I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 638

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 24, 1995

Referred to the Committee on Resources

AN ACT

To authorize appropriations for United States insular areas,

and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. TERRITORIAL AND FREELY ASSOCIATED STATE

2 INFRASTRUCTURE ASSISTANCE.

3 Section 4(b) of Public Law 94–241 (90 Stat. 263)

4 as added by section 10 of Public Law 99–396 (99 Stat.

5 837, 841) is amended by deleting ‘‘until Congress other6 wise provides by law.’’ and inserting in lieu thereof: ‘‘ex7 cept that, for fiscal years 1996 and thereafter, payments

8 to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

9 pursuant to the multi-year funding agreements con10 templated under the Covenant shall be limited to the

11 amounts set forth in the Agreement of the Special Rep12 resentatives on Future Federal Financial Assistance of the

13 Northern Mariana Islands, executed on December 17,

14 1992 between the special representative of the President

15 of the United States and special representatives of the

16 Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and shall be

17 subject to all the requirements of such Agreement with

18 any additional amounts otherwise made available under

19 this section in any fiscal year and not required to meet

20 the schedule of payments set forth in the Agreement to

21 be provided as set forth in subsection (c) until Congress

22 otherwise provides by law.

23 ‘‘(c) The additional amounts referred to in subsection

24 (b) shall be made available to the Secretary for obligation

25 as follows:
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1 ‘‘(1) for fiscal year 1996, all such amounts shall

2 be provided for capital infrastructure projects in

3 American Samoa; and

4 ‘‘(2) for fiscal years 1997 and thereafter, all

5 such amounts shall be available solely for capital in6 frastructure projects in Guam, the Virgin Islands,

7 American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the North8 ern Mariana Islands, the Republic of Palau, the

9 Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of

10 the Marshall Islands: Provided, That, in fiscal year

11 1997, $3 million of such amounts shall be made

12 available to the College of the Northern Marianas

13 and beginning in fiscal year 1997, and in each year

14 thereafter, not to exceed $3 million may be allo15 cated, as provided in Appropriation Acts, to the Sec16 retary of the Interior for use by Federal agencies or

17 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

18 to address immigration, labor, and law enforcement

19 issues in the Northern Mariana Islands, including,

20 but not limited to detention and corrections needs.

21 The specific projects to be funded shall be set forth

22 in a five-year plan for infrastructure assistance de23 veloped by the Secretary of the Interior in consulta24 tion with each of the island governments and up25 dated annually and submitted to the Congress con-
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1 current with the budget justifications for the De2 partment of the Interior. In developing and updating

3 the five year plan for capital infrastructure needs,

4 the Secretary shall indicate the highest priority

5 projects, consider the extent to which particular

6 projects are part of an overall master plan, whether

7 such project has been reviewed by the Corps of En8 gineers and any recommendations made as a result

9 of such review, the extent to which a set-aside for

10 maintenance would enhance the life of the project,

11 the degree to which a local cost-share requirement

12 would be consistent with local economic and fiscal

13 capabilities, and may propose an incremental set14 aside, not to exceed $2 million per year, to remain

15 available without fiscal year limitation, as an emer16 gency fund in the event of natural or other disasters

17 to supplement other assistance in the repair, replace18 ment, or hardening of essential facilities: Provided

19 further, That the cumulative amount set aside for

20 such emergency fund may not exceed $10 million at

21 any time.

22 ‘‘(d) Within the amounts allocated for infrastructure

23 pursuant to this section, and subject to the specific alloca24 tions made in subsection (c), additional contributions may

25 be made, as set forth in Appropriation Acts, to assist in
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1 the resettlement of Rongelap Atoll: Provided, That the

2 total of all contributions from any Federal source after

3 January 1, 1995 may not exceed $32 million and shall

4 be contingent upon an agreement, satisfactory to the

5 President, that such contributions are a full and final set6 tlement of all obligations of the United States to assist

7 in the resettlement of Rongelap Atoll and that such funds

8 will be expended solely on resettlement activities and will

9 be properly audited and accounted for. In order to provide

10 such contributions in a timely manner, each Federal agen11 cy providing assistance or services, or conducting activi12 ties, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is authorized

13 to make funds available, through the Secretary of the Inte14 rior, to assist in the resettlement of Rongelap. Nothing

15 in this subsection shall be construed to limit the provision

16 of ex gratia assistance pursuant to section 105(c)(2) of

17 the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985 (Public Law

18 99–239, 99 Stat. 1770, 1792) including for individuals

19 choosing not to resettle at Rongelap, except that no such

20 assistance for such individuals may be provided until the

21 Secretary notifies the Congress that the full amount of

22 all funds necessary for resettlement at Rongelap has been

23 provided.’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE.

2 Effective thirty days after the date of enactment of

3 this Act, the minimum wage provisions, including, but not

4 limited to, the coverage and exemptions provisions, of sec5 tion 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of June 25, 1938

6 (52 Stat. 1062), as amended, shall apply to the Common7 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, except—

8 (a) on the effective date, the minimum wage

9 rate applicable to the Commonwealth of the North10 ern Mariana Islands shall be $2.75 per hour;

11 (b) effective January 1, 1996, the minimum

12 wage rate applicable to the Commonwealth of the

13 Northern Mariana Islands shall be $3.05 per hour;

14 (c) effective January 1, 1997 and every Janu15 ary 1 thereafter, the minimum wage rate shall be

16 raised by thirty cents per hour or the amount nec17 essary to raise the minimum wage rate to the wage

18 rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor

19 Standards act, whichever is less; and

20 (d) once the minimum wage rate is equal to the

21 wage rate set forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair

22 Labor Standards Act, the minimum wage rate appli23 cable to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mari24 ana Islands shall thereafter be the wage rate set

25 forth in section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards

26 Act.
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1 SEC. 3. REPORT.

2 The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the

3 Attorney General and Secretaries of Treasury, Labor and

4 State, shall report to the Congress by the March 15 follow5 ing each fiscal year for which funds are allocated pursuant

6 to section 4(c) of Public Law 94–241 for use by Federal

7 agencies or the Commonwealth to address immigration,

8 labor or law enforcement activities. The report shall in9 clude but not be limited to—

10 (1) pertinent immigration information provided

11 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, in12 cluding the number of non-United States citizen con13 tract workers in the CNMI, based on data the Immi14 gration and Naturalization Service may require of

15 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

16 on a semiannual basis, or more often if deemed nec17 essary by the Immigration and Naturalization Serv18 ice,

19 (2) the treatment and conditions of non-United

20 States citizen contract workers, including foreign

21 government interference with workers’ ability to as22 sert their rights under United States law,

23 (3) the effect of laws of the Northern Mariana

24 Islands on Federal interests,

25 (4) the adequacy of detention facilities in the

26 Northern Mariana Islands,
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1 (5) the accuracy and reliability of the computer2 ized alien identification and tracking system and its

3 compatibility with the system of the Immigration

4 and Naturalization Service, and

5 (6) the reasons why Federal agencies are un6 able or unwilling to fully and effectively enforce Fed7 eral laws applicable within the Commonwealth of the

8 Northern Mariana Islands unless such activities are

9 funded by the Secretary of the Interior.

10 SEC. 4. IMMIGRATION COOPERATION.

11 The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

12 and the Immigration and Naturalization Service shall co13 operate in the identification and, if necessary, exclusion

14 or deportation from the Commonwealth of the Northern

15 Mariana Islands of persons who represent security or law

16 enforcement risks to the Commonwealth of the Northern

17 Mariana Islands or the United States.

18 SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION OF LOCAL EMPLOYMENT IN THE

19 MARIANAS.

20 (a) Section 8103(i) of title 46 of the United States

21 Code is amended by renumbering paragraph (3) as para22 graph (4) and by adding a new paragraph (3) as follows:

23 ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of

24 this subsection, any alien allowed to be employed

25 under the immigration laws of the Commonwealth of
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1 the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) may serve as

2 an unlicensed seaman on a fishing, fish processing,

3 or fish tender vessel that is operated exclusively

4 from a port within the CNMI and within the navi5 gable waters and exclusive economic zone of the

6 United States surrounding the CNMI. Pursuant to

7 46 U.S.C. 8704, such persons are deemed to be em8 ployed in the United States and are considered to

9 have the permission of the Attorney General of the

10 United States to accept such employment: Provided,

11 That paragraph (2) of this subsection shall not

12 apply to persons allowed to be employed under this

13 paragraph.’’.

14 (b) Section 8103(i)(1) of title 46 of the United States

15 Code is amended by deleting ‘‘paragraph (3) of this sub16 section’’ and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘paragraph (4) of

17 this subsection’’.

18 SEC. 6. CLARIFICATION OF OWNERSHIP OF SUBMERGED

19 LANDS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE

20 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.

21 Public Law 93–435 (88 Stat. 1210), as amended, is

22 further amended by—

23 (a) striking ‘‘Guam, the Virgin Islands’’ in sec24 tion 1 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Guam, the
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1 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

2 the Virgin Islands’’ each place the words appear;

3 (b) striking ‘‘Guam, American Samoa’’ in sec4 tion 2 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Guam, the

5 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

6 American Samoa’’; and

7 (c) striking ‘‘Guam, the Virgin Islands’’ in sec8 tion 2 and inserting in lieu thereof ‘‘Guam, the

9 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,

10 the Virgin Islands.’’.

11 With respect to the Commonwealth of the Northern

12 Mariana Islands, references to ‘‘the date of enactment of

13 this Act’’ or ‘‘date of enactment of this subsection’’ con14 tained in Public Law 93–435, as amended, shall mean the

15 date of enactment of this section.

16 SEC. 7. ANNUAL STATE OF THE ISLANDS REPORT.

17 The Secretary of the Interior shall submit to the Con18 gress, annually, a ‘‘State of the Islands’’ report on Amer19 ican Samoa, Guam, the United States Virgin Islands, the

20 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Re21 public of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and

22 the Federated States of Micronesia that includes basic

23 economic development information, data on direct and in24 direct Federal assistance, local revenues and expenditures,

25 employment and unemployment, the adequacy of essential
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1 infrastructure and maintenance thereof, and an assess2 ment of local financial management and administrative ca3 pabilities, and Federal efforts to improve those capabili4 ties.

5 SEC. 8. TECHNICAL CORRECTION.

6 Section 501 of Public Law 95–134 (91 Stat. 1159,

7 1164), as amended, is further amended by deleting ‘‘the

8 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands,’’ and inserting in

9 lieu thereof ‘‘the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the

10 Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia,’’.

Passed the Senate July 20 (legislative day, July 10),

1995.

Attest: KELLY D. JOHNSTON,

Secretary.