Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A hearing for House Joint Resolution 38.1 that was introduced two weeks ago was brought to the floor of the House for a hearing, which seeks to amend the Revised Constitution of American Samoa to qualify non-US Nationals as electors.

Witnesses present for this hearing were Attorney General Fainu’ulelei Falefatu Alailima-Utu, Asaua Fuimaono, former American Samoa Legal Aid Counsel, and Tolofua Ualesi Levalula, Tax Office representative. 

In this amended version, the bill seeks to deem a non-U.S. national, that is 25 years old and has legally lived in American Samoa for no less than 25 consecutive years, to become a voter in American Samoa’s elections. 

Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu Jr. headed the House Rules Committee and with the members of the committee commenced the hearing by asking the witnesses to provide a brief explanation of the purpose of the joint resolution, despite being first introduced in 2020 and receiving pushback from the Governor and Fono. 

Attorney Asaua Fuimaono, who is also a member of the clergy, started off the inquiry with a disclaimer that he was attending the hearing as a private citizen as he is no longer with the Legal Aid office, and is now in private practice.

 “As someone who originally is from Western Samoa, I’ve been a resident of this territory for more than 30 years and have served this government, served the village and the church, and although I’ve received United States citizenship through naturalization, I wanted to speak on the experiences of other people who have lived in American Samoa for countless years without having a voice on who leads this government,” started Rev. Asaua. 

Rev. Asaua went on to say that this situation extremely saddened him, which is why he’s spoken to faipule’s and village leaders on finding a solution, which is why he was at this hearing because he supports the effort of this joint resolution. 

Attorney General Fainu’ulelei said that “special provision for individual’s, brought to work in American Samoa because of a certain skill, is one group of people that do not qualify to be permanent residents but have lived here legally for more than 25 years, and had no voting rights” were an example of people that the Attorney General pleaded deserved a voice in elections. 

Vice Speaker Fetui said it was hard for him to say anything further on this joint resolution, considering that the Governor has huge opposition to it, which confuses him. Fetui further asserted that he “has faith in the work he does but that this hearing was pointless.”

 During the hearing, members of the House Rule Committee observed that the joint resolution needed some revision and collectively agreed, and then advised the Attorney General, that the bill’s language should be revised and tabled the bill for a later hearing.

Faipule Tautoloitua Sauasetoa Ho Ching had no questions but did compare this specific joint resolution to the United States government having limited involvement on Native American reservations.

He compared it to Native American reservations because the United States government protects American Samoa’s voting rights because of communal laws that cover communal lands and the matai system in the culture.

Faipule Manumaua Wayne C. Wilson did not have any questions as well, but did express that he supports the joint resolution, although Manumaua did acknowledge that this joint resolution will have no effect in amending the Revised Constitution. 

Luaitaua Gene Pan echoed the sentiment that many non US nationals have contributed to the American Samoa government in many ways, but communicated that the forefathers of American Samoa signed the constitution for a reason, and that was to protect the voting rights of the people of American Samoa.

Samoa News notes the Fono went into a mid-session recess at the close of business last Friday and will reconvene on Aug. 21.

In the meantime the bill has been tabled.