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Palacios: Panel will not pursue certified question on casino bill
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Posted on Jul 05 2011
The chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation’s Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations said yesterday that the panel has decided not to pursue the submission of a certified question to court on the constitutionality of a local bill legalizing casino gambling on Saipan.
Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) said the committee is relying on a legal opinion from the House counsels stating that House Local Bill 17-44 is constitutional.
Palacios said it would be better for the bill to be acted on by the delegation first, and when there’s challenge to its constitutionality, then that’s the time the matter can be brought to court.
He and Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) said the bill may be acted on in the next delegation session.
Today’s delegation session may be cancelled. But even if it’s not cancelled, the agenda does not include the casino bill.
But delegation chair Rep. Ray Tebuteb (R-Saipan), in a separate interview, said if the JGO Committee has already made a decision, he would like to see this as part of the recommendation in a report on the bill.
He said he as an individual lawmaker would like to have the question on the constitutionality of the local bill addressed by the court at this stage, rather than wait for a later time.
Palacios’s JGO Committee and Rep. Ray Yumul’s (R-Saipan) Ways and Means Committee jointly held a series of public hearings on the bill, and received written and oral testimony on the bill.
The committees, along the office of Rep. Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan), are now working on the report.
