FLASHBACK – Dec. 15, 2011

AGO rejects request to sanction Bellas[/B]

The Attorney General’s Office has no authority to take disciplinary action against Superior Court Judge Timothy H. Bellas for alleged improper judicial conduct as this is the sole responsibility of the Legislature, according to acting Attorney General Maya B. Kara. It is only through impeachment that Bellas can be removed, suspended or sanctioned due to allegations of improprieties, conflicting duties, extra-judicial and political activities leveled by his arch-critic, Rep.-elect Stanley T. Torres. AGO recommended pursuing this matter with the Legislature “so that [it] may determine if the conduct of Judge Bellas which you believe is either illegal or inappropriate merits disciplinary proceedings through impeachment process,” said Kara in a letter to Torres.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has disapproved a bill designating a six-hectare site in Marpi for the new public cemetery on Saipan due to unavailability as well as inappropriateness of the identified lots. He said the measure should address other concerns, such as which lead agency to oversee operations of the proposed cemetery, before the Legislature can pass similar legislation in the future. Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, proponent of House Bill 11-413, expressed disappointment over the governor’s veto, but asked support of lawmakers for a new proposal correcting “minor technical provisions.”

Senate, House try to reach budget deal[/B]

Senate and House conferees began yesterday what they expect as “marathon meetings” to hammer out a budget pact acceptable to both chambers by early next year. They emerged “positive” and “optimistic” at the end of the first day of talks held at the Senate conference room in Capitol Hill hoping to reach later on a compromise on the FY 2001 spending package. House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Antonio M. Camacho and Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Edward U. Maratita are leading six lawmakers tasked to come up with a deal in the negotiating table.

Settlement discussions are expected to transpire today between the Public School System and Guerrero Brothers Inc. following efforts by the State Board of Education and legislators to fast-track the six-year-old Tinian High School project. BOE members and the Tinian Legislative Delegation will facilitate the negotiations on Tinian today in another attempt to seek an end to the long-standing dispute between PSS and GBI. BOE Vice Chair Roman C. Benavente said the campus project’s delay has already caused enough strain among parties involved, as well as to the community in general. “It is conflicting everyone—the students, legislators, educators…We want to settle it once and for all so that we can resume with the campus construction and expedite other PSS projects,” said Mr. Benavente.

Heinz reintroduces Film Office measure[/B]

Conceding to the House’s role in allowing passage of a revenue-generating measure that was “legally unsound,” Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider introduced a similar measure to repeal and reenact the public law that established the NMI Film Office. Public Law 13-29, which originated from the Senate, has provisions that set fines and fees which the lower House has sole domain over. “The House and the Senate are equally at fault [on this]. So I am introducing legislation that would repeal and reenact Public Law 13-29 in it entirety, with minor changes,” Hofschneider said on the floor, during a regular session Friday.

The Commonwealth’s hotel industry is beginning to reclaim its position as one of the major contributors to the government’s nearly emptied coffers, indicated by an increasing trend in hotel occupancy tax collection since the first quarter of the fiscal year 2002. A report released by the Central Statistics Division of the commerce department revealed a 3-percent increase in hotel occupancy tax collection during the third quarter of FY2002, from $1.33 million in the second quarter to $1.37 million. Hotel occupancy tax collection has been on a steady growth since the October-December 2001 period, climbing by 2.3 percent–$1.30 million-to $1.33 million in the succeeding comparable three-month period.