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House defers action on lease term extension
The House of Representatives chose yesterday to defer action on a Senate bill that effectively extends the maximum lease term extension from 40 years to 55 years.
In their session on Tinian, the House opted to defer action on Senate President Arnold Palacios’ (R-Saipan) Senate Bill 20-35, a bill that amends the maximum initial lease term from 25 to 40 years.
“We didn’t act on the bill. It was a decision made by the leadership to go ahead and adopt the committee report; however, we would entertain the legislation…[on] Saipan so that we can allow more people to participate and provide comments on that issue,” said House Speaker Rafael S. Demapan (R-Saipan).
Demapan explained that the leadership in their pre-session meeting agreed to collectively adopt the House Natural Resources Committee report recommending S.B. 20-35’s passage. The committee is led by Rep. Alice Igitol (R-Saipan).
The committee last Friday voted to adopt S.B. 20-35 with a vote of 4-3 for its passage while a previous committee meeting’s vote resulted in a deadlock.
Demapan indicated that he has yet to look at the schedule for the next House session, which would most likely include action on S.B. 20-35.
