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COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
Be igno R. FitialEloy S. Inos
Gov morLt. Governor
Honorable Paul A. ManglonaMarch 10, 2011
Senate President, The Senate
Seventeenth Northern Marianas
Commonwealth Legislature Saipan, MP 96950
Honorable Eliceo D. Cabrera
Speaker. House of Representatives
Seventeenth Northern Marianas
Commonwealth Legislature
Saipan, MP 96950
Dear Mr. President and Mr. Speaker:
This is to inform you that I have signed into law House Bill No. 17-114, SSI, SD2, SS2, CCS 1, entitled, "To amend Section 3 of Public Law 16-17 to give the CUC the flexibility needed to partner with the private sector to provide reliable service at efficient rates; and for other purposes," which was passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Seventeenth Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature.
This bill becomes Public Law No. 17-34. Copies bearing my signature are forwarded for your reference.
ELOY S. IINO
Acting Governor
cc: Governor; Attorney General; Press Secretary; Executive Director, Commonwealth Utilities Corporation; Chairperson, Public Utilities Commission; Secretary, Department of Finance; Chief Executive Officer, Commonwealth Development Authority; Secretary, Department of Public Lands; Executive Director, Commonwealth Ports Authority, Commonwealth's Law Revision Commission, Special Assistant for Administration; Special Assistant for Programs and Legislative Review
007 Saipan, MP 96950 Telephone: (670) 664-2200/2201 Facsimile: (670) 664-2211
Public Law No. 17-34
Seventeenth Legislature of the
Commonwealth/ ofthe Northern Mariana Islands
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Second Regular Session
October 15, 2010
epresentative Stanley T. McGinnis Torres, of Saipan, Precinct 3 (for himself,) in an open and public meeting with an opportunity for the public to comment, introduced the following Bill:
AN ACT TO nnsronn COMMONWEALTH UTILITIES CORPORATION'S PROCURBMBNT AUTHORITY TO GIVE CUC FLEXIBILITY NBBDBD TO PARTNER WITH PRIVATE sncron TO PROVIDE RELIABLE SBRVICB AT BFFICIBNT RATES; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. |
he Bill was referred to the House Committee on Public Utilities Transportation and Communication, and placed on the Bill Calendar on October 18, 2010.
THE BILL WAS PASSED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON
FIRST AND FINAL READING, OCTOBER 18, 2010; without amendments and transmitted to the THE SENATE.
The Bill was not referred to a Senate Committee.
THE BILL WAS PASSED BY THE SENATE ON FIRST AND FINAL READING, FEBRUARY 11, 2011; with amendments, in the fom ofH. B. 17-114, SSI, SDI, SS2.
H. B. 17-114, SSI, SDI, SS2 WAS RETURNED TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON FEBRUARY 16, 2011.
he House of Representatives rejected the Senate amendments and the Bill was sent to Conference, which submitted Conference Committee Report 17-3, in the form of H. B. 17-114, SSI, SDI, SS2, CCSI; THE BILL WAS PASSED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON March 3, 2011 and by THE SENATE ON MARCH 4, 2011.
Linda B. Mum, House Clerk
Public Law No. 17-34
Seventeenth Legislature Ofthe
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Third Regular Session
March 3, 2011
n. n. SSI, SDI, SS2, ccsu
AN ACT
To amend Section 3 of Public Law 16-17 to give the CUC the flexibility needed to partner with the private sector to provide reliable service at efficient rates; and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Seventeenth Northern Marianas Commonwealth Legislature:
1 Section 1. Findings and PurposeThe Legislature finds that 2 Commonwealth ratepayers deserve a utility that constantly delivers high quality
3power at reasonable prices. Currently, oil prices are approaching per
4barrel for delivery to Saipan and are well over $100.00 per barrel for delivery to
5 Rota. 11t is imperative that CUC be able to provide service which is affordable to 6 the Commonwealth's residents and businesses.
7 The Legislature further finds that portions of Public Law 16-17 have 8 placed restrictions on CUC which lead to inefficiencies that translate directly into
9higher costs to consumers. These inefTiciencies must be removed. It is the
1 purpose of this Act to remove the impediments and inefficiencies and restore 2 CUC's procurement authority such that it will be able to enter into agreements 3 with providers to ensure efficient delivery of services at reasonable rates to 4 consumers. The Legislature declares that this Act is necessary and is a proper use 5 of the legislative authority conferred by Article Il of the Commonwealth 6 Constitution.
7 Section 2. Amendment.Sections 3 of Public Law 16-17 is hereby
8 amended to read as follows:
9 "Section 3.
10 (a) Bids onl . The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation (herein 11 "CUC") shall not enter into any form of performance management 12 contract, franchise agreement, or private sector assistance agreement 13 unless the agreement is awarded pursuant to an invitation to bid except as 14 provided in this section. No such contract shall be awarded pursuant to a 15 request for proposals (RFP) unless the Attorney General certifies, under
16 penalty of perjury, that (1) the RFP is the most appropriate procurement 17 tool for a specific form of PSAA, and (2) such RFP complies with all
18 CUC procurement regulations, CNMI and federal laws. All RFP,
excepting renewable energy projects in paragraph (b) below, shall be 20 subject to the provisions of this section.
21 ro•ects. Renewable Energy Projects shall
22 be exempt from all the provisions of this section. Renewable energy
2
HousE sm,
1 projects are any projects that do not use as their main source of power 2 generation fossil fuels, including but not limited to oil, coal or natural gas, 3 but instead use power generating forces including but not limited to wind, 4 solar, geothermal, biomass or nuclear battery. All that shall be required by 5 persons seeking business with CUC as renewable energy project 6 contractors shall be submitting requests for proposal under established 7 Commonwealth procurement regulations, For the purposes of this act, 8 renewable energy projects are limited to private sector assistance 9 agreements where a private renewable energy firm sells or manages 10 renewable energy power or assets to or on behalf of CUC. An 11 independent power producer (IPP) selected for renewable energy project 12 via the RFP process shall not be considered an "eligible customer13 generator" as defined under section 8631 of PL 15-87 and shall not be 14 subject to the rate or compensation limitations of section 8639(a) of PL 15 15-87. Under this paragraph, renewable energy projects shall in no case
16 be interpreted to include the sale, management. franchise, concession, build/operate/transfer, build/operate/own, independent power producer 18 contract, contract for a public utilities cooperative or full privatization of 19 any oil consuming CUC asset.
20 (c)Public documents. A CUC invitation to bid and its attachments,
21 including any form of performance management contract or franchise 22 agreement or private partnership for its services and operations as
described below, shall be and remain a public document and shall be posted for review and downloading, without charge, on a website maintained by CUC.
(d) Private sector assistance a reements. CUC may procure private sector assistance under a private sector assistance agreement
A PSAA is limited to:
7 (l) A performance management contract (PMC) by which
CUC may privatize the generation of its electrical power for a limited term not to exceed five (5) years;
10 (2) A concession or franchise agreement by which CUC 11 transfers a utility service, including the related required capital 12 investment, to the private sector for a limited term not to exceed 25 13years;
14 (3) A contract for a public utilities cooperative;
15 (4) A build/operate/transfer (BOT) contract;
(5) Build, Operate, Own (BOO) Contract;
(6) A contract tor an independent power producer (IPP); or
(7) Full privatization of CUC as follows: notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the full privatization of CUC's electric power generation operation is authorized;
(e) Authority. CUC shall procure such private sector assistance under its procurement regulations (set torth in the Commonwealth
sm,
Register, Volume 29, No. 06; June 18, 2007), as amended by CUC from time to time thereafter, and as modified by this Act. No other procurement regulations shall apply.
(f) Limitation of bid. With respect to a PSAA procured pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, the invitation for bids shall include a condition that such PSAA shall establish a renewable energy portfolio standard of at least fifty percent (50%) of its net electricity sales within seven (7) years of the PSAA, if such a standard has not yet been met by CUC, notwithstanding subsection 6 CMC $622 as amended by Public Law 15-87.
(g) If the PSAA process requires a
pre-qualification of bidders, then a private business entity that is licensed in the Commonwealth and, for at least ten years, has been engaged in business that is closely related to the utility for which the invitation for bid is being published, is hereby deemed qualified to submit a sealed bid. This subsection shall not be construed to preclude entities that are not prequalified to subrnit a sealed bid pursuant to this section.
(h) PUC review.
(l) Any PSAA award shall not be final unless the Public Utilities Commission (herein "PUC") approves it under 4 CMC
"8439, 8440, or 8441 within 42 days.
(2) No contract shall be awarded to any contractor who is not already permitted in a U.S. or international jurisdiction, or who has not operated a major source of emission in accordance with
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations for at least five (5) years.
(3) The involvement of PUC in a CUC PSAA under this Act is limited to the process described in Section 4.
(i) "All PSAA procurement shall be subject to I CMC 7404." Section 3. Amendment. Public Law 16-2 S 12 (d) shall be amended as follows:
"(d) Notwithstanding subsection (b), once three commissioners have been appointed and confirmed, any event, be it resignation, removal, or otherwise, which reduces the number of Commissioners below three shall not divest the Commission of its authority, and the PUC shall continue its duties shorthanded until such time as additional commissioners have been duly appointed and confirmed. If, for any reason, the Commission consists of only two Commissioners, then a quorum för the conduct of the PUC's business shall be two and decisions shall be unanimous until such time as an additional Commissioner or Commissioners shall be duly nominated and confirmed. If the Commission consists of a sole Commissioner. than a quorum for the conduct of the Commission's business shall be one, but only for a period 1 of 60 days, with the possibility of one 30 day extension only by the 2 governor, upon a finding that such extension is in the best interest of the 3 public. Upon expiration of this 60, or 90 days, another PUC 4 commissioner must be appointed for PUC to continue to act."
5 Section 4. Amendment.Title 4 SS 84()3 paragraph (e) shall be amended 6 as follows:
7 "(e) No Commissioner shall be an employee of the government of 8 the Commonwealth or any of its agencies or any entity regulated by the 9 Commission, with the exception of any government appointee or 10 commissioner from the 1 st or 2 nd senatorial district, nor may a 11 commissioner serve as a consultant to any entity regulated by the 12 Commission, nor may a commissioner serve as a member of any other 13 government board or commission. Acceptance by a Commissioner of any 14 position in violation of this section automatically terminates that persons 15 term of office."
16 Section 5. Severability.If any provisions of this Act or the application of any such provision to any person or circumstance should be held invalid by a
18 court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this Act or the application of its 19 provisions to persons or circumstances other than those to which it is held invalid 20 shall not be affected thereby.
21 Section 6. Savings Clause. This Act and any repealer contained herein
22 shall not be construed as affecting any existing right acquired under contract or 1 acquired under statutes repealed or under any rule, regulation, or order adopted 2 under the statutes. Repealers contained in this Act shall not affect any proceeding 3 instituted under or pursuant to prior law. The enactment of the Act shall not have 4 the effect of terminating, or in any way modifying, any liability, civil or criminal, 5 which shall already be in existence on the date this Act becomes effective.
6 Section 7. Effective Date. This Act shall take effect upon its approval by
7 the Governor, or its becoming law without such approval.
Attested to
Certified by:
ELOY S. INOS
Acting Governor
Commonwealth ofthe Northern Mariana Islands
8