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104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1306

To approve a multiyear program for the economic development and selfsufficiency of the United States territory of American Samoa.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 23, 1995

Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA (for himself and Mr. GALLEGLY) introduced the following

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

To approve a multiyear program for the economic development and self-sufficiency of the United States territory

of American Samoa.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Samoa

5 Economic Development Act of 1995’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds that—

8 (1) funding for the United States territory of

9 American Samoa has been based on the joint resolu10 tion entitled ‘‘Joint Resolution to provide for accept-
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1 ing, ratifying, and confirming cessions of certain is2 lands of the Samoan group to the United States,

3 and for other purposes’’, as amended (48 U.S.C.

4 1661), with commitments being made on a yearly

5 basis;

6 (2) American Samoa is locally self-governing

7 with a constitution of its own adoption and the di8 rect election of the Governor since 1977;

9 (3) the territory of American Samoa has had

10 difficulty in planning and implementing comprehen11 sive and sustainable infrastructure based solely on

12 annual ad hoc grants; and

13 (4) the territory of American Samoa and the

14 United States would benefit from a multiyear fund15 ing commitment which promotes economic develop16 ment and self-sufficiency and requires compliance

17 with financial management accounting standards,

18 the establishment of semiautonomous public utility

19 authorities utilizing cost-recovery principles, and the

20 phaseout of Federal subsidies for Government oper21 ations.

22 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro24 priated to the Secretary of the Interior for the Govern25 ment of American Samoa $34,500,000, backed by the full
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1 faith and credit of the United States, for each of fiscal

2 years 1996 through 2005. Such amounts shall, subject to

3 the limits specified in the table in subsection (b), be used

4 for—

5 (1) construction of capital assets of American

6 Samoa;

7 (2) maintenance and repair of such capital

8 assets;

9 (3) the operations of the Government of Amer10 ican Samoa; and

11 (4) reduction of unbudgeted debt incurred by

12 the Government of American Samoa in fiscal years

13 prior to 1996.

14 (b) TABLE OF MULTIYEAR FUNDING.—The table re15 ferred to in this subsection is as follows:

[In millions of dollars]

Fiscal year Year

# Operations Construction Deficit reduction(100% match)

Maintenance and

repair (100%

match)

Total

1996 ................. 1 23.0 5.5 3.0 3.0 34.5

1997 ................. 2 23.0 5.5 3.0 3.0 34.5

1998 ................. 3 23.0 5.5 3.0 3.0 34.5

1999 ................. 4 21.0 7.5 3.0 3.0 34.5

2000 ................. 5 18.0 10.5 3.0 3.0 34.5

2001 ................. 6 15.0 16.5 3.0 34.5

2002 ................. 7 12.0 19.5 3.0 34.5

2003 ................. 8 9.0 22.5 3.0 34.5

2004 ................. 9 6.0 25.5 3.0 34.5

2005 ................. 10 3.0 28.5 3.0 34.5

16 (c) MULTIYEAR AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIA17 TIONS.—Amounts not expended in the year appropriated

18 shall remain available until expended.
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1 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Government of American

3 Samoa shall establish a trust into which the amounts ap4 propriated pursuant to section 3 are placed.

5 (b) TRUSTEE.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—A trustee to administer the

7 trust established by this section shall be nominated

8 by the Governor of American Samoa and passed by

9 both Houses of the Legislature of American Samoa

10 pursuant to local law and shall be a nongovern11 mental entity, bonded in an amount no less than

12 110 percent of the maximum amount of funds which

13 will be held in trust during any given fiscal year

14 (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘trustee’’).

15 The trustee shall not be the independent auditor re16 quired by section 7.

17 (2) REPLACEMENT.—The trustee may be termi18 nated only by mutual agreement, or at the end of its

19 contract for services as trustee, or for good cause.

20 Termination of a trustee for good cause must be rec21 ommended by the Governor of American Samoa and

22 approved by both Houses of the Legislature of

23 American Samoa.

24 (3) OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—The

25 trustee shall be subject to such other conditions as
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1 the Government of American Samoa may provide

2 under local law.

3 (c) TRUST FUNDS.—

4 (1) DEPOSIT; INVESTMENT.—The trust funds

5 shall be deposited in an account or accounts of a fi6 nancial institution insured by the Federal Deposit

7 Insurance Corporation, and may be invested by the

8 Government of American Samoa, or the trustee if so

9 designated, in only federally insured accounts or is10 sues of bonds, notes or other redeemable instru11 ments of the Government of the United States.

12 (2) USE OF INTEREST AND DIVIDENDS.—Inter13 est or dividends earned from investment of trust

14 funds under paragraph (1) may be used for projects

15 contained on the approved master plan of capital

16 needs developed under section 5, or for the costs of

17 managing the trust.

18 (3) AVAILABILITY AND USE OF FEDERAL

19 FUNDS.—Federal funds made available for the pur20 poses described in section 3(a)(1) may be used only

21 on projects from the approved master plan of capital

22 needs.

23 (d) REPORTS.—Within 90 days after the end of each

24 fiscal year, the trustee shall submit an annual report to

25 the chairmen and ranking minority members of the Com-
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1 mittee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Commit2 tee on Appropriations of the United States Senate, the

3 Committee on Resources and the Committee on Appro4 priations of the United States House of Representatives,

5 and the Government of American Samoa. The report shall

6 include at a minimum the financial statements of the ac7 count or accounts in which it holds trust funds pursuant

8 to this Act.

9 SEC. 5. USES OF TRUST FUNDS.

10 (a) CAPITAL NEEDS.—

11 (1) MASTER PLAN OF CAPITAL NEEDS.—For

12 fiscal year 1997 and all following years, no funds

13 appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be released

14 by the trustee for construction of capital assets with15 out the submission by the Government of American

16 Samoa to the trustee of a master plan of capital

17 needs that ranks projects in order of priority for at

18 least five years. The master plan shall be approved

19 by the Governor and passed by both Houses of the

20 Legislature of American Samoa pursuant to such

21 laws as the Government of American Samoa may

22 enact. The master plan of capital needs may be

23 amended at any time, but all amendments must be

24 approved by the Governor and passed by both

25 Houses of the Legislature of American Samoa. The
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1 plan shall include the capital needs of all the islands

2 of American Samoa.

3 (2) FUNDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF CAPITAL AS4 SETS.—Funds for the construction of capital assets

5 shall be paid to the Government of American Samoa

6 only after approval by the trustee. The trustee shall

7 approve the release of funds only for construction

8 projects for a public purpose in the areas of commu9 nications, electrical power, water, waste water,

10 roads, schools, school transportation system, air,

11 water and surface transportation, ports, harbors,

12 storage and transportation facilities of fuels or other

13 forms of energy, health, and construction of govern14 ment-owned buildings. Funding made available pur15 suant to section 3(a)(1) for construction of capital

16 assets may only be used for projects listed on the

17 master plan of capital needs as set forth in this sec18 tion. To the extent an appropriation is available, the

19 projects contained on the master list with the high20 est priority are to be funded.

21 (3) REQUIREMENT OF SEMIAUTONOMOUS AGEN22 CIES.—Beginning with fiscal year 1997, no funds

23 for the construction of capital assets shall be re24 leased by the trustee in the areas of communica25 tions, electrical power, public health, transportation,
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1 water, and wastewater until there is established by

2 local law semiautonomous government agencies of

3 the Government of American Samoa.

4 (4) MAINTENANCE PLAN AND FUNDING.—For

5 fiscal years 1997 and all following years, no funds

6 appropriated pursuant to this Act shall be released

7 by the trustee for the construction of capital assets

8 until the Government of American Samoa, or the ap9 propriate semiautonomous government agency if re10 quired, submits to the trustee a maintenance plan

11 covering the anticipated life of the project and the

12 project is initially funded. The maintenance plan

13 shall include the estimated cost of maintaining and

14 repairing the project and identify a source to fund

15 the estimated maintenance and repairs for the an16 ticipated life of the project. The initial funding for

17 this maintenance plan shall be in the amount of 10

18 percent of the cost of the project. Federal funds

19 made available for the purposes described in section

20 3(a)(2) may be used for one-half of the initial fund21 ing. Other Federal funds made available pursuant to

22 this Act may not be used for this purpose. Funds set

23 aside pursuant to this paragraph may be used for

24 the maintenance and repair of any capital asset
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1 within the purview of the government or the appro2 priate semiautonomous agency.

3 (b) DEBT REDUCTION.—Any funding made available

4 pursuant to section 3(a)(4) used to reduce the unbudgeted

5 debt of the Government of American Samoa must be

6 matched, on a dollar for dollar basis, by funds provided

7 by the Government of American Samoa from revenue

8 raised from non-Federal sources.

9 (c) MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR.—Any funding made

10 available pursuant to section 3(a)(2) used for the mainte11 nance or repair of the capital assets of the Government

12 of American Samoa must be matched, on a dollar for dol13 lar basis, by funds provided by the Government of Amer14 ican Samoa from revenue raised from non-Federal

15 sources.

16 (d) PROHIBITED USES OF FUNDS.—Neither the

17 funds appropriated pursuant to this Act, nor any interest

18 or dividends earned on those funds may be transferred to

19 other accounts, or loaned to other accounts or agencies;

20 nor may these funds, interest or dividends be used as col21 lateral for loans made by the local government.

22 SEC. 6. DISBURSEMENT OF TRUST FUNDS.

23 (a) OPERATIONS.—Trust funds to be used for the op24 erations of the Government of American Samoa shall be

25 disbursed in equal amounts on a monthly basis, on the
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1 first business day of each month of the fiscal year. An

2 extra drawdown may be made once each fiscal year in an

3 amount not to exceed ten percent of the amounts appro4 priated for the fiscal year for the purposes of section

5 3(a)(3), and only for purposes caused by extreme or na6 tional emergencies deemed unforeseeable by the trustee.

7 (b) CONSTRUCTION.—Trust funds to be used for the

8 construction of capital assets shall be released by the

9 trustee—

10 (1) to the Government of American Samoa,

11 only upon completion of identifiable portions of the

12 construction work if the work is performed by em13 ployees of the Government of American Samoa, or

14 (2) a bona fide contractor of the Government of

15 American Samoa pursuant to the terms of a con16 struction contract, on an invoice presented to the

17 Government of American Samoa and approved by an

18 appropriate official of the Government of American

19 Samoa.

20 (c) DEBT REDUCTION; MAINTENANCE REPAIR.—

21 Trust funds to be used for unbudgeted debt reduction or

22 maintenance and repair made available under sections

23 3(a)(2) and 3(a)(4) shall be released by the trustee on

24 submission by the Government of American Samoa of

25 proof of payment from non-Federal sources for either debt
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1 reduction, maintenance, or repair, and proof acceptable to

2 the trustee of an obligation due and owing for the appro3 priate category.

4 SEC. 7. AUDITS.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with fiscal year 1996,

6 the Government of American Samoa must obtain, at its

7 own expense, a comprehensive financial audit meeting the

8 requirements of chapter 75 of title 31, United States

9 Code, and subtitle A of title 43, Code of Federal Regula10 tions, and upon which an independent auditor expresses

11 an opinion that the financial statements of the Govern12 ment of American Samoa present fairly, in all material

13 respects, the financial position of the Government of

14 American Samoa, and were prepared in conformity with

15 generally accepted accounting principles. The audit shall

16 include the funds held in trust pursuant to this Act.

17 (b) SUBMISSION OF AUDIT REPORT TO UNITED

18 STATES.—Reports of audits required in this section shall

19 be transmitted by the Governor of American Samoa to the

20 chairmen and ranking members of the Committee on En21 ergy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Appro22 priations of the United States Senate, and the Committee

23 on Resources and the Committee on Appropriations of the

24 United States House of Representatives within 180 days
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1 of the end of each fiscal year for which the United States

2 provides funding under this Act.

3 (c) FAILURE TO OBTAIN AUDIT.—In the event the

4 Government of American Samoa does not obtain the audit

5 within the time required by this section, the trustee shall

6 not disburse additional funds pursuant to section 3(a)(3)

7 for the operations of the Government of American Samoa

8 until such time as a qualifying audit is received and the

9 report of that audit is forwarded as required by this sec10 tion. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, one emer11 gency disbursement may be made per year under the pro12 visions of section 6 of this Act, even if a qualifying audit

13 report is not obtained.

14 SEC. 8. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO AUDIT.

15 The Comptroller General of the United States and

16 the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior

17 shall have the authority to conduct audits of all funds of

18 all branches and semiautonomous authorities of the Gov19 ernment of American Samoa. Nothing in this Act shall

20 be construed to restrict the authority of these or other

21 Federal agencies to audit government funds as authorized

22 by Federal law.
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1 SEC. 9. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES.

2 The High Court of American Samoa is authorized to

3 resolve disputes which arise under this Act pursuant to

4 its rules of procedure.

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