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Healthcare corp. board nominees may be confirmed without drug test results
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Posted on Oct 17 2011
For the first time, the Senate will try to confirm today board nominees without first receiving the results of the required drug test results.
This is solely because of the critical need to have members of the new Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. board of directors on board, which should have been done by Oct. 1.
Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) said yesterday that the Senate will vote to confirm the nominees today but only if it gets assurance from the Fitial administration that the governor will immediately remove a confirmed board member if his or her drug test result tests positive.
Sen. Frank Cruz’s (R-Tinian) Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations has recommended full Senate confirmation of the four nominees: Joaquin S. Torres and Roy T. Rios of Saipan, Anthony H. Aguon of Tinian, and Pedro Q. Dela Cruz of Rota.
One of the nominees, in an interview yesterday, said he does not have a problem with the Senate’s conditional confirmation. He said the laboratory told him that the drug test results won’t be received until after 10 to 15 days.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. should have been operating as a corporation with an advisory board since Oct. 1 but there was a delay in the governor’s submission of nominees to the Senate.
Each of the nominees will face serious challenges that include maintaining a budget of at least $22 million for the next two years, upgrading hospital facilities and equipment, and creating a health insurance exchange under Obama’s healthcare reform.
If confirmed, each of the nominees will serve a four-year term.
