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Senate to hold 5 public hearings on Article 12 initiative
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Posted on Jun 23 2011
Public input will be solicited before the Senate acts on an initiative seeking to ask voters whether they want to continue or repeal Article 12 of the CNMI Constitution, which restricts land ownership to persons of Northern Marianas descent.
Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) has tasked the Committee on Resources, Economic Development and Program to conduct public hearings on Senate Legislative Initiative 17-10 in July.
Manglona, author of the initiative, said there will be three public hearings on Saipan, and one each on Rota and Tinian.
The Senate did not act on the initiative during yesterday’s session on Tinian.
“We would like to get public input about the initiative before we act on it,” Manglona said in a phone interview from Tinian.
SLI 17-10 needs at least seven votes to pass the Senate. It is not yet known whether the initiative will muster at least seven votes among nine members.
Once it passes the Senate, it also has to get at least three-fourths of the 21 members of the House.
After it clears the Legislature, it will then be presented to voters in the next election.
Section 805 of the Covenant allows the CNMI to revisit its land alienation restrictions 25 years after the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement in 1986. That 25-year period will end this year. This means next year, the CNMI can start deciding on whether to repeal or maintain the land alienation provision of the Constitution.
