Senate says E-Land lease already rejected, disputes need for joint session

The CNMI Senate has responded to Attorney General Edward Manibusan’s assertion that the Legislature must convene in a joint session to either approve or formally reject the proposed Mariana E-Land Corp. lease for the former Marianas Resort & Spa property in Marpi.

In a May 21 letter addressed to Manibusan, Senate President Karl R. King-Nabors said the Senate already disapproved the proposed lease agreement when it adopted Senate Resolution 24-10 on Sept. 15, 2025.

“The Senate has already disapproved the proposed lease agreement for the former Marianas Resort property by adopting Senate Resolution No. 24-10 by majority vote on September 15, 2025,” King-Nabors wrote. “Accordingly, no further action is required of the Senate.”

The exchange stems from ongoing litigation involving Mariana E-Land Corp. and the Department of Public Lands over the proposed lease of the former Marianas Resort & Spa property.

In an April 7 letter to legislative leaders, Manibusan said his office represents the CNMI government and DPL in the lawsuit filed by E-Land, which is seeking to compel DPL to enter into a lease agreement for the Marpi property.

Manibusan said DPL and E-Land negotiated lease terms that satisfy regulatory requirements and argued that because the proposed lease covers more than five hectares of public land for commercial use, it requires approval by the Legislature sitting in joint session under 1 CMC Section 2806(d).

The attorney general also stated that the Superior Court would likely not take further action until the Legislature addressed the lease in joint session.

“A joint session is needed to either approve the lease or to formally reject it so the parties can move forward in this litigation,” Manibusan wrote.

However, King-Nabors said the Senate interprets the CNMI Constitution and Commonwealth law as requiring a joint session only for approval of a lease involving more than five hectares of public land, and not specifically for disapproval.

“Based on the plain reading of 1 CMC § 2806(d), the DPL may not transfer an interest of more than five hectares of public land for commercial purposes without the approval of the Legislature sitting in a joint session,” King-Nabors stated. “There is no explicit statutory language that requires the Legislature to ‘disapprove’ the transfer of more than five hectares of public lands for commercial purposes sitting in a joint session.”

The Senate president also said neither the Commonwealth Code, the CNMI Constitution, nor the Legislature’s Joint Session Rules specifically outline a formal process for rejecting a proposed public land lease.

King-Nabors said legislative records only show joint sessions being used to approve public land leases, not reject them.

Because of that, he said the Senate exercised its authority to adopt Senate Resolution 24-10 to express its official opposition to the proposed E-Land lease.

“The Senate has already expressed its disapproval of the proposed Marianas Resort lease through the adoption of SR 24-10, which constitutes an official act of the Senate,” he wrote.

King-Nabors also addressed Manibusan’s characterization of a December 2025 Superior Court status conference.

According to the Senate president, the court order did not explicitly state that no further action would be taken until a joint session occurred.

“There is no explicit statement in the court order that the court will not take further action in the litigation until the Legislature addresses the proposed lease in a joint session,” King-Nabors wrote.

The proposed lease has remained controversial since it was first introduced.

Last year, senators unanimously adopted Senate Resolution 24-10 disapproving Mariana E-Land Corp.’s proposal to lease the roughly 1.4 million-square-meter former Mariana Resort & Spa property in Marpi.

Public hearings on the proposal drew concerns from some residents over the company’s financial capacity and the long-term impact of the lease.

Mariana E-Land Corp., which operates Pacific Islands Club, Kensington Hotel, and Coral Ocean Resort in the CNMI, previously proposed investing hundreds of millions of dollars into redeveloping the property.

The lawsuit between E-Land and the CNMI government remains pending in Superior Court.