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Budget bill on House agenda tomorrow
The House of Representatives is expected to discuss tomorrow, Tuesday, the Ways and Means Committee’s prefiled bill appropriating $137.73 million out of $170 million in estimated revenues for the CNMI government’s operations and activities for fiscal year 2015.
Acting House speaker Francisco S. Dela Cruz (Ind-Saipan) on Friday called for a special session on Tuesday at 1:30pm.
Second on the agenda under House bills is House Bill 18-201 (budget appropriation) that House and Ways Committee chair Antonio P. Sablan (Ind-Saipan) and five other members approved for placement on the House agenda.
First on the agenda is a bill prefiled by Rep. Christopher D. Leon Guerrero (Cov-Saipan) that seeks to establish the offense of abuse of authority/issuance of unlawful orders.
Another bill on the agenda is House Bill 18-202 that seeks to amend Public Law 18-33 to establish the exit of the U.S. Post Office as an official Customs point of entry.
According to Rep. John Paul P. Sablan (Cov-Saipan), author of H.B. 18-202, taxable goods and prohibited contraband are making their way into the CNMI via United States mail.
These items, Sablan said, are evading inspection by the Customs Division because Customs officers have limited authority to inspect mail when it arrives at the airport.
Sablan said when a package or letter is delivered to the U.S. Postal Service it remains under the custody of the U.S. Postal Service until it is delivered to the rightful addressee.
As such, he said, for Customs purposes, a package or letter entering the CNMI through the U.S. Postal Service does not officially enter the Commonwealth until it is out of U.S. Postal custody.
To address this issue, the lawmaker said the United States Post Office should be designated as an official entry point for U.S. mail matter.
Sablan’s bill is intended to give the Division of Customs the flexibility to inspect packages and mail at the Post Offices after they are released from the custody of the USPC.
The bill also seek to extend the Customs Service’s jurisdiction to all points of entry and exit within and between the islands of the CNMI and within 200 miles of the shoreline of any island of the Commonwealth.
