February 25, 1980 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE ently, section 3(d) authorizes anddirects the Secretary, upon request by the Governor acting pursuant to legislation, to administer and enforce taxes imposed or which may be imposed pursuant to sec- tions 601, 603, 60-1 of Public Law 94-241. Additionally, the Secretary of the Treas- ury is authorized and directed to administer and enforce the collection of taxes imposed pursuant to sections 602 of Public Law 94~241. Costs of the contract shall be fully borne by the Secretary of the Treasury without reimbursement or other costs to the government of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. This section further provides that the Sccretary of the Treasury is obligated to train Northern Marianas citizens, as defined in article ITI of Public Law 94-241, to assume ultimately the administration and enforcement duties required of the Secretary or his designee for purposes of carrying out the provisions of sections 601, 602, 603, and 604 of Public Law 94-241. Further, notwith- standing any other provision of law, the Secretaryof the Treasury or his designee is authorized to the maximum extent feasible, effective until the end of the third full fiscal year following the date ‘of enactment, to employ and train Northern Marianas citizens without re- gard to U.S. civil service or classification laws or other employment ceilings imposed upon the Secretary of the Treas- ury. Lastly, the Secretary of the Treas- ury or his designee shall take such steps as are necessary to insure that the proceeds of taxes collected under provisions of sections 661, 602, 603, and 604 of Pub- lic Luw 94-241 are covered directly, upon collection, into the Treasury of the Com- monwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and do not leave the islands. The other new tax section for the NMI provides that a person, as defined by section 7701(a) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, who resides in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and who is required to comply with thepro- visions of section 601 of 94-241, shall be exempted from the requirement of payment of the territorial income tax on in- come derived from sources within the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands for the taxable years begin- ning after December 31, 1978, and before January 1, 1981. The section further pro- vides that nothing in the section shall be construcd so as to relieve stich persons froin the requirement of paying the territorial income tax on income derived from sources outside of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. The second part of this section (b) provides that a person, as defined by sec- tion 7701(a) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, who resides in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and who is required to comply with theprovisions of section 601 of Public Law 9424t shall be exempted from the requirement of payment of the territorjal in- come tax for the taxable year beginning after December 31, 1980, and before January1, 1982, provided that the Secretary of the Treasury or his authorized ernor of the Northern MarianasIslands, acting pursuant to legislation enacted in accordance with sections 5 and 7 orarti- cle II of the Constitution of the Northern Marianas Islands, has repealed sections 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of chapter 2 of Public Law 1-30 of the Commonwealthof the North- ern Marianas Islands, or its successor, in its entirety, effective December 31, 1981. The last part of this new section (c) clarifies the intent of the U.S. Congress when it used the term “rebate” in sec- tion 602 of Public Law 94-241 by providing that the.term “rebate” does not permit the abatement of taxes. The in- HL 1227 resulted from “duress, unfair influence, or other unconsconable actions” and in reference to such claims prohibited the allowance of interest from the time of acquisition to the date of the award o such additional amounts as may b awarded pursuant to this section. This provision prohibiting the inclusion of compensatory interest frustrated the purpose of providing complete re- dress to the victims of these inequities. The provision denied the right to the court to include interest to compensate claimants for the years during which they had been deprived of the use and enjoyment of the additional amounts tent of Congress in the legislative history of section 602 of Public Law 94-241 specifically provides that taxes must be collected by the government of the Northern Marianas Islands prior to any been paid. This provision contradicted the stated purpose of the act to provide land owners at long last with just com- Northern Marianas Islands hus explicit in H.R. 3756 (incorporating Representa- rebate to taxpayers. Further, it should be noted that the government of the authority to rebate any taxes received by it so it can rebate taxes which are collected by the Federal Government but transferred to the government of the Nerthern Biarianas Islands pursuant to section 703(h) of Public Law 94-241. Such rebate, lf utilized, should be in the form of a line item indicating the taxpaying person receiving the rebate and the amount of said rebate. In title TII of H.R. 3756, we have a number of items affecting Guam. Tne Senate, in its section 301, amended the 1977 law which set up the procedures whereby Guamanians with fand claims could file for compensation. At the urging of our respected and distinguished colleaguc, Tony Won Par (the author of H.R. 3395, which the Senate incorporated into H.R, 3756), the sentence in (c) of section 204 which prohibited any interest from being paid on legitimate claims has been repealed. I support Congressman Won Par in deleting the prohibition against awarding interest. His remarks today on the-sub- which rightfully should previously have pensation. The present amendment, section 301 tive Won Pat's H.R. 1546), strikes the sentence containing the provision pro- hibiting compensatory interest and thus removes this contradiction. It allows the Guam District Court, upon finding that less, than fair market value was paid as a result, cither of duress, unfair influence, or other unconscionable actions, or as a resuli of unfair, unjust, and inequitable actions of the United States, to first- determine the aditional amount necessary to bring the original payment, into line with the fair market value at the time of acquisition and to add to this amount reasonable compensatory interest to determine the amount of the court’s judgment. It is our intention that the inclusion of such compensatory in- terest will bring the results of this statute ¢ into conformity with sencrally accepted * Standards of U.S, law in determining just compensation for governmental taking of private property. As amended, the statute affords the basis to completely compensate 2 claim- ant, not only for fhe original loss, but for the years the claimant has been dsprived of full comvensation. This result is in line with elemental concents of fairclaims program. “The conference report on the “1977 ness and justice and at last will fill the omnibus territories bill clearly stated purpose of the statute to truly redress that the purpose of section 204 was to the inequities of the past. provide redress for past inequities caused We note hcre our disagreement with by our Government where, as a result of some language under section 301, page cither first, dures*. unfair influence, or 12 of the Senate Report 96-467. In the otker unconscionable actions: or sec- last pararraph on that page, it says: ond, unfair, unjust, and inequitable acAt the urging of Congressman Won Pat, ject will become an important part of the legislative history of the Guam land tions of the United States, less than fair morket value had been paid to private the Committee has reconsidezed the prohibition in Nght of the requirement that the of plaintl?! prove actual fraud or duress on the part of the United States. : The conference report to that bill clearly indicated that the inclusion of For the record, the statute (Public Law 95-134), in which the Guam Iand claims programis set forth, does not require that the plaintiff prove actual fraud. In fact, the statute never men- landowners property. for the acquisition the term “unconscionable actions” and the addition of the terms “unfair, unjust, and ineaouitable actions of the United States” was to avuid the imposition of unreasonable burdens upon claimants to prove their claims and to reflect our desire that those claims be viewed with sympathy and sensitivity, as well as re- flecting the clin:ate of the time. In the section of that statute which defined the term “fair compensation,” designee is notified not later than Sep- ‘the statute provided a definition of this tember 30, 1980, in writing by the Gov- terms only in those instances which had tions fraud. Since the 1977 act failed to include language to provide a specific statute of limitations for cases filed under the Guam claims program, we have added such language to section 301. All this means is that everyone who has a claim musé file it by April 1, 1982, the date cited in the amendment. if Beyond April 1, 1982, however, should ‘