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OAG sues vs legislative pay hike
The Office of Attorney General filed a lawsuit yesterday against the salary increases for members of the Legislature, the lieutenant governor, and the governor.
A statement from the Office of the Governor said: “The administration respects the Judiciary and judicial process. We will be reviewing the documents in the coming days once we received the copy of the lawsuit.”
The increase effectively provides a nearly 80-percent pay hike for elected officials. In contrast, the same law provides just a 5-percent salary increase for government employees covered by civil service.
Government employees have already gotten and received their increases. The pay hike for elected official is on hold as a funding source has yet to be identified.
The OAG lawsuit alleges that Public Law 19-83, which provided the salary increases, is unconstitutional for two reasons:
1) The Advisory Commission that recommended the salary increase was not validly constituted; and
2) The increase to the salary recommended by the Advisory Commission for the Legislature exceeded the change in an “accepted price index” since the last time the salary was adjusted.
The Office of the Attorney General applied for preliminary and permanent injunctions to prevent Finance Secretary Larrisa Larson from implementing the law. The Finance secretary is named in her official capacity.
“It is my duty as chief legal officer of the Commonwealth to enforce the NMI Constitution. I look forward to the court hearing our arguments with respect to the manner these salaries may be adjusted, and holding the Legislature accountable to the limitations imposed upon them by the Constitution,” said Attorney General Edward Manibusan.
The lawsuit was filed on Thursday in the CNMI Superior Court.
P.L. 19-83 (originally House Bill 19-03) became law because Gov. Ralph DLG Torres was in Washington, D.C. at the time and did not act on the measure. The CNMI Constitution provides that a House bill becomes a law after a fixed amount of time if the governor does not act on it.
