TITLE 2: NATURAL RESOURCES
DIVISION 1: MARITIME AND COASTAL RESOURCES
§ 1637. Revolving Fund. (a) Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund. (1) There is hereby established within the Commonwealth Treasury a Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund which shall be accounted for separately from the General Fund and shall have subaccounts known as follows: (i) Rota Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund; (ii) Tinian and Aguiguan Conservation Area Revolving Fund; and (iii) Saipan Conservation Area Revolving Fund. (2) All fees or revenues collected pursuant to this article or other provision of law relating to a marine area or conservation area shall be deposited into the revolving fund except that the funds collected in Rota and Tinian and Aguiguan, respectively, shall be deposited into each respective sub-account. The revolving fund monies shall be available for expenditure without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation. The Secretary of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources shall report on the collection and expenditure of all fees and fines collected pursuant to this article on a quarterly basis to the Presiding Officers of the Legislature. (b) Expenditure Authority. Expenditure authority over the revolving funds is vested in the Secretary of the Department of Lands and Natural Resources with the concurrence of the director of Fish and Wildlife for the Saipan sub-account, and the resident director for DNLR Rota and Tinian and Aguiguan, for the Rota and Tinian sub-accounts respectively; provided that the funds herein shall be expended pursuant to a spending plan approved by the secretary for each respective senatorial district and may include the hiring of a full time employee to enforce the provisions of this article. (c) Disbursement of the Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund revenue collected: (1) The Secretary of the Department of Finance, at the request of the Secretary of DNLR shall allocate the Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund as follows: (i) Fifteen percent of the total revenue collected for each fiscal year to the Rota Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund; (ii) Fifteen percent of the revenue collected for each fiscal year to the Tinian Conservation Area Revolving Fund; and (iii) Seventy percent of the revenue collected each fiscal year to the Saipan Conservation Area Revolving Fund. (2) The Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund and any sub-accounts thereof shall be audited on an annual basis. (d) Authorized use of the Conservation Area Management Revolving Fund: (1) Enforcement, conservation, or research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management; (2) Purchase of equipment, such as, but not limited to, vehicles, boats, boat trailers, microscopes, and other equipment and materials related to Marine Protected Areas Management; (3) Purchase of office supplies and operation supplies for enforcement, conservation, or research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management; (4) Capacity building and training for enforcement, conservation, or research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management; (5) Hiring of personnel for enforcement, conservation, or research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management; (6) Salary and fringe benefits for existing division employees performing enforcement, conservation, or research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management; and
TITLE 2: NATURAL RESOURCES
DIVISION 1: MARITIME AND COASTAL RESOURCES
(7) Competitive grants matching requirements for enforcement, conservation, and research activities related to Marine Protected Areas Management. Source: PL 12-12, § 9; repealed and reenacted by PL 20-44 § 5 (Mar. 8, 2018), modified. Commission Comment: The Commission added an “s” to “follow” in (a)(1); inserted “Area” after “Conservation” in (a)(1)(ii); struck “Conservation” after “Area” and inserted a period after “Fund” in (a)(1)(iii); struck “the” before “Rota” and struck “s” in “sub-accounts” in (a)(2); struck “the of” before “Fish” in (b); added an “s” to “provision” in (c); struck “and” after “Fund” in (c)(1)(i); added an “ed” to “collect” in (c)(1)(ii) and (iii); inserted a comma after “conservation” in (d)(1); added an “s” to “microscope” in (d)(2); and inserted a comma after “conservation” in (d)(3) pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(g). The Commission struck “(15%)” in (c)(1)(i) and (ii), and struck “(70%)” in (c)(1)(iii) pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(e). The Commission capitalized “revolving fund” in (c)(1)(i); un-capitalized “Personnel” in (d)(5); and un-capitalized “Division” in (d)(6) pursuant to 1 CMC § 3806(f).