Lawmakers forego reapportionment plan; leave it up to Fitial

Lawmakers have only until May 4 to reapportion or redistrict the CNMI based on Attorney General Edward Buckingham’s legal opinion but as of yesterday no such promulgation plan from the Legislature exists and nothing is expected to be done between now and Friday, leaving it up to Gov. Benigno R. Fitial to make the decision.

However, lawmakers interviewed yesterday, including House floor leader George Camacho (Ind-Saipan), House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan), and Reps. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan) and Ray Yumul (R-Saipan), said any reapportionment today will not cut down the number of lawmakers based on the reduced population of the smallest election district, which is Rota.

But still, some members including Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) and Tenorio are pushing to cut down the number of lawmakers through an initiative.

“I have been disappointed that my legislative initiative to reduce the number of Saipan lawmakers from 18 to nine has not moved. I introduced it since February 2011. Our population has decreased and our economy has decreased and one way of reducing government operational cost is reducing the number of lawmakers,” Palacios told Saipan Tribune.

Palacios said some members are concerned or afraid that any cut in the number of seats will affect them in the November elections, “but that’s not true.”

“If that initiative is passed, it will not take effect until 2014,” he added.

Rep. Ralph Demapan (Cov-Saipan), chairman of the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations, separately said yesterday that he plans to hold a public hearing on Palacios’ initiative next week.

Tenorio, however, has a separate draft legislative initiative that reduces the number of both the House and Senate members, among other things. He wants the House members reduced from 20 to 11, and senators from nine to six.

Tenorio, a former governor and speaker, also wants the lieutenant governor to be the Senate president.

He wants the salaries of lawmakers to be increased to $60,000 annually, and operational accounts to be $100,000. He said members may voluntarily pool all or any part of these funds. Tenorio said he’d ask Palacios if he could substitute his bill with that of his bill.

Rep. Fred Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) said he supports reducing the number of lawmakers but that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to get around the “one-man, one-vote policy.”

AG opinion

Buckingham issued a two-page legal opinion on Feb. 6, concluding that the 120-day period for the Legislature to promulgate a reapportionment or redistricting plan commenced on Jan. 5, 2012, “and will end on May 4, 2012.”

“If the Legislature fails to act, the governor shall have an additional 120 days to promulgate a plan. Should the governor fail to act, the Commonwealth Supreme Court shall establish a plan,” the AG said.

Lawmakers and the governor asked the Office of the Attorney General in January to determine whether the 120-day period began on Aug. 24, 2011, when the U.S. Census Bureau released Census 2010 data, or on Jan. 5, 2012, when census data included the population of each village.

Press secretary Angel Demapan said yesterday that if the Legislature fails to come up with a reapportionment plan, “then Gov. Fitial will look into this issue within his allotted timeframe to ensure that reapportionment is reflective of the most current census data pertaining to the Commonwealth’s population count.”

Tenorio said it doesn’t matter that the 120-day period for the Legislature to reapportion or redistrict is expiring, because he plans to reduce the number of lawmakers by constitutional amendment anyway.

He said it will now be up to the governor to decide on the reapportionment and redistricting.

“Probably it’s faster for the governor to do it instead of leaving it up to the 29 members of the Legislature. But my recommendation to the governor, don’t touch it, leave it alone,” he added.

‘Increase versus decrease’

Yumul said there is a sentiment that any reapportionment plan will not result in a reduction but will only maintain the same number of representation.

This has been the same sentiment that Rep. Tony Sablan (R-Saipan) has been saying all along.

The basis for determining the number of Saipan House members is the population of the smallest election district, which is Rota as the Constitution requires, and cannot be determined arbitrarily, he said.

Sablan said if his interpretation is correct, one should divide Saipan’s population by that of Rota’s population based on the latest Census data, and this easily determines the proper number of House seats for Saipan. The answer is 19.

The current number of House members from Saipan is 18, and one each from Rota and Tinian.

The 2010 U.S. Census results show that Rota’s population dropped to 2,527, from 3,283 in 2000. Saipan’s population went down to 48,220 in 2010, from 62,392 in 2000.

Sablan believes the proposed reduction in the number of House Saipan members is done “arbitrarily.” He said the “one-man, one-vote” policy to allow for equal representation is at work here.

Yumul and Sablan said there’s already a precedent. For example, in 2007, two registered voters-former senator Frica Pangelinan and former representative Tina Sablan-asked the court to decide on reapportionment/redistricting when the Legislature and the governor failed to do so. At the time, the public expected the number of Saipan House seats to be reduced.

The court instead increased the number of Saipan House seats from 16 to 18 because of the “one-man, one-vote” principle, said Tony Sablan.