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Bills to transfer 2 DCCA offices, set up NMD institute
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Posted on Dec 01 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
Two separate bills pre-filed on Monday seek to transfer two offices under the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs to the Indigenous Affairs Office, and establish a Northern Marianas Descent Institute.
Rep. Ralph Demapan’s (Cov-Saipan) House Bill 7-244 transfers the responsibility for the administration and operation of the Historic Preservation Office and the Chamorro-Carolinian Language Policy Commission from DCCA to the Office of the Resident Executive for Indigenous Affairs.
In order to effectuate this, he said it is necessary to transfer the Office of the Resident Executive for Indigenous Affairs back to the Office of the Governor.
In his bill, Demapan said the transfer will “align the programs under an office constitutionally designated to oversee the very same programs and missions that is currently duplicative within [DCCA].”
It will also consolidate support functions where possible, and therefore reduce the cost to the government of maintaining these programs.
The transfer of offices within DCCA was among the recommendations of an independent desk audit on DCCA and the Department of Public Safety last year.
The Fitial administration had said that, instead of a mere issuance of an executive order, they would also like the transfers to be done through legislation.
The House session, however, was twice postponed Tuesday, so the bill was not formally introduced.
House vice speaker Felicidad Ogumoro (Cov-Saipan) also pre-filed HB 17-245, establishing a Northern Marianas Descent Institute, a non-profit public corporation for persons of Northern Marianas descent that will set up a school and job training program.
Funding for this will come from interest accrued on the proceeds of the Marianas Public Land Trust Fund that MPLT transfers to the general revenues for legislative appropriation to such non-profit corporation.
