Date: 1984-09-14
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of H.R. 5561 as amended by tie Senate. anl as further proposed for amendment here today. The bill contains important items for all of the U.S. possessions. and has bipartisan support in this body and in the Senate. I commend my colleague. TONY WON PAT. chairman of the Insular Affhirs Subcommittee. for his leadership in developing this legislation and orchestrating the consensus it reflects. I also commend the banking minority member of the subcommittee. BOB LAGOMARSINO. for his continued interest and attention to the concerns and nreeds of the territories. I sincerely appreciate that. through the efforts of both of these gentlemen. we have before us today a bill having firm bipartisan support. There are several provisions in the bill of particular importance to the Virgin Islands. and I just want to take a moment to highlight a few of those provisions. The bill makes funding available for the extension of the St. Croix Airport by adding this project to the authority already existing under Public Law 97357 for water and power. The budget impact. therefore. is neutral. Additionally. $600.000 is authorized for design of the project. This makes a total of $9.6 million available for the St. Croix Airport extension project. the estimated cost of which is $10 million. The St. Croix Airport is the only airport in the Virgin Islands capable of being extended to accommodate commercial aircraft loaJed for longdistance flight. The importance of such capability is what has led the United States to complete the airport on Grenada. Grenada has to have access to the European. South American. the Western and Midwestern U.S. tourist markets as well as the closer U.S. east coast market. it it is to survive economically. This country has recognized that tourism is the essence of Grenadas econotnic future. and has committed to helping the island nation. The Virgin Islands is also primarily a tourist economy and needs the same accesj to longdistance markets to be competitive. The Virgin Islands proposes to extend the existing 7.000foot runway on St. Croix to 10.000 feet. This extenslon will allow the Virgin Islands to accommodate the large commercial jets. such as the 727. 757. 767. DC10. and L1011. when loaded for longdistance flight. Our inability to handle such departures effectively cuts us out of the important tourist markets noted in reference to Grenada. The bill also provides for the transfer of Government House on St. Croix to the people of the Virgin Islands. The transfer of ownership is an extension of Congress earlier decision to transfer ownership of the St. Thomas Government House to the people of the Virgin Islands. As the center of local government activities on St. Croix. it is appropriate to tranfer ownership of Government House to the territory. This historic building was constructed during the Danish colonial rule in the Virgin Islands. It is currently maintained by the local government. and is viewed by island residents as properly their own. The bill as passed by the House also clarifies the industrial development bond authority for the Virgin Islands and American Samoa. as provided in the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984. Additionally. the bill removes the arbitrary 3year limitation placed on these two territories ability to issue IDBs. There is still work to be done regarding equitable access to IDB authority for the U.S. territories. The Deficit Reduction Act places a minimum IDB cap for the States at $200 million. The territories are limited to a strict per capita cap. Thus. the Virgin Islands and Guam face a $15 million IDB cap. to be reduced to $10 million after 1986. American Samoa is currently capped at $4.8 million. and the Northern Marianas Islands can only issue $2.4 million in IDBs. An example of the problem this raises is the Virgin Islands attempt to privitize its solid waste treatment. The administration has consistently discussed its intention to heir the territories privitize such activities. But. no private firm can reasonably finance the solid waste treatment plants needed without IDBs. The cost of the solid waste treatment plants is approximately $40 million. Under the current IDB limitations. the Virgin Islands would have to generate three separate bond issues over a 3year period. The debt service and protracted time period would raise the overall cost of the project. Furthermore. this would be the territorys only IDB issue. since the authority is limited to 3 years. This type of problem was recognized in extending a minimum cap of $200 million to the States. I do not suggest that each territory should have a $200 million cap. This would be a windfall. But the territories have tried to work for meaningful IDB authority. While we have not been successful in reaching the necessary consensus on this matter in the context of H.R. 5561. I ask my colleagues to lend their support to a more meaningful cap in the future. The Senate has amended H.R. 5561 to provide needed changes in the court systems in the territories. Significantly. the diversity jurisdiction of Federal district courts in the territories is clarified. The review of the local court decisions is brought more in line with the standard of appellate review in the rest of the Nation by a separate appellate division within the district court of the Virgin Islands consisting of a threeJudge panel. This changes the procedure existing only in the Virgin Islands court system wherein one Judge has the authority to reverse the decisions made by another. However. the right of direct appeal to the third circuit is not affected by this provision. This Senate amendment also grants to the Virgin Islands the authority. similar to that existing in the States. to create its own system of appellate review. Such authority must come from Congress. given its jurisdiction over the territories. The provision is yet another grant of autonomy for the territory. bringing the Virgin Islands closer to the standing of other members of the American family. However. the provision leaves to the people of the Virgin Islands the decision as to when they are ready to undertake this responsibility. This is consistent with Congress earlier grant of jurisdictional authority for local courts which allowed the people of the Virgin Islands to expand. as they see fit. The jurisidiction of their local courts. provided this jurisdiction does not infringe on the standard jurisdiction of the Federal Courts. The Virgin Islands has approached this wide authority slowly. The current appellate provisions allow the territory the same capability of determining the need to broaden its judicial responsibility. Also significant for the Virgin Islands is the exemption from up to $200.000 in local matching funds for Federal programs provided in section 601 of this bill. This provision responds to the developmental pressures faced by the Virgin Islands and the other territories. effectively cutting them out of needed Federal programs. Additionally. the bill provides $2 million in technical assistance to aid economic development in the Virgin Islands and other territories. This provision responds to the special difficulty September 14. 1.984 Septemtber 14. 1984 CONl of attracting business to the insular territories. This is a good bill. The items for the Virgin Islands and the other territories provide needed changes in Federal law. and include funding for programs which address the special developmental concerns of the U.S. offshore possessions. I. therefore. urge your support for passage of H.R. 5561 as presented by my able colleague. Chairman WON PAT.