling regulations than is necessary. For instance, has anyone really taken a critical review of our arcane tax laws to determine if businesses are paying more taxes than their share?

We have stated time and again that the CNMI must learn to live in both “good” and “bad” times. We’re right smack in the latter. This is just as appropriate a time to reduce the bicameral legislative system into a unicameral body.

The benefits are greater, including: The opportunity to weed out ill-equipped lawmakers, efficiency in disposing of legislative matters, a huge savings for basic needs such health and education; and the conquer of political maturation after 23 years. Someone should begin a legislative initiative to downsize the legislature. It’ll be a real test of whether we mean what we say and say what we mean about austerity. Si Yuus Maase`!