[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1306 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1306

 To approve a multiyear program for the economic development and self-
     sufficiency 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``American Samoa Economic Development 
Act of 1995''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) funding for the United States territory of American 
        Samoa has been based on the joint resolution entitled ``Joint 
        Resolution to provide for accepting, ratifying, and confirming 
        cessions of certain islands of the Samoan group to the United 
        States, and for other purposes'', as amended (48 U.S.C. 1661), 
        with commitments being made on a yearly basis;
            (2) American Samoa is locally self-governing with a 
        constitution of its own adoption and the direct election of the 
        Governor since 1977;
            (3) the territory of American Samoa has had difficulty in 
        planning and implementing comprehensive and sustainable 
        infrastructure based solely on annual ad hoc grants; and
            (4) the territory of American Samoa and the United States 
        would benefit from a multiyear funding commitment which 
        promotes economic development and self-sufficiency and requires 
        compliance with financial management accounting standards, the 
        establishment of semiautonomous public utility authorities 
        utilizing cost-recovery principles, and the phaseout of Federal 
        subsidies for Government operations.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.

    (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated to the 
Secretary of the Interior for the Government of American Samoa 
$34,500,000, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States, 
for each of fiscal years 1996 through 2005. Such amounts shall, subject 
to the limits specified in the table in subsection (b), be used for--
            (1) construction of capital assets of American Samoa;
            (2) maintenance and repair of such capital assets;
            (3) the operations of the Government of American Samoa; and
            (4) reduction of unbudgeted debt incurred by the Government 
        of American Samoa in fiscal years prior to 1996.
    (b) Table of Multiyear Funding.--The table referred to in this 
subsection is as follows:


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            Deficit       Maintenance           
            Fiscal year              Year #   Operations  Construction     reduction      and repair      Total 
                                                                         (100% match)    (100% match)           
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (c) Multiyear Availability of Appropriations.--Amounts not expended 
in the year appropriated shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TRUST.

    (a) In General.--The Government of American Samoa shall establish a 
trust into which the amounts appropriated pursuant to section 3 are 
placed.
    (b) Trustee.--
            (1) In general.--A trustee to administer the trust 
        established by this section shall be nominated by the Governor 
        of American Samoa and passed by both Houses of the Legislature 
        of American Samoa pursuant to local law and shall be a 
        nongovernmental entity, bonded in an amount no less than 110 
        percent of the maximum amount of funds which will be held in 
        trust during any given fiscal year (hereafter in this Act 
        referred to as the ``trustee''). The trustee shall not be the 
        independent auditor required by section 7.
            (2) Replacement.--The trustee may be terminated only by 
        mutual agreement, or at the end of its contract for services as 
        trustee, or for good cause. Termination of a trustee for good 
        cause must be recommended by the Governor of American Samoa and 
        approved by both Houses of the Legislature of American Samoa.
            (3) Other terms and conditions.--The trustee shall be 
        subject to such other conditions as the Government of American 
        Samoa may provide under local law.
    (c) Trust Funds.--
            (1) Deposit; investment.--The trust funds shall be 
        deposited in an account or accounts of a financial institution 
        insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and may 
        be invested by the Government of American Samoa, or the trustee 
        if so designated, in only federally insured accounts or issues 
        of bonds, notes or other redeemable instruments of the 
        Government of the United States.
            (2) Use of interest and dividends.--Interest or dividends 
        earned from investment of trust funds under paragraph (1) may 
        be used for projects contained on the approved master plan of 
        capital needs developed under section 5, or for the costs of 
        managing the trust.
            (3) Availability and use of federal funds.--Federal funds 
        made available for the purposes described in section 3(a)(1) 
        may be used only on projects from the approved master plan of 
capital needs.
    (d) Reports.--Within 90 days after the end of each fiscal year, the 
trustee shall submit an annual report to the chairmen and ranking 
minority members of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and 
the Committee on Appropriations of the United States Senate, the 
Committee on Resources and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
United States House of Representatives, and the Government of American 
Samoa. The report shall include at a minimum the financial statements 
of the account or accounts in which it holds trust funds pursuant to 
this Act.

SEC. 5. USES OF TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) Capital Needs.--
            (1) Master plan of capital needs.--For fiscal year 1997 and 
        all following years, no funds appropriated pursuant to this Act 
        shall be released by the trustee for construction of capital 
        assets without the submission by the Government of American 
        Samoa to the trustee of a master plan of capital needs that 
        ranks projects in order of priority for at least five years. 
        The master plan shall be approved by the Governor and passed by 
        both Houses of the Legislature of American Samoa pursuant to 
        such laws as the Government of American Samoa may enact. The 
        master plan of capital needs may be amended at any time, but 
        all amendments must be approved by the Governor and passed by 
        both Houses of the Legislature of American Samoa. The plan 
        shall include the capital needs of all the islands of American 
        Samoa.
            (2) Funds for construction of capital assets.--Funds for 
        the construction of capital assets shall be paid to the 
        Government of American Samoa only after approval by the 
        trustee. The trustee shall approve the release of funds only 
        for construction projects for a public purpose in the areas of 
        communications, electrical power, water, waste water, roads, 
        schools, school transportation system, air, water and surface 
        transportation, ports, harbors, storage and transportation 
        facilities of fuels or other forms of energy, health, and 
        construction of government-owned buildings. Funding made 
        available pursuant to section 3(a)(1) for construction of 
        capital assets may only be used for projects listed on the 
        master plan of capital needs as set forth in this section. To 
        the extent an appropriation is available, the projects 
        contained on the master list with the highest priority are to 
        be funded.
            (3) Requirement of semiautonomous agencies.--Beginning with 
        fiscal year 1997, no funds for the construction of capital 
        assets shall be released by the trustee in the areas of 
        communications, electrical power, public health, 
        transportation, water, and wastewater until there is 
        established by local law semiautonomous government agencies of 
        the Government of American Samoa.
            (4) Maintenance plan and funding.--For fiscal years 1997 
        and all following years, no funds appropriated pursuant to this 
        Act shall be released by the trustee for the construction of 
        capital assets until the Government of American Samoa, or the 
        appropriate semiautonomous government agency if required, 
        submits to the trustee a maintenance plan covering the 
        anticipated life of the project and the project is initially 
        funded. The maintenance plan shall include the estimated cost 
        of maintaining and repairing the project and identify a source 
        to fund the estimated maintenance and repairs for the 
        anticipated life of the project. The initial funding for this 
        maintenance plan shall be in the amount of 10 percent of the 
        cost of the project. Federal funds made available for the 
        purposes described in section 3(a)(2) may be used for one-half 
        of the initial funding. Other Federal funds made available 
        pursuant to this Act may not be used for this purpose. Funds 
        set aside pursuant to this paragraph may be used for the 
        maintenance and repair of any capital asset within the purview 
        of the government or the appropriate semiautonomous agency.
    (b) Debt Reduction.--Any funding made available pursuant to section 
3(a)(4) used to reduce the unbudgeted debt of the Government of 
American Samoa must be matched, on a dollar for dollar basis, by funds 
provided by the Government of American Samoa from revenue raised from 
non-Federal sources.
    (c) Maintenance and Repair.--Any funding made available pursuant to 
section 3(a)(2) used for the maintenance or repair of the capital 
assets of the Government of American Samoa must be matched, on a dollar 
for dollar basis, by funds provided by the Government of American Samoa 
from revenue raised from non-Federal sources.
    (d) Prohibited Uses of Funds.--Neither the funds appropriated 
pursuant to this Act, nor any interest or dividends earned on those 
funds may be transferred to other accounts, or loaned to other accounts 
or agencies; nor may these funds, interest or dividends be used as 
collateral for loans made by the local government.

SEC. 6. DISBURSEMENT OF TRUST FUNDS.

    (a) Operations.--Trust funds to be used for the operations of the 
Government of American Samoa shall be disbursed in equal amounts on a 
monthly basis, on the first business day of each month of the fiscal 
year. An extra drawdown may be made once each fiscal year in an amount 
not to exceed ten percent of the amounts appropriated for the fiscal 
year for the purposes of section 3(a)(3), and only for purposes caused 
by extreme or national emergencies deemed unforeseeable by the trustee.
    (b) Construction.--Trust funds to be used for the construction of 
capital assets shall be released by the trustee--
            (1) to the Government of American Samoa, only upon 
        completion of identifiable portions of the construction work if 
        the work is performed by employees of the Government of 
        American Samoa, or
            (2) a bona fide contractor of the Government of American 
        Samoa pursuant to the terms of a construction contract, on an 
        invoice presented to the Government of American Samoa and 
        approved by an appropriate official of the Government of 
        American Samoa.
    (c) Debt Reduction; Maintenance Repair.--Trust funds to be used for 
unbudgeted debt reduction or maintenance and repair made available 
under sections 3(a)(2) and 3(a)(4) shall be released by the trustee on 
submission by the Government of American Samoa of proof of payment from 
non-Federal sources for either debt reduction, maintenance, or repair, 
and proof acceptable to the trustee of an obligation due and owing for 
the appropriate category.

SEC. 7. AUDITS.

    (a) In General.--Beginning with fiscal year 1996, the Government of 
American Samoa must obtain, at its own expense, a comprehensive 
financial audit meeting the requirements of chapter 75 of title 31, 
United States Code, and subtitle A of title 43, Code of Federal 
Regulations, and upon which an independent auditor expresses an opinion 
that the financial statements of the Government of American Samoa 
present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the 
Government of American Samoa, and were prepared in conformity with 
generally accepted accounting principles. The audit shall include the 
funds held in trust pursuant to this Act.
    (b) Submission of Audit Report to United States.--Reports of audits 
required in this section shall be transmitted by the Governor of 
American Samoa to the chairmen and ranking members of the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
United States Senate, and the Committee on Resources and the Committee 
on Appropriations of the United States House of Representatives within 
180 days of the end of each fiscal year for which the United States 
provides funding under this Act.
    (c) Failure To Obtain Audit.--In the event the Government of 
American Samoa does not obtain the audit within the time required by 
this section, the trustee shall not disburse additional funds pursuant 
to section 3(a)(3) for the operations of the Government of American 
Samoa until such time as a qualifying audit is received and the report 
of that audit is forwarded as required by this section. Notwithstanding 
the preceding sentence, one emergency disbursement may be made per year 
under the provisions of section 6 of this Act, even if a qualifying 
audit report is not obtained.

SEC. 8. AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO AUDIT.

    The Comptroller General of the United States and the Inspector 
General of the Department of the Interior shall have the authority to 
conduct audits of all funds of all branches and semiautonomous 
authorities of the Government of American Samoa. Nothing in this Act 
shall be construed to restrict the authority of these or other Federal 
agencies to audit government funds as authorized by Federal law.

SEC. 9. SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES.

    The High Court of American Samoa is authorized to resolve disputes 
which arise under this Act pursuant to its rules of procedure.
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