Torres signs, disapproves several bills

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres signed into law yesterday a House bill that requires businesses that rent motor vehicles to provide customers with copies of the CNMI’s driver handbook.

House Bill 19-62 is now Public Law 19-43. The bill was authored by Rep. Glenn L. Maratita (R-Rota).

Torres also signed into law yesterday a bill to ban the importation of used tires.

House Bill 19-89, authored by Rep. Vinson Sablan (Ind-Saipan), is now Public Law 19-44.

Sablan’s bill finds that an ongoing inflow of used tries can pose serious environmental concerns and says the lifespan of such tires is “limited” and will lead to a build-up of unusable tires and CNMI’s transfer stations and dump sites.

The bill also says the use of such tires can yield serious motor safety concerns because of their durability and dependability, which the bill says can contribute to fatal car accidents.

Torres, meanwhile, disapproved yesterday House Bill 19-58, which establishes minimum mandatory sentences and allowing longer sentences, among others, regarding local firearms regulations.

Torres, in a letter to the House and Senate, said the strengthening of criminal penalties on firearm use and possession was laudable but parts of the bill conflict with the recent Public Law 19-42, or SAFE Act, approved on April 11. “Because the attorney general is working draft legislation to further amend the Commonwealth’s Weapon Control Act and other parts of the Criminal Code, I am referring HB 19-58 to the Attorney General to review and determine whether parts of the bill should be incorporated into the draft bills being prepared by his office.”

Torres also yesterday disapproved Senate Bill 19-37, writing to the House and Senate that the bill would have the opposite effect of its intent.

The Senate bill intends to regulate the production and sale of afok/bweesch, or “lime,” in the CNMI.

The bill’s proposed amendment reads, “No person shall manufacture, prepare, preserve, package, or store for sale any food, afok, or bweesch under unsanitary conditions and must have a Food Handler Certification and a Sanitary Permit as required by the Bureau of Environmental Health.”

But Torres points out that the subject for the phrase beginning with “must have a Food Handler” is “no person.”

In other words, Torres says the bill states “No person shall manufacture, prepare, preserve, package, or store for sale any food, afok, or bweesch under unsanitary conditions. Any person who shall manufacture, prepare, preserve, package, or store for sale any food, afok, or bweesch must have a Food Handler Certification and a Sanitary Permit as required by the Bureau of Environmental Health.”

Torres said the recommended amendment “comports with the bill’s intent” to closely regulate the production and sale of lime, but adds he would be willing to consider a new bill which “expressly requires” businesses to obtain certificates and permits necessary to ensure that products for sale are processed in a clean, safe, and sanitary manner.