THE House of Representatives on Friday unanimously passed House Bill 22-104 or the CNMI Public Servant Anti-Corruption Act of 2022 and H.B. 22-83 or the Commonwealth-wide Whistleblower Protection Act.
All 15 members present voted yes for the passage of both bills, which now go to the Senate.
House Floor Leader Ralph Yumul, Reps. Joseph Leepan Guerrero, Roy Ada, Denita Yangetmai and Patrick San Nicolas were excused.
Authored by Rep. Vicente Camacho, H.B. 22-104 seeks to add new provisions to the law associated with public corruption, official misconduct, and other unlawful influence and related offenses committed by public officials.
The measure would make giving bribes to public servants punishable by imprisonment of not more than five years or less than one year, and would impose a fine of not less than $10,000 but not more than $50,000. It would also make receiving bribes punishable by not more than three years or less than one year imprisonment, and impose a fine of no less than $10,000 and not more than $50,000.
If the public servant is a building inspector, the prison sentence shall be not more than five years and not less than one year.
Authored by Rep. Leila Staffler, H.B. 22-83 provides protection to government employees reporting on prohibited personnel practices, and rewards individuals who report underpayments of taxes. The bill also clarifies the mechanism for the payment of rewards for disclosure leading to the recovery of public funds.
H.B. 22-83 proposes to...
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