$7M allocated for mold remediation, new AC at Judiciary

In a 19-1 vote, the House of Representatives passed Tuesday a measure that appropriates $7 million to the CNMI Judiciary to address mold and air-conditioning issues plaguing the Guma Hustisia.

In a swift first and final reading, the House of Representatives passed Rep. Angel A. Demapan’s (R-Saipan) House Bill 20-164, which appropriates $15 million obtained from the Saipan Casino Operator’s Business Gross Revenue Tax to several entities, including the CNMI Judiciary and Docomo Pacific.

According to House Governors Communication 20-195, $15 million from the CGRT is available for appropriation. Demapan said in an interview after the session, which started at 9:30am and ended well in the afternoon, that the funds were for only three months of CGRT. He disclosed that the remaining CGRT has yet to be audited.

As for the case of HB 20-164, the appropriation bill was passed expeditiously due to the several emergencies it funded.

“…From the $15 million, $7 million is intended for the Judiciary to fund the mold remediation and the removal and installation of their H-VAC system, which is basically replacing their entire air-conditioning unit,” Demapan said yesterday.

According to director of courts Sonia Camacho, the mold problem has been plaguing the Guma Hustisia for about 10 years. The building has been used as the Judiciary headquarters for about 22 years.

“We have made attempts in prior years to address [the mold problem], such as taking out carpeting. We’ve replaced lighting fixtures with UV-type lighting and we’ve also retro-fitted certain offices,” said Camacho in an interview. She added that the Judiciary has previously approached the Legislature to request for funding; however, competing interests due to the lack of funding in previous fiscal years hindered their efforts.

“Now that there is funding available, we hope that complete eradication [of mold] occurs,” she said, noting that it might be impossible because of the tropical climate of the CNMI.

“We have made attempts in the past to remediate the mold issues, but it just so happens that, with the air-conditioning failing us, the temperatures rose and what was previously [probably manageable] on a smaller scale, [became more difficult],” she added.

Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan), the sole member of the House who voted against the passage of the bill, called for “due diligence.”

“I personally would like more time to review this as I personally just got [the assessment] and I would like more time to ask a few questions,” he said, adding that the timeline of the whole project, though still an estimate, would take about a year.

“Given if it was appropriated today, the courts would not be open tomorrow. I am not asking for three months or six months, I am asking for time until our next session so we have time to look at [the assessment], analyze it, ask critical questions that we may have and we do not have right now,” he said. Propst earlier stated that he was not against the intent of the bill.

He said he was aware of the urgency of the issue, but he wishes to have community input on the matter as well. He stated that it would be ideal if a public hearing is held.

“I would definitely support it in our next session if we could have just a little bit more time,” he said.

Docomo appropriated $1.3 million

In a floor amendment, Demapan proposed that $1.3 million of the $15 million be appropriated to Docomo Pacific to address balances between the CNMI government and the private telecommunications company.

The $1.3 million would address the fees as stated in the memorandum of understanding between the CNMI and Docomo, dated March 10, 2016. According to floor leader Rep. Glenn Maratita (R-Rota), Docomo and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres agreed to include Tinian and Rota in connecting their fiber optic cable ATISA at a fee of $650,000 each per island.

This decision did not sit too well with Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan). According to him, Docomo threatened to cut the fiber optic cable connections to Rota and Tinian if not paid. He noted that during Docomo’s proposal to lay the fiber optic cable, Tinian and Rota weren’t initially included.

“As a government, it saw fit that our two islands be also included [in fiber optic cable connections]–but that came at a cost,” he said, adding that the additional payment was over $6 million.

“I’m thinking we are one commonwealth. Who is this private company to tell us that ‘if you do not pay us, we cannot include Rota and Tinian,’” said Dela Cruz.

He disagrees with appropriating money for a private entity but he was not in a position to oppose it at the time.

“Let us not make the same mistake with other companies that come in, or even Docomo for that matter, trying to do business in the Commonwealth and, at the same time, sticking it to the people that are giving them this opportunity to do business here,” he said, adding that he would not have supported the appropriation if it was a separate legislation by itself. However, since it is in the same bill as the appropriation to the Judiciary, he would support it, he added.

Demapan, in response, said they were in a position to decide whether or not to satisfy the obligation to Docomo.

“We could choose not to fund the commitment to Tinian and Rota for the fiber optic network. Docomo Pacific, at the time in 2016, also had a choice to decide whether to connect to Rota and Tinian because it was not part of the requirement; they could have easily connected to Saipan and that was it,” Demapan explained.

He said the government bound Docomo and the CNMI into a commitment to give Rota and Tinian connectivity.

“If we decide today that we do not want to satisfy this obligation—I believe [Maratita] has met with Docomo Pacific and has been informed—that Docomo Pacific is [fine] without us satisfying the obligation, but they would terminate the services and disconnect the fiber optic connection to Tinian and Rota,” he said.

Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan) later clarified that since this issue was addressed in H.B. 20-164, the House would request Gov. Ralph DLG Torres to veto future allocations to Docomo in other bills.

Future proofing

H.B. 20-164 was amended to include a provision that sets aside $3 million in a secure account “in the case of disasters,” as proposed by House Speaker Rafael Demapan (R-Saipan).

He also added a $700,000 appropriation for rebuilding the Sugar Dock pier.

“There was a preliminary assessment as to the total amount of the project,” he said. Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan) said in a previous interview that the Sugar Dock pier project would most likely be in the millions.

With $700,000 coming from the CGRT, the speaker noted that the remaining balance for the project would be derived from the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation funds.

The remaining $3 million is appropriated to land compensation of secondary roads and wetlands, as certified by the Office of the Attorney General.

All amendments were adopted yesterday in the House.

H.B. 20-164 now heads to the Senate for action.