Legislation to streamline Am Samoa’s amendment process unanimously passed in committee
Washington, D.C. – The House Natural Resources Committee favorably reported Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata’s bill, H.R. 6062 [Legislation to streamline Am Samoa’s amendment process], by a bipartisan unanimous consent vote on Tuesday, advancing the bill to the full House of Representatives.
“I want to thank my colleagues for supporting the passage of HR 6062 through unanimous consent. Thank you to Chairman Westerman and Chair Hageman for their leadership and thank you to Ranking Member Grijalva and Representative Sablan for making this a bipartisan effort,” said Aumua Amata. “At the hearing conducted on January 18 by the Chair and Ranking Member of our subcommittee with oversight on insular affairs, the American Samoa government established a strong record supporting passage of this bill by the House, and the Senate committee of jurisdiction is aware of the progress we are making.”
“I want to reiterate that this repeal does not limit Congress’s powers in any way. We still have plenary oversight over the Territories, and I thank my colleagues for recognizing that,” Amata concluded. “Rather, this legislation is a strong step forward for territorial and indigenous self-determination and I look forward to continuing to work with all of you on issues affecting American Samoa and the other US Territories.”
The bill restores the ability of the people of American Samoa to more readily approve and implement amendments to the territorial constitution based on democratic self-determination by reducing unnecessary, redundant steps at the federal level.
In addition to Congresswoman Amata, Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR.) and the Ranking Member present, Congressman Jared Huffman (D-CA), expressed support for her bill.
Amata’s Complete Statement on H.R. 6062:
I want to begin today by thanking the Chairman, Ranking Member and the Committee members for giving H.R. 6062 priority and moving forward despite the other demands on our calendar and time. At the hearing conducted on January 18 by the Chair and Ranking Member of our subcommittee with oversight on insular affairs, the American Samoa government established a strong record supporting passage of this bill by the House, and the Senate committee of jurisdiction is aware of the progress we are making.
There are two important points for me to make today.
First, Congress does not need the 1983 one-sentence statute we propose to repeal in order for Congress to exercise full and plenary oversight of any amendments to any local territorial constitution or law.
The second point is that this poorly drafted statute is not enforceable as a mandate for Congress to exercise or hold in abeyance its plenary power over amendments to the local constitution.
So, the 1983 law is a meaningless provision that can have only two applications and effects, both of which are inconsistent with local self-government over local affairs over which Congress has delegated local authority.
The first effect compliance with this statute’s provisions would have is to limit the oversight and review of Congress to amendments approved by the Secretary, under authority the Secretary has had since 1951 under Executive Order 10264. The Secretary’s authority is limited to approving amendments to the local constitution made in the same manner as the local constitution was adopted by approval of the Secretary. That means the 1983 act that H.R. 6062 will repeal does not give the Secretary any delegated authority the Secretary does not already have under 48 U.S.C. 1661 as adopted in 1929.
The second effect of the 1983 act if it were ever implemented, is that it would restrict and limit the scope of oversight and review by Congress to amendments approved by the Secretary. This means that if the people approve amendments by majority vote in an act of local self-determination and the Secretary disapproves the amendment, the 1983 statute does not provide for Congressional review of a Secretarial veto.
So, if the intent of the 1983 act was to mandate that Congress act as gatekeeper for amendments, the actual effect is that the bill makes the Secretary gatekeeper of locally approved amendments the Secretary disapproves without providing for Congressional oversight. Repeal of the 1983 statute codified at 48 U.S.C. 1662a will remove a statutory impediment to the exercise of Congressional power that is sourced in the Territorial Clause of three Constitution, and does not need to be authorized by a mere statute.
Finally, because the 1983 act does not and cannot force Congress to act on local amendments, the potential for time and delay between local approval of amendments and Congressional action is far greater than the time we have taken since local amendments were approved at the end of 2022 to repeal the 1983 statute, so the Secretary can act on those current amendment proposals without further delay.
For these reasons, I thank the committee for favorable action on H.R. 6062 today.