SAIPAN — The Senate of the Twenty-Fourth Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature will convene its Third Special Session on Friday, May 1, at 11 a.m. in the Senate Chamber at the Vice Speaker Jesus P. Mafnas Memorial Building on Capitol Hill, Senate President Karl R. King-Nabors announced Monday.
The session agenda includes several significant measures. On the bill calendar for final reading is S.B. No. 24-48, which would establish a Division of Customs and Biosecurity within the Department of Finance to enforce laws at ports of entry, inspect and clear containers, cargo and baggage, and handle other border security matters. The Judiciary, Government and Law Committee is recommending adoption in its current form.
Also up for final reading is H.B. No. 24-15, SS1, which would establish public sector employee and employer relations through organized labor in the Commonwealth. H.B. No. 24-96 would appropriate $960,235.74 in Tobacco Settlement Funds to the Marianas Visitors Authority for tourism recovery initiatives, money the Governor identified as available in a communication to the House.
On the resolution calendar is H.J.R. No. 24-11, which directs CUC and relevant government agencies to expedite planning, permitting and deployment of renewable energy, storage and resilience projects, framed in the context of the accelerated phase-out of federal clean energy incentives under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Committee recommends adoption.
The Senate will also take up S.R. No. 24-16, reaffirming support for Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly, INTERPOL, the International Civil Aviation Organization and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A conference committee report on H.B. No. 24-74, SS2 appropriating funds from Marianas Public Land Trust interest income is also on the agenda.
