Senate OKs homestead permit protection bill

The Senate has passed a bill prohibiting the government from revoking homestead permits after three years if the area lacks basic infrastructure such as water, power, and sewerage systems.

House Bill 14-206 amends the existing law, which gives homesteaders only three years to develop and reside in the lot “without any consideration of the availability of electrical power, water or sewer services.” If the homesteader fails to build a home within the required period, the government can take back the lot.

The bill, authored by Rep. Janet Maratita, provides that the Marianas Public Lands Authority may revoke a permit if the homesteader has not fulfilled the requirements after three years, but “no permit may be revoked if public water, electrical power, and sewer services were not extended to the homestead lot within a reasonable time before the end of the three-year period.”

In a report, the House Committee on Natural Resources—which is also chaired by Maratita—said that homesteaders who are not provided these basic services end up bearing the additional costs of hauling and storing water and providing their own source of light such as generators, candles, and lanterns.

Additionally, they have to meet requirements set by the Division of Environmental Quality for constructing septic tanks and leaching fields.

“Costs associated with the construction…varies and is dependent on the percolation test results of the homestead lot. The committee therefore, finds it necessary to include sewer services as a service required to be made available to village homesteaders before the homesteader’s permit is considered for revocation,” the report said.

The current rules, it said, result in homesteaders being deprived of their livelihood as they are forced to construct and reside in their homesteads without electrical power, water, or sewer services or lose their homestead permits.

Meanwhile, the Senate passed three other bills during its session on Tinian Wednesday.

These included Senate Bill 14-42, which aims to establish an office of grants assistance program under the Office of Management and Budget; S.B. 14-61 limiting the use of certain public land in the First Senatorial District; and S.B. 14-27, which amends the Youth Affairs Act of 2001 to get rid of a possible conflict should the CNMI Council on Youth Affairs be mandated to assist the Special Assistant on Youth Affairs on the CNMI Youth program.

The council is mandated to function as an advisory to the Special Assistant, while the Office of Special Assistant is tasked to provide administrative, logistical, and other needed support to the Council.

“Therefore, requiring the council to assist the Special Assistant will contradict the Council’s established duty as advisory council,” it said.