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Camacho prefiles bill to repeal 1-week old Retirement Fund law
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Posted on Sep 14 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan) pre-filed a bill that seeks to repeal a Retirement Fund law only a week after it was enacted, although the repeal is likely to face opposition.
Camacho will formally introduce during today’s session House Bill 17-220 or the “Repealer of the Beneficiary Derivative Lawsuit Act of 2011.”
Only Camacho and four other House members voted “no” on the original Senate bill that Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos signed on Labor Day when he was acting governor.
The one-week old law would allow beneficiaries of the NMI Retirement Fund to sue on behalf of the pension program if the board refuses to bring such legal action.
Inos separately said yesterday that he doesn’t want to be pitted against Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, who earlier told reporters that he’s not happy with the signing of the bill.
“It is law and we’ll just have to follow the law. There are remedies, of course,” he said.
He said he met with the bill’s supporters and opponents before acting on the legislation.
Inos said the law gives retirees the opportunity to “speak up when they feel that they have been harmed in any manner, shape or form.”
In signing the bill on Sept. 5, Inos said the measure as passed places sufficient safeguards to address the concerns of the bill’s opponents. He had said contrary to the Fund’s position, the numbers of litigations and cost of doing business is unlikely to rise as a result of this measure,” Inos told the presiding officers of the Legislature.
Camacho said the new law, Public Law 17-51, adversely affects the ability of the Fund to fulfill its statutory mandate.
He said the law expands the liability risk for any person or entity dealing with the Fund “to such an extend that service providers that were under contract prior to the enactment of Public Law 17-51 are terminating their agreements with the Fund.”
