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Senate committee adopts bill to require off‑island contractors to register, secure local business license and comply with tax laws
Summary
The committee adopted House Bill 24‑40 to require foreign contractors on federally supported projects to register with the CNMI registrar, obtain a local business license and comply with tax laws; Commerce told the committee it seeks alignment with common practice elsewhere and the Department of Finance will be designated lead for enforcement.
The Senate committee voted to adopt House Bill 24‑40, a proposal to clarify how foreign corporations and off‑island contractors must register, obtain business licenses and comply with CNMI tax law when performing land, infrastructure or construction work in the Commonwealth.
Commerce representative CJ Bermudez summarized the bill as focused on off‑island contractors working on federally supported development: "This bill mainly aims at off island contractors who are working on federally supported development. It's really just getting the CNMI in line with the rest of the union," he told the committee. Bermudez said Commerce supports the measure’s goal of fair competition and sustainable local economic growth and recommended collaboration with the Department of Finance on enforcement and tax collection.
Members asked for Department of Finance and Department of Public Works coordination; the secretary of finance had proposed that the registrar of corporations and public works provide information and assistance to finance to facilitate enforcement. The committee agreed to name the Department of Finance as the enforcement lead, asked staff to prepare the committee report and placed the bill on the next Senate session calendar.
What’s next: The committee instructed legislative staff to prepare a committee report and to forward the bill for placement on the Senate calendar.
