[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2522 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2522

  To amend the Organic Act of Guam to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to reduce, release, or waive amounts owed by the Government of 
    Guam to the United States to offset unreimbursed Compact impact 
                               expenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2003

Ms. Bordallo (for herself, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Faleomavaega, 
 Mr. Rehberg, Mr. Abercrombie, and Mr. Case) introduced the following 
         bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Organic Act of Guam to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to reduce, release, or waive amounts owed by the Government of 
    Guam to the United States to offset unreimbursed Compact impact 
                               expenses.

    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 ``Compact Impact Reconciliation Act''.

SEC. 2. COMPACT IMPACT RECONCILIATION.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In enacting the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985 
        (Public Law 99-239), Congress authorized unrestricted migration 
        from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the 
        Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau to the United 
        States. Public Law 99-239 stated that if any adverse 
        consequences to Guam resulted from implementation of the 
        Compacts of Free Association, the Congress would act 
        sympathetically and expeditiously to redress those adverse 
        consequences.
            (2) The General Accounting Office has reported that such 
        migration permitted under the Compacts of Free Association has 
        had a significant impact on Guam.
            (3) By placing demands on local government for health, 
        educational, and other social services, migration under the 
        Compacts of Free Association has adversely affected the 
        budgetary resources of the Government of Guam.
            (4) Insufficient sums have been appropriated to cover the 
        costs incurred by the Government of Guam resulting from 
        increased demands placed on health, educational, and other 
        social services by citizens of the Federated States of 
        Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the 
        Republic of Palau.
            (5) The Government of Guam has provided health, 
        educational, and other social services in good faith with the 
        expectation that such incurred costs would be reimbursed by the 
        United States.
            (6) Guam has experienced a severe economic crisis in recent 
        years which has been exacerbated by expenses incurred related 
        to Compact migration without adequate reimbursement from the 
        United States.
            (7) The Government of Guam has accrued significant 
        obligations to the United States Government, including but not 
        limited to--
                    (A) $9,000,000 owed by the Guam Waterworks 
                Authority to the Department of the Navy for water 
                consumption;
                    (B) $3,000,000 owed by the Guam Community College 
                to the Department of Education for construction of a 
                student housing facility;
                    (C) $40,000,000 owed by the Government of Guam in 
                local matching funds to the Department of Homeland 
                Security for Typhoon Chata'an (FEMA-1426-DR) and 
                Supertyphoon Pongsona (FEMA-1446-DR) disaster 
                assistance; and
                    (D) $105,000,000 owed by the Guam Telephone 
                Authority to the Department of Agriculture for 
                telephone infrastructure improvements.
            (8) Congress has the authority to reconcile the amounts 
        that have not been appropriated to Guam for Compact impact 
        assistance with obligations owed by the Government of Guam to 
        the United States.
            (9) Reconciliation is in the national interest and would 
        promote good will in the future renewal of the Compacts of Free 
        Association and the economic recovery of Guam.
    (b) In General.--The Organic Act of Guam (48 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
    ``Sec. 36. The Secretary of the Interior may reduce, release, or 
waive all or part of any amounts owed by the Government of Guam (or its 
autonomous agencies or instrumentalities) to any department, agency, 
independent agency, office, or instrumentality of the United States.''.
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