Flashback — March 2000-March 2003

Labor and business reform proposal endorsed in House[/B]

The House Commerce and Tourism has endorsed a comprehensive labor and business reform measure it said will rebuild the local economy, ease regulations on hiring of nonresident workers and provide opportunities for locals in the private sector. Offered by House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, the bill was taken up during a session Saturday, but the 18-member chamber agreed to defer action until after it has reviewed amendments made by the committee. In a report adopted at the brief House session, the committee chaired by Rep. Florencio T. DeLeon Guerrero described the legislation as one of “most important” introduced in the CNMI Legislature in many years.

The Department of Public Health spends $4.9 million every year for the care of 51 renal dialysis patients in the Commonwealth Health Center, or about 10 percent of DPH budget. However, this does not include the cost associated when patients are brought off-island for further treatment when complications get serious. Sixty-five percent of those under dialysis are diabetics. According to Dr. James Hofschneider, the financial burden of shouldering the cost of the treatment for people who undergo dialysis is placed under the responsibility of the government which is already suffering from the budgetary constraints.

Governors back highway funding[/B]

CNMI Gov. Juan N. Babauta has co-signed with 45 other governors a letter to the US House and Senate leadership asking that fiscal year 2003 funds for the federal aid highway program remain at the fiscal 2002 level. President Bush has proposed a 2003 budget with a 27 percent cut in highway spending. The February 25 letter, signed during the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington, calls highway construction spending “key to economic security” as well as an important factor in preventing job losses.

A unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Court on Friday issued a decision reversing an earlier US District Court order requiring the hotel to offer employment contracts to 38 former contract workers. “The hotel is extremely gratified by the Ninth Circuit’s ruling,” stated Douglas Hall, one of the hotel’s attorneys. “The fact that the court issued its decision less than three weeks after the case was argued shows that the National Labor Relations Board’s actions in this case were obviously improper.” The 38 employees at issue were nonresident workers whose contracts were not renewed in 1998, whether because they were replaced by local applicants under CNMI Law or as part of an economic reduction in force.
[B] Mar. 6, 2003

Accountancy bill makes it past Senate[/B]

The long-standing goal to offer accounting licensure exams in the Commonwealth is now closer to realization, following the Senate’s unanimous approval of the House bill intended for this purpose. Eight senators present during a session Tuesday threw their support behind House Bill 13-004-a piece of legislation that has been sitting in the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee for many months. Senate Vice President Jose M. Dela Cruz, the committee chairman, lobbied for the members’ support on the bill that, he said, could also stimulate the local economy. Bill author Rep. Oscar M. Babauta–who has advocated passage of the legislation for the last four years–was delighted over the Senate action.

Governor Juan N. Babauta expressed his support yesterday for the Northern Marianas College’ proposed Pacific Gateway program. Babauta said the project is actually part of his administration’s economic stimulus package that was submitted to the Legislature. “From our standpoint, we support that project and idea generally. In my package, I suggested a way in which the Legislature can put together funding from various projects, combining those money together to an amount that is close to what the president is looking for the purchase of a facility or financing,” Babauta told reporters yesterday.