THIRTEENTH NORTHERN MARIANAS COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATURE Public Law 13-17 FIRST REGULAR SESSION,
2002

H. B. NO. 13-001, HS1, HDl, SD

1 AN ACT To authorize

the Mariana

s Public Land

s Authority

in conjunction

w

i th the Commonw

ea lth Development Authority

to incur public

d ebt
in an amount

of up

to Forty Million Dollar

s ($40,000,000)

for the settlement

of land compensation
claims against

the Commonwealth

and for oth

e r purposes. BE IT ENACTED

BY THE TIDRTEENTH NORTHE

RN MARIANAS COMMONWEALTH LEGISLATURE: Section

1. Short Title. This Act may be cited

to as the

" Land Compensation

Act of2002." Section

2. Findings

and Purpose.

The Legislature

finds that the Commonwealth cunently owes

to
it s citizens approximately

F011y Million Dollars ($40,000,000)

for land acquired

by eminent domain

or other legal proces

s. The Le gis la ture fm1her finds that the current
rate of repayment

is unacceptable

, and

th e prompt compensation

for such land taking serves

the Conunonwealth's

best interest. While

in the pa st land taking claims against

the Commonwealth

were sett

l e d largely through

an exchange

of public
lan d, the diminishing availability

of public

l and, coupled with other competing public land

us es, requires

the establishment

of

a compensation

pro gram

to pay for the taking

of priva

te land

s for public

u ses, such

as road and ponding basin construction

The purpose

of this Act, therefore,

is to autho rize the Marianas Publi

c Lands Authority,

in conju nction with the Commonwealth Development Authority,

to in cur public debt

in an amount

of up
to $4
0 ,000,000,

and

to use the proceeds

to settle and

to dischar

ge outstanding

land compensation
claims against

the Commonwea

l th. Similar

to Publi

c Law 11-14,

a portion of the liquid fuel tax revenue

and the entire aviation

fuel tax revenue collec ted under

4 CMC

§ 1403 wou
ld be reserved specifically

for the repayment

of the public debt authorized herein.PublicLaw13-17HOUSEBILLNO.13-001,HSl,HDl,SDlSection3.PublicDebtAuthorization(a)TheMarianasPublicLandsAuthorityisrerebyauthorizedtoincurpublicdebtinanamountupto$40,000,000,forthefinancingoftheretirementoflandcompensationclaimsagainsttheCommonwealthforlandtakingbyeminentdomainorotherlegalprocess.Inaccordancewith4CMC§10203(a)(27),theMarianasPublicLandsAuthorityshallarrangeforthepublicdebtauthorizedunderthisActincooperationwith,andsubjecttotheapprovalof,theCommonwealthDevelopmentAuthority.(b)ThepublicdebtauthorizedhereinshallbedenominatedinandpayableinUnitedStatesDollarsandnotintheequivalentamountofanyforeigncunency.(c)Thisauthorizationforpublicdebtismadeonlyforthepurposeoffinancing,byMarianasPublicLandsAuthority,theretirementoflandcompensationclaimsagainsttreCommonwealthandonlyuptoatotalprimaryliabilitynottoexceed$40,000,000,inclusiveofanycommissionorfee.(d)Thepublicdebtauthorizedhereinisonlyauthorizedwithaninterestratenotexceeding7%perannumsimpleinterestontheprincipleamountremainingoutstandingandunpaidandwithrepaymenttermsnotexceeding20yearsforpaymentinfullofprincipleandinterest.(e)ThepublicdebtauthorizedhereinshallbebackedbythefullfaithandcreditoftheCommonwealthgovernmentandshallbeadebtoftheCommonwealth.Section4.LandCompensationFund.(a)ThereisherebyestablishedaspecialfundwithintheDepartmentofFinancewhichshallbeknownanddesignatedastheLandCompensationFund.(b)ThepurposeoftheFundshallbetopayprincipalandinterestonanyfinancingenteredintobytheMarianasPublicLandsAuthorityforthefinancingoftheretirementoflandcompensationclaimsagainsttheCommonwealthasauthorizedbythisAct.Page2Public Law 13-1

7 HO USE BILL

N O

. 13-001, HSl, HDl, SDl (c) The Commissioner

of the Marianas Public Lands Authority
shall have expenditure authority over the Fun

d

, subject

to approva

l of claims

by the Board. (d)

In implementin

g thi

s Act, the Matianas Public Land Authority

s hall first
co mpen

sa te

t he acquisition

of private

l ands for

r i g h t of way purposes,

inc ludin

g but not limited

to public road construction.

After those claims
hav

e been co mp

e n sa

t e d , t he Authority

s hall

th e n com

p e n sate

t ho se claims involving

the acqu

i sit ion of private land for the purp ose of constructing
public pondin

g basins

. Wetla

nd and othe

r claims shall

b e enterta

in ed only after claims involving right of way a nd ponding basin acquisition

s have been
co mp

e n sated. Section

5. Amendment. Subsection

(e)

o f 4 CMC

§ 1803,

i s a m ended

as follows: "(e) Fuel tax di stribution. ( i) Notw

i thstanding

a ny law
to

t h e contrary, beginning October

1 , 1 998, and annually thereafter,

the Department

of Finance shall

d eposit $2,000,000, collected
from

th e liquid
fuel tax impose

d under

4 CMC

§ 1403(a) into

t h e Pu blic School
Sys

t em Building
fund establ

i sh ed in

1 CMC

§ 228

1
. Such funds

s h a ll
b e co n t inu

a ll y a ppr

o priat
ed to the Publi

c School S y s tem for the sole purpose

of

p ay in g th e principal

and

· inter
es

t on any financing

e nt e red into

th e Public

Sc hoo

l System

pur suant

to House Joint R esolut ion 10-36.

The fund

s

s h a ll

b e nonlapsing except
that upon cert ifi cation

by the Secretary

of
F in ance that

a ll prin cipal and interest

on all financing

has

b een paid

in fuU and discharged,

any fun

d s remaining

in th e Public Scho

ol System

Bu ilding Fund sha

ll lapse

to the genera

l fund. (ii) After
the amoun

t in

s ubparagraph

(i) has been transferred

, and notwithstanding

any law

to the contrary,

b eginning October

1 , 2002 and annually thereafter

, the

D epartment

of Finance

sha
ll

d e posit
the balance amo un

t of the liquid

fu el ta x collected under

4 CMC

§ 1403(a)
and th e entire amount

of the aviation

tax collected under

4 CMC

§ 1403

( b) in to the Land Page

3PublicLaw13-17HOUSEBILLNO.13-001,HSl,HDl,SDlCompensationFund.SuchfundsshallbecontinuallyappropriatedtotheMarianasPublicLandsAuthorityforthesolepurposeofpayingtheprincipalandinterestonanyfinancingauthorizedbythisAct.Provided, that,intheeventtheamountintheLandCompensationFundisinsufficienttocoveranyrequisitepayment,theGovernorisherebyauthorized,notwithstandinganycontrarylaw,topaytheremainingbalancefromthegeneralfund.ThefundsintheLandCompensationFundshallbenonlapsing,except,uponcertificationbytheSecretaryofFinancethatallprincipalandinterestonallfinancinghasbeenpaidinfullanddischarged,anyfundsremainingintheLandCompensationFundshalllapsetothegeneralfund."Section6.ApplicationThisActshallapplytolandcompensationclaimsagainsttheCommonwealthGovernmentsubmittedtotheMarianasPublicLandCorporation,oritssuccessoragency,onorafterJanuary1,1990.Section7.IncometaxapplicationAnycompensationreceivedunderthisActshallnotbesubjecttotheearningstaximposedunder4CMC§1202(b)(2).Section8.LandExchangeOption2CMC§4144isamendedbyaddinganewsubsection(d)toreadasfollows:"(d)SubjecttotheapprovaloftheBoardoftheMarianasPublicLandAuthority,anownerofprivatelandwhoqualifiesforapubliclandexchangemayelectforanequitablelandexchange,notwithstandingsubsections(b)(2)and(c)ofthissection,providedthattheareaofpubliclandshallnotexceedtwicetheareaoftheprivatelandtobeexchanged."Section9.Severability.IfanyprovisionofthisActortheapplicationofanysuchprovisiontoanypersonorcircumstanceshouldbeheldinvalidbyacourtofcompetentjurisdiction,theremainderofthisActortheapplicationofitsprovisionstopersonsorcircumstancesotherthanthosetowhichitisheldinvalidshallnotbeaffectedthereby.Page4Public Law 13-17 HOUSE BILL NO. 13-001, HSI, HDI, SDI Section

10. Savings Clause. This Act and any repealer contained herein shall not be constmed

as affecting

any existing right acquired under contract

or acquired under statutes repealed

or under
any mle, regulation

or order adopted under
the statutes. Repeaters contained

in this Act shall not affect any proceeding instituted under

or pursuant

to prior law. The enactment

of this Act shall not have the effect

of tenninating,

or in any way modifying, any liability,
civil

or criminal, which shall already

be in existence

at the date this Act becomes effective. Section

11. Effective Date. This Act shall take effect upon

its approval

by the Govemor

or upon

it becoming

law without such appro val. CERTIFIED

BV: /s/___,::-----=--=------ HEINz

S. HOFSCHNEIDER SPEAKER

OF THE HOUSE

ATTESTED

TO BY: /s/_-=--c:-:::----- EvELYN

C. FLEMING HOUSE CLERK Approved

this 23rd day of Julv, 2002

· /sl ____ -=-----c,-------- JvANN. BABAUTA GOVERNOR COMMONWEALTH

OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS Page

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