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Senate awaiting House confirmation of CTC appointees
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Posted on Sep 12 2005
The Senate is awaiting the House’s concurrence on the appointment of three members to the Commonwealth Telecommunications Commission.
Senate majority leader Paul Manglona said in a recent session that the House “is sitting” on the confirmation of CTC appointees Mike Fitzgerald for Tinian and Norman Tenorio for Saipan.
Last week, the Senate confirmed the appointment of Alvin King for Rota. His appointment papers are now with the House of Representatives.
“This is the only board that necessitates House approval but the House is not acting on it. The appointments are sitting at the House,” said Manglona.
He said the House’s timely concurrence is needed since Rota has not been represented on the CTC for about a year now. “I don’t think it’s reasonable that it continues to sit at the House,” he said.
Manglona said that he may just push for the amendment of the CTC law to repeal the provision that requires the approval of the House for CTC appointees.
“The law is written in such a way that it requires House concurrence. But the Constitution says this function belongs to the Senate. We better amend the law,” said Manglona.
The senator also noted that the delayed confirmation of CTC members does not affect quorums since the law allows members to sit on the commission until they are replaced or new members are confirmed and sworn in.
The regulatory body currently consists of three commissioners: Tenorio, Fitzgerald, and Josephine Mesta.
The commission oversees operations of telecommunication service providers in the CNMI.
