Palacios tells the Rotary of problems, his pending bills

Problems in the Commonwealth and pending legislation were the focus of Senate floor leader Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan) as he spoke before Rotary Club of Saipan members at their weekly meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan on Tuesday.

As a member of the Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Committee, Palacios highlighted the high cost of utilities and airline problems, which they continue to address by having talks with concerned agencies and companies.

Palacios

For Palacios, these are issues that are not just solved by enacting laws.

“These are issues that do not get resolved by merely introducing bills and enacting laws,” Palacios said.

“It has to be formal discussions with the government, from our community to the airlines and our utilities to help resolve this,” he added.

Palacios said he wants to integrate all types of possible resources for utilities, whether it is solar, geothermal or other renewable source.

“We want to make sure that we are there to support the effort, at the same time keeping them on their feet in making sure that your utility rates continue to be affordable,” he said.

Palacios also wants airline companies operating in the CNMI to look for alternatives to address the issue of air transportation on the islands. That was the content of their letter to United Airlines and Cape Air that was sent a month ago. According to him, they are still waiting for a reply or action from the side of the airline.

Bills
He also mentioned a couple of his bills pending in the Senate, two of which concerns hotels and tourism.

One of them is Senate Bill 19-24, which seeks to increase the present land leasing term of 40 years to 99 years—a proposal that will need public vetting.

According to Palacios, the land leases of several major hotels on the island will soon end.

“These are the hotels that pioneered the tourism industry [here] and their leases are coming up. I hate to see the Hyatt landmark name disappear from Saipan. I hate to see Fiesta [Resort], which has been there from the very beginning, also disappear,” he said.

Another bill that he is proposing is SB 19-20, which seeks to have a representative of the Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Marianas Visitors Association.

“I was very surprised that there is no specific requirement of our MVA board where the hotel association has mandatory membership,” he said.