Title 1, Government

Protection of Whistle-blowers. (a) The Public Auditor may receive and investigate complaints or information of any person concerning possible existence of any activity constituting fraud, waste and abuse in the collection and expenditure of public funds. (b) The Public Auditor sh…

Access to Agency Information. (a) Access Required. The Public Auditor, in carrying out the provisions of this part shall have access to all records, reports, audits, reviews, papers, books, documents, recommendations, correspondence, and any other data and material that is mainta…

Access to Confidential Information and Proprietary Records. (a) Confidential or proprietary records or information disclosed to the Public Auditor are subject to the same legal confidentiality and protective restrictions in the office of the Public Auditor as those records and in…

Access to Tax Data. (a) The Public Auditor or any staff member designated by the Public Auditor may examine and audit the books and accounts of the Department of Finance, including the Division of Revenue and Taxation, and shall have access to all papers, books, documents (includ…

Access to Contracts and Grants Information. Any contract to which an agency is party, except a personal service or prime contract with an employee of the agency, and any grant awarded by any agency, with or without formal advertising, shall include a clause to the effect that the…

Power to Summon Persons to Testify. (a) Whenever the Public Auditor has a reasonable basis for believing that a person has information with respect to any matter which is within the Public Auditor’s jurisdiction to investigate, the Public Auditor may require by summons the attend…

Referrals: Criminal Action. (a) In carrying out his or her duties, the Public Auditor shall report to the Attorney General whenever the Public Auditor has reasonable grounds to believe there has been violations of either federal or Commonwealth criminal law. The Attorney General …

Referrals: Civil Action. The Public Auditor may institute the civil recovery action if authorized by the Attorney General. If the Public Auditor has discovered fraudulent acts and believes that civil recovery proceedings may be appropriate, the Public Auditor shall refer the matt…

Secrecy of Records; Penalty for Violation. All records of the Public Auditor shall be confidential unless it is deemed necessary for the Public Auditor to make the records public in the performance of his or her duties. Violations relative to the secrecy of proceedings by the Pub…

Penalties; Failure to Make Proper Audit; Making False Audit; Failure to Produce Documents or Information. (a) All agencies shall enter into their public record sufficient information for a proper audit, and shall make the same available to the Public Auditor upon request. (b) Any…

Exclusion from Government Service. Any person who is convicted under a prosecution pursuant to 1 CMC § 7847 shall be prohibited from working for the government of the Commonwealth for a period of 10 years from the date of conviction of a crime. Source: PL 9-68, § 5, modified. Com…

Prohibited Activities: Discriminatory Practices. No person holding any position in the civil service shall be favored or discriminated against on account of age, race, sex, religion, political affiliation, or place of origin. Source: PL 1-9, § 9; repealed and reenacted by PL 17-8…

Prohibited Activities: Political Activities. (a) No person in the civil service shall: (1) Use official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or affecting the result thereof; (2) Use official authority or influence to coerce the political action o…

Prohibited Activities: Wrongful Certification of Payrolls. (a) No disbursing or certifying officer shall make or approve or take any part in making or approving any payment for personal service to any person holding a position in the civil service or otherwise employed under the …

Prohibited Activities: Wrongful Payments. (a) Any citizen may maintain a suit to restrain a disbursing officer from making any payments of any salary or compensation to any person whose appointment or employment has not been made in accordance with this part and the rules and reg…

Other Prohibited Activities. (a) No recommendation of any person who applies for examination or appointment to any office or position under the provisions of this part which may be given by an elected official of the Commonwealth, except as to the ability or character of the appl…

Legislative Intent and Findings. It is the intent of this article to insulate government employees from being intimidated and harassed by threats to their employment security from political pressure relative to public elections. The legislature finds that in order to protect the …

Coercion of Public Employees for Political Purposes Made Unlawful. (a) “Government employee” means any person employed by a branch, agency, department, commission, board, authority or public corporation of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, whether in the civil ser…

Other Remedies. (a) In addition to, independent of, and irrespective of the criminal penalties prescribed by 1 CMC § 8152(b), any person who has been the victim of political coercion as described in 1 CMC § 8152(b) may recover from the perpetrator of the political coercion, full …

Short Title. This chapter may be cited as the 1984 Compensation Adjustments Act. Source: PL 4-32, § 1. Commission Comment: PL 4-32 took effect April 1, 1985.

Purpose. This chapter establishes uniform and consistent salaries for top policy-making appointed officials. Source: PL 4-32, § 1, modified.

Definitions. (a) “Employee” includes full-time and part-time personnel, and employees of federal programs who receive their paychecks from the Commonwealth Government. “Employee” does not include a fund custodian pursuant to 1 CMC § 8352, an investment agent pursuant to 1 CMC § 8…

Compensation of Certain Elected Officials. (a) The Governor shall receive an annual salary of $120,000 and the Lieutenant Governor an annual salary of $100,000. (b) The mayors of an island or a group of islands shall receive an annual salary of $75,000. Source: PL 4-32, § 3; amen…

Compensation of Certain Appointed Officials. The following appointed positions within the Commonwealth government shall be paid base annual salaries as follows: (a) Department director/activity head: Title Secretary, Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary, Commerce Commissioner…

Compensation of the Executive Directors of Government Corporations, Semiautonomous and Autonomous Agencies. The executive directors (the top administrative officers) of government corporations, as defined in 1 CMC § 7103(n), and of other agencies, commissions, and offices shall r…

Compensation of Board Members of Government Corporations and Councils. (a) The rate of compensation for meetings attended for members of all government corporations, councils, commissions, agencies, including but not limited to autonomous agencies, boards, and elected municipal c…

Government Salary Ceiling. (a) Except as provided by law, no employee of the Commonwealth government shall receive an annual salary of more than $65,175. (b) Medical professionals, whose primary responsibilities include giving professional medical advice and are licensed to presc…

Exemptions. (a) The salary provisions of this chapter shall not apply to a nonelected employee holding a position on April 1, 1985, where the employee receives a salary higher than the salary established by this chapter for his position. In all cases the salary of the nonelected …

Filling Positions Vacated By a Retiring Employee. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, all department, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Commonwealth Government shall in good faith fill any vacant FTE position that occurs when an employee retires with an employee at a sa…

Contributions to Fund: By Member. (a) Each class I member of the fund shall contribute 6.5 percent of the salary earned and accruing to the member in fiscal year 2006 and 2007. Beginning on the first day of fiscal year 2008 the rate shall increase by 1.0 percent per fiscal year u…

Contributions to Fund: By Government. (a) The government shall make contributions to the fund each year on an actuarially funded basis toward the annuities and benefits provided for this part. These contributions shall be equal to the sum of the following: (1) For Class I Members…

Retirement Fund’s Contribution for Life Insurance. (a) Annuitants shall be provided an option to continue their Commonwealth government life insurance coverage under the same group terms and conditions as that government coverage, if any, that is offered each fiscal year to the C…

Retirement Fund’s Contribution for Health Insurance. (a) Annuitants shall be provided with an option, to be exercised within six months of the date of retirement, to continue their Commonwealth government health insurance coverage under the same group terms and conditions as that…

Actuarial Study. The Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund (NMIRF) shall, no later than fifteen days after this Act becomes law, commission an actuarial study to determine the new employer contribution rate for the CNMI government based on a date of full government contributio…

Benefits: Transfer and Direct Roll-Over to the Defined Contribution Plan. (a) A member, who is eligible to participate in the Defined Contribution Plan under 1 CMC § 8458 or other applicable law, may submit a written request to the Administrator to rollover via direct transfer an…

Employer Retirement Contribution. (a) Notwithstanding 1 CMC § 8362 or any other provision of law, the Public School System (PSS) and employers of employees funded by the General Fund shall remit a retirement contribution of 18%* of the total salary of the employee. Except as prov…

NMI Retirement Fund. Notwithstanding any law or regulation to the contrary, the NMI Retirement Fund Board and Administrator shall, upon receipt of the CNMI government employer contribution as stated under 1 CMC § 8362(g), accept and provide full pension to all government employee…

Offering, Receiving and Soliciting Gifts or Favors. (a) No person shall give to any public official or public employee, or to the spouse or minor child of either of them, and none of them shall solicit or accept, any anonymous gift. (b) No person shall give or offer to give to an…

Solicitation or Receipt of Money for Advice or Assistance. No public official or public employee, or the spouse or minor child of said official or employee, shall solicit or accept any money or other thing of value including, but not limited to, gifts, favors, services or promise…

Restrictions on Acceptance of Honoraria. (a) A public official or public employee shall not accept an honorarium of more than $1,000, excluding amounts for actual travel and subsistence expenses for the public official or employee, for a speech or article, or honoraria aggregatin…

Limitation of Actions. The statute of limitations for bringing an administrative or judicial action pursuant to this chapter shall be five years. Source: PL 8-11, § 1 (§ 8453).

Title. This chapter may be cited as the Lobbying Disclosure Act. Source: PL 4-25, § 1. Commission Comment: PL 4-25 took effect December 18, 1984.

Policy. It is declared a policy of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands that the public is entitled to know what private persons or interest groups influence enactment of laws and formulation of public policy in the Commonwealth. Source: PL 4-25, § 2.

Definition. A lobbyist is a person who by himself or herself or through any agent, employee, or other person in any manner whatsoever, directly or indirectly, solicits, collects or receives any money or any other thing of value to be used in any manner to aid in or influence: (a)…

Statement of Contribution and Expenditures. Every lobbyist receiving any contribution or fee, or making any expenditures for any of the purposes designated in 1 CMC § 9413 shall file with the Board of Elections a cumulative statement on or before January 15, for the preceding cal…

Employment of Public Officials as Lobbyists. It shall be unlawful for any person to employ, remunerate or compensate any elected official, appointed official or government employee as a lobbyist in any way whatsoever, unless the employer is a registered lobbyist, and without prio…