Congressional Budget Office report
This summary is based largely on the summary provided by the Congressional Budget Office, a public domain source, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on May 16, 2013. [2]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that enacting S. 256 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. [2] The bill would convey ownership of submerged lands to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) from the mean high tide seaward to the point that is three geographical miles from its coastline. [2] The legislation also would include the CNMI among the islands where the United States may establish a naval defensive perimeter. [2] Finally, S. 256 would amend the process for changing the minimum wage in American Samoa and the CNMI. [2]
Based on information from the Department of the Interior, the CBO estimates that implementing S. 256 would have no significant cost to the federal government. [2] Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. [2]
S. 256 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. [2]
On May 2, 2013, the CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 573, a bill to amend Public Law 93-435 with respect to the Northern Mariana Islands, providing parity with Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on April 24, 2013. [2] The two pieces of legislation are similar, and the CBO cost estimates are the same. [2]
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is an insular area and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The CNMI 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.
Ralph Moody Hall was an American politician who served as the United States Representative for Texas's 4th congressional district from 1981 to 2015. He was first elected in 1980, and was the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology from 2011 to 2013. He was also a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. In 2004, he switched to the Republican Party after having been a member of the Democratic Party for more than 50 years.
Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions overseen by the United States government. The various U.S. territories differ from the U.S. states and Native American tribes in that they are not sovereign entities. Territories are classified by incorporation and whether they have an "organized" government through an organic act passed by Congress. U.S. territories are under U.S. sovereignty and may be treated as part of the United States proper in some ways and not others. Unincorporated territories in particular are not considered to be integral parts of the United States, and the Constitution of the United States applies only partially in those territories.
Commonwealth is a term used by two unincorporated territories of the United States in their full official names. The territories are: the Northern Mariana Islands and Puerto Rico.
The District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands is a federal territorial court whose jurisdiction comprises the United States-affiliated Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI). It was established by Act of Congress in 1977, pursuant to an international agreement between the United States and the CNMI that brought the CNMI under United States sovereignty. The court began hearing cases in January 1978. The court regularly sits in Saipan but may sit elsewhere in the CNMI. The court has the same jurisdiction as United States District Courts, including diversity jurisdiction and bankruptcy jurisdiction. However, the District Court is not actually a true U.S. District Court, and because of that its judge is appointed for a 10-year term instead of for life. Appeals are taken to the Ninth Circuit.
Non-voting members of the United States House of Representatives are representatives of their territory in the House of Representatives, who do not have a right to vote on proposed legislation in the full House but nevertheless have floor privileges and are able to participate in certain other House functions. Non-voting members may vote in a House committee of which they are a member and introduce legislation. There are currently six non-voting members: a delegate representing the District of Columbia, a resident commissioner representing Puerto Rico, and one delegate for each of the other four permanently inhabited US territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. A seventh delegate, representing the Cherokee Nation, has been formally proposed but not yet seated, while an eighth, representing the Choctaw Nation, is named in a treaty but has neither been proposed nor seated. As with voting members, non-voting delegates are elected every two years, and the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico is elected every four years.
The Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature is the territorial legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The legislative branch of the territory is bicameral, consisting of a 20-member lower House of Representatives, and an upper house Senate with nine Senators. Representatives serve two-year terms and Senators serve four-year terms, both without term limits. The territorial legislature meets in the commonwealth capital of Saipan.
The Jack Abramoff CNMI scandal involved the efforts of Jack Abramoff, other lobbyists, and government officials to change or prevent, or both, Congressional action regarding the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and businesses on Saipan, its capital, commercial center, and one of its three principal islands.
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 is a US Act of Congress that amended the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour. It was signed into law on May 25, 2007 as part of the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. The act raised the federal minimum wage in 3 increments: to $5.85 per hour 60 days after enactment, to $6.55 per hour a year later, and finally to $7.25 per hour two years later. In addition, the act provided for the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa to make the transition to the federal minimum wage on alternate timetables.
The United States House of Representatives election in the Northern Mariana Islands, 2008 took place on November 4, 2008 and was the Northern Mariana Islands' first election of a delegate to the United States House of Representatives. Since the CNMI traditionally had general elections in odd-numbered years, the November 2008 ballot contained only this office.
Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan is a Northern Mariana Islander politician and former election commissioner. Elected in 2008, Sablan became the first delegate to the United States House of Representatives from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The District of Columbia and United States Territories quarters were a series of quarters minted for one-year by the United States Mint in 2009 to honor the District of Columbia and the unincorporated United States insular areas of Puerto Rico, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. The islands commonly grouped together as the United States Minor Outlying Islands were not featured, as the law defined the word "territory" as being limited to the areas mentioned above. They followed the completion of the 50 State Quarters Program. The coins used the same George Washington obverse as with the quarters of the previous 10 years. The reverse of the quarters featured a design selected by the Mint depicting the federal district and each territory. Unlike on the 50 State quarters, the motto "E Pluribus Unum" preceded and was the same size as the mint date on the reverse.
Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio was a Northern Mariana Islands politician as a member of CNMI Democratic Party, and also was the fourth Governor of the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Elected in 1993, he served one term, leaving office in 1998. During his governorship and most of his political career, Tenorio was a member of the Democratic Party of the Northern Mariana Islands, which was not then affiliated with the American Democratic Party. However, he later switched his affiliation to the Covenant Party.
The Stop Tobacco Smuggling in the Territories Act of 2013 was a bill introduced into the United States House of Representatives in the 113th United States Congress that passed the House with a vote of 421-5. The purpose of the bill is to redefine "state" in the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act of 1978 to add American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam, so that United States laws against tobacco smuggling would apply in those places. The 1978 Act makes it a felony to smuggle cigarettes from one area to another without paying the appropriate taxes. Smugglers trafficking in cigarettes transport cigarettes to jurisdictions with high cigarette taxes, avoid paying the taxes, and then sell the smuggled cigarettes with a large profit margin, while still selling their cigarettes for a cheaper price than those that could be purchased legally.
The bill H.R. 573 is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives in the 113th United States Congress. The bill would extend the geographic boundaries of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and would allow the United States Military to establish naval defensive sea areas and airspace reservations when necessary for national defense.
The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Boundary Modification Act would amend the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Establishment Act of 1999 to modify the boundary of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota. The bill would approve the transfer of administrative jurisdiction of about 29 acres of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands from the Forest Service to the National Park Service (NPS). The NPS would use the land for a visitor center, administrative site, and parking lot for the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota. It was introduced into the 113th United States Congress.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore Conservation and Recreation Act is a bill that would designate as wilderness about 32,500 acres of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in the state of Michigan. The newly designated lands and inland waterways would comprise the Sleeping Bear Dunes Wilderness, a new component of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
The Minimum Wage Fairness Act is a bill that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to increase the federal minimum wage for employees to $10.10 per hour over the course of a two-year period. The bill was strongly supported by President Barack Obama and many of the Democratic Senators, but strongly opposed by Republicans in the Senate and House.
The Omnibus Territories Act of 2013 is a bill that amend laws concerning the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The bill would increase the size of the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, start an energy plan for the areas, and expand turtle conservation efforts.
The Northern Mariana Islands National Guard is a proposed National Guard unit to be formed in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Currently, residents of the Northern Mariana Islands may serve in the Guam National Guard.
