Strengthens CCC’s ability to enforce the mandates of the original gaming law
The House of the Representatives of the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands – CNMI, unanimously passed a bill, on Thursday 09 session, that clarifies and enhances the powers of the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC). House vice speaker Rep. Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero introduced the legislation in February 2019, and the bill now goes to Governor Ralph DLG Torres for follow up action.
All 20 representatives voted to the passage of House Bill 21-11, which also made changes to the Commonwealth Code, given the commission’s unique regulatory oversight of the casino industry in the Commonwealth. Under the bill, CCC, and not the Finance secretary as provided under the current Commonwealth Code, shall establish and maintain a CCC regulatory fee fund to be kept separate and apart from the general fund of the government.
The bill provides that, as an autonomous agency, CCC shall determine its staffing levels for full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary employees. The bill also gives, among other things, CCC the authority to issue a casino license. Current law gives that power to the Commonwealth Lottery Commission.
CCC board chair Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said in an interview that this bill has been in the Legislature since the 19th Legislature. It came up in the 20th, and then this 21st Legislature. Deleon Guerrero hopes that Torres would support the bill, adding: “It would strengthen the casino commission’s ability to enforce the mandates of the original gaming law, [Public Law] 18-56. And would really clarify and remove some of the ambiguities.”
The CCC has worked diligently with the appropriate regulatory body this past four-and-a-half to five years to make sure that IPI is in compliance with the law. Guerrero added: “We, the CCC, do not have the authority on quite a lot of areas that we are blamed for,” citing as an example that anything having to do with a casino building that falls within the purview of Department of Public Works and its Building Safety Code Section, should not be attributed to the CCC. However, Guerrero added, “the CCC always gets blamed for any safety issue involving the casino licensee, Imperial Pacific, for instance.”.
On the labour issue, the CCC chair said it is his understanding that the CNMI Department of Labour doesn’t have jurisdiction over employers with more than 500 employees. “That’s the U.S. Department of Labour,” he said, also saying that the CNMI does not have the authority to enforce Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules as that’s a federal law.
CNMI is an insular area and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the north western Pacific Ocean and includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago; the southernmost island, Guam, is a separate U.S. territory. The CNMI and Guam are the westernmost territories of the United States.
