The Fono has endorsed the governor’s nominations of Keniseli Fa’alupe Lafaele as Commerce Department Director and Samana Semo Ve’ave’a as Director of the local Homeland Security Department, after the Senate on Wednesday handed down separate, but unanimous votes of 16-0 for each director-nominee.

Lafaele was confirmed in a 14-3 vote last Friday in the House, which gave a unanimous 18-0 endorsement-vote for Samana on Tuesday. 

The Senate vote came following separate hearings earlier in the day for Lafaele, who served in the same directorship post in the last four years, and Samana, who was director of Parks and Recreation during the Togiola Administration.

COMMERCE DIRECTOR

Lafaele’s role as project manager for the Coverage for All in American Samoa project was the first major question for the director-nominee during his nearly two-hour hearing before the Senate Economic Development and Ways & Means Committee.

The federally funded research project was charged with researching health care financial needs of American Samoa, and to consider arriving at options for stakeholders and policy-makers. The project, which was carried out from 2005 to 2007, focused on insurance for all residents of American Samoa. As reported by Samoa News, at the time, a report was submitted to the Togiola Administration as well as to the Fono to take the appropriate action.

Sen. Paepae Iosefa Faiai sought more information on where the project stands to which Lafaele said that a bill was introduced in the House in 2011 to establish self-insurance for all residents of American Samoa, but it went nowhere. (Meaning it was officially defeated at the end of that legislative session because it was never reported out of the committee at the time.)

For the Lolo Administration, the report from the research has been provided to the ASG Medicaid Office to review for possible self-insurance of local residents in connection with the Medicaid program, he said.

Paepae, who told senators that Lafaele had been his teacher at Leone High School, asked the director-nominee to follow up on this project, adding that there are many residents who don’t have medical insurance, which is needed when traveling off island.

According to Lafaele’s resume, he has served as a member of the Governor’s Task Force to review port and airport rates, and Paepae asked about the outcome of this review. Lafaele said the work is completed and was presented to the newly established Governor’s Task Force on Revenue, for review and possible approval of rates that would generate new revenues for the government.

Lafaele also said the proposal to increase port and airport rates could be sent to the Fono for legislative approval if necessary.

The revenue task force is charged with, among other things, reviewing and assessing the effectiveness of all existing revenue generating legislation with respect to existing economic and financial environment. Lafaele is a member of this task force, which is chaired by Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale. (See Samoa News edition Jan. 17, 2017 for details.)

Sen. Tuaolo Manaia Fruean asked when the government owned Territorial Bank of American Samoa will get a routing number, and Lafaele said that Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga would be heading soon to Washington D.C. and among his meetings is one with the Federal Reserve Bank officials; and after this meeting, a decision will be made on the TBAS routing number. Lafaele is one of the seven board members of the Territorial Bancorp Holding Company, an ASG entity that governs TBAS.

On the issue of economic development, Lafaele explained that American Samoa’s economy has depended for many years on only two pillars — the territorial government and the tuna canneries. However, the Lolo Administration has focused on adding more pillars — for example, tourism and transportation as well as information technology and the communication industry — which could attract call centers to American Samoa.

On the issue of unemployment in American Samoa, he said it was at a high of 28% in 2012 and then dropped down to 10.5% in December of last year. However, when Samoa Tuna Processors Inc., closed down its cannery operations and laid-off about 700 workers, it resulted in the unemployment rate hiking to 14% at the end of 2016.

Sen. Fai’ivae A. Godinet asked about leases at the Tafuna Industrial Park, where the company that has the lease with ASG, would sublease it to another business. Fai’ivae’s concern with subleases has been raised many times in the Fono with lawmakers complaining that companies are making money off subleasing government property.

Lafaele acknowledged this practice, and said in the last four years, the Lolo Administration has been working to resolve this issue to prevent subleasing of ASG property.

Senate President Gaoteote Tofau Palaie agreed with Fai’ivae’s concern over subleases and suggested that the Fono can help with any proposed changes to the law to protect government property from getting subleased by the company that holds the lease with ASG.

Samoa News will report later on other major issues that were raised during the confirmation hearing.

ASDHS DIRECTOR

During Samana’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Tuaolo publicly confirmed information received by Samoa News early last month when the governor had started making appointments for his cabinet. He informed Samana that the governor had thought about putting Samana in as either Human Resources Department director or ASDHS director. Tuaolo didn’t make any other comments on this issue.

According to Samana’s resume, he has more than 30 years of management and leadership experience and he holds a Masters in Human Resources Management from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Hawaii Pacific University.

At the start of his 25-minute confirmation hearing, Samana told senators that after he was appointed to the directorship post he visited other divisions of the department and identified areas that need improvement.

Similar to what he said during his House confirmation hearing, Samana noted that the Office of Vital Statistic holds vital records — such as birth and marriage certificates — totaling 2.28 million records, which while stored in vault is inadequate, and a more secure way for storage is needed. He also said the building that is housing the office is too small and they are looking at funds to address this issue.

Samana, a retired US Army Sergeant Major, also said that American Samoa has no plan to combat terrorism and this is something that ASDHS will address during his tenure.

Responding to a committee question, Samana said ASDHS conducts background checks for ASG employees, covering both locally and off island. He says police don’t have the system that ASDHS has to carry out such a task.

Prior to joining the Lolo Administration, 67-year-old Samana served as a JROTC instructor at Tafuna High School from 2013. He was Parks and Recreation Director from 2009 to 2012 and was also a JROTC instructor at Leone High School from 2002 to 2009.

Many ASDHS employees along with Samana’s family members and friends packed the Senate gallery during the confirmation hearing.