OMB, AGO raise issues about new NMC apprenticeship law

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has signed a bill requiring Northern Marianas College to create a U.S.-registered apprenticeship program, even as the Office of Management and Budget and the Attorney General’s Office spotted a number of problems with the measure.

House Bill 15-27, authored by Vice Speaker Justo Quitugua, is now Public Law 15-5. The legislation directs the college to focus on technical trade programs and earmarks funds to the NMC apprenticeship program and to the Labor Department’s enforcement of the local worker preference law.

“I want to assure you that I fully support the legislation’s focus on the need to increase the training opportunities for qualified local residents,” Fitial said in a transmittal letter to the Legislature’s presiding officers.

He also sent the lawmakers copies of the comments made by the AGO and OMB on some drafting and other problems regarding the new law, especially in the context of the CNMI’s current financial problems.

Attorney General Matthew T. Gregory pointed out several unclear provisions in the legislation.

For his part, governor’s special assistant for management and budget Antonio Muna implied that the legislation may not be realistic at this time of financial crisis.

He noted that funds from nonresident workers fees, which are already earmarked for several programs including the NMC Business Development Center, had historically been suspended for government operations.

“In light of diminishing government revenue collection, it is not unlikely that this will continue to be the case; the apprenticeship program would exist in law and on paper, but there would be no funds to actually run the program,” Muna said.

He also noted that the creation of an entirely new educational program may not be doable at this time, given NMC’s already limited resources.

Furthermore, Muna noted that better educational opportunities in technical trades were only one step toward achieving the law’s objective of decreasing the CNMI’s reliance on foreign labor. He said the Legislature should also do something to make wages for these trades more attractive to potential local workers.

“Of the program successfully trains laborers who take their newfound expertise and leave in pursuit of better pay elsewhere, the CNMI will have to face the costs of a brain drain,” he added.

In addition, Muna said the Legislature should understand the supply and demand elements of technical trades.

“There will not be much success if the training is concentrated in only a few areas, which would have the effect of too many people simply chasing too few jobs. It is important that the supply for these trades not increase so much so that supply exceeds demand for services and wages become less competitive,” he said.