S 2064
Yslands under section 28({b) of the Revised
Organic Act of the Virgin Islands.”,
Islands, Guom, American Samoa, the Trust
Territory of the Packfic Islands, and the Com-
1977, entitled “An Act to authorize certain
16 U.S.C, 4601-3) amendsection 4 by delet-
7 Page 11, strike out lines 8 through 13,
and insert In Meu thereof:
Sec. 601. Title V of the Act of October 15,
appropriations for the territories of the
United States, to amend certain Acts relating therto, and for other purposes” (91 Stat.
1159) shall be appiled with respect to tha
Department of the Interlor by substituting
“shall for “may” in the last sentence of
subsection (da), and adding the following
sentence at the end of subsection (d):
“Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, In the case of American Samoa snd
the Northern Mariana Islands any department or agency shell waive any requireMent for local matching funds under $100,OOO (including in-kind contributions) required by law to be provided by Amer-
ican Samoa or the Northern Mariana IsJands.”.
8. Page 14, after lina 17 insert:
Sec. 607. (a) The first section of the
Act entitled “An Act to place certain submerged lands within the jurisdiction of the
governments of Guam, the Virgin Islands,
and American Samoa, and for other purposes", approved October 5, 1974 (48 U.S.C.
1705), is amended by adding at the end
thereof the following new subsectlon:
"(dj)(1) The Secretary of the Interior
shall, not later then sixty days after the
date of enactment of this subsection, convey
to the governments of Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Szmoa, as the case
may be, all right, title, and interest of the
United States in cCeposits of oll, gas, and
other minerals In the sudmerged lands
conveyed to the government of such terrl~ tory by subsection (2) of this section.
“(2) The conveyance of mineral deposits
under paragraph (1) of this subsection shall
be subject to any existing lease, permit,
or other interest granted by the United
States prior to the date of such convey-
ance. All rentals, royalties, or fees which accrue after such date of conveyance in con-
nection wiih
any such lease, permit, or
other interest shall be payable to the gay-
_erpment of the territory to which
such
mineral deposits are conveyed.”.
(b) Subsection (c) of the first section
of such Act (48 U.S.C. 1705(c)) 1s amended
by Inserting “subsection (a) or (b) of” after
“pursuant to”.
Sec. 608. The following Acts are hereby
amended as follows:
:
(a) In the Act of October 15, 1966 (80
Stat. 935), as amended (16 U.S.C. 470a-t):
(2) amend subsection 101(a) In paragraph (2) by deleting “and” at the end
thereof and, in paragraph (3) by deleting
“Trust.”
and
“Trust; and’,
inserting
in
Meu
thereof
(2) amend subsection 101(b) by deleting
end after “American Samoa,” and by changing the perfod at the end of the paragraph
to a comma and inserting “and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islanads.”.
(3) amend subsection 212(b) by changing
“Senate Committee on Interlor and Insular
Affairs.” to “Senate Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources.”.
(b) In the Act of June 27, 1960 (74 Stat.
220), as amended (16 U.S.C, 469):
(1) amend subsection 5(c) by deleting
“Interlor and Insular Affairs Committee of
the United States Congress" and by inserting
in Meu thereof “Committce on Interior and
Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives and Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate”.
(2) after section 7, add the following new
section:
“Sec. 8. As used In this Act, the term
‘State’
‘February 28, 1980
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE
Includes the several States of the
Union, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin
cae
I
wh wn we a
monwealth
Tslands.",
of
the
Northern
Marlana
(c) In the Act of May 28, 1963 (77 Stat. 49;
ing “and American Samoa.” and by tnserting
in Meu thereof “American Samoa, the Trust
Territory of the Pacific Islands, and the Com-
monwealth
Islends.”.
of
the
Northern
~
Mariana
® Mr. JOHNSTON. Mr. President, the
amendments offered by the House to the
Senate amendment to H.R. 3756 are a
useful and constructive compromise to
the differences between the Senate and
House passed versions of this legislation.
The first amendment proposed by the
House would insert a new section 104
which provides that Federal programs in
the fields of education end health care
will continue to apply to the Trust Terri-
tory of the Pacific Islands and their successor govermments until terminated by
Congress.
A
simlar
provision of
the
original House legislation had been deleted by the Senate since, at the time the
legislation was under consideration, the
future status agreements with the individual governments of the Trust Territory did not contemplate the extension
of Federal domestic programs to those
future governments. Since that time the
United States and the Micronesian
Status Commissions have reached tentative agreement on the content of a Compact of Free Association. That agreement
has been initialled by the government of
the Marshall Islands, The agreement, in
part, provides that certain Federal programs and services in education and
health care will continue to be provided
under free association. That provision
is contained in section 221(b) of the
Compact of Free Association, which was
initialled on January 14, 1980. Although
the joint resolution which will be neces-
sary to approve the final text of the Compact of Free Associction will, as a sub-
sequently enacted statute, supersede this
or any other provision, this amendment
proposed by the Heuse does serve to
maintain the status quo with respect to
health and education programs until
such time as the final Compact of Free
Association is presented to the Congress.
The second amendment proposed by
the House would recognize that the government of the Northern Mariana Is-
lands has requested agvice andassistance
from the Department of the Treasury
in the administration of local taxes. This
amendment would climinate a technical
-problem which has arisen over the form
in which the government of the Northern.
Marianas Islands must request such as-
sistance. In addition, the amendment
recognizes that until final terminaticn of
the trusteeship agreement covering the
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the
residents o° the Northern Marianas Islands cannot become U.S. citizens. The
amendment would eddress the problem
of Treasury administration of the local
taxes and hiring of local residents, by
waiving civil service hiring and job
will need extensive training before they
“will be fully able to adininister the Federal internal revenue laws which would
apply to the Northern Marianas tome
as 2 local territorial tax. In order to prif
vide sufficient time for such training>
this amendment suspends the application of the Federal internal revenue
laws as 2 local territorial tax until 1981.
The next amendment notes a techni-
cal problem under the Guamland claims
provision of the Ommibus Territories
Act of 1977. This amendment would previde that all claims under that act must
be commenced prior to April 1, 1982. The next amendment offered by the
House is technical and limits the withholding of the administrative costs of
collection of custom duties onarticles
imported into the United States. from
the Virgin Islands to petroleum products. The amcndmentis consistent with
the purpose of section 403 us previously
passed by both the Senate and the
House and does not represent any
change in the intent of either body in
enacting section 463.
The next amendment offered by the
House would provide specifically that
the Virgin Islands may levy excise taxes
on articles as scon as they are brought
into the Virgin Islands. This authority
already exists and has existed so long as
the Virgin Islands has been authorized
to collect excise taxes. The amendment
is offered only to prevent needless litigation and to confirm the already authorized powers of the Virgin Islands
government. I would note that this provision has been recuested by the Gover-,”€
nor of the Virgin Islands with the support of the administration in order to
clarify the existing authority and does
not represent a new grant of authority
whatsoever.
The next amendment offered by the
House would insert a new section 406
into the legisiation. This new section
would direct that the Administrator of
the General Services Administration
shall convey the former district court .
building to the government of the Virgin Islands within 2 years after the date
of enactment of this act. The committce
understands that there is presently some
uncertainty as to whether the Federal
Government will continue to need the
former district court building or whether
sufficient other facilities are available.
We believe that the formerdistrict court
building should not remain vaeant indefinitely, and therefore, unless the Ad-
ministrator of the General Services Ad-
ministration can demonstrate a need for
continued ownership of the former district court building, the comnrittee believes that it, together with other Federal surplus property, should be transferrcd to the administrative control of
the Virgin Islands government.
The next amendment offered by the
House
would
extend
the guaranteed
bonding authority for the Virgin Islands
for 5 years with a provision that any
classification laws for 3 fiscal ycars following enactment.
The third amendinent offered by the
funds guaranteed but not obligated at
the expiration of that pericd would be
returned to the Federal Government.
Originally, the House had proposed a
dents of the Nartherr: Marianas Islunas
no reverter and the Senate had deieted
House would recognize that the resi~
10-year extension of this authority with
<