There is no federal policy which spells out how the territories should be treated when formulating and extending laws and
programs.
Some laws and programs apply to some
territories but
Territory officials identified a number of laws
not to others.
which they believe constrained local development efforts and
caused
plained
loss of
significant
about
unequal
the
potential
treatment
revenues.
received
and application of certain federal programs.
in
They
the
also
com-
extension
In the past 5 years, the Congress and federal agencies have
increasingly recognized these problems and have taken several
actions to remedy them.
For the most part, the initiatives
focus on either a single territory, such as the Northern Mari-
ana Law Commission,
or on
single
issues,
such
as
the National
Marine Fisheries Service study on fishing laws and the temporary
exemption on the Clean Air Act provided to Guam and NMI in the
1983 Omnibus Territory Act.
Thus, some individual laws and
programs are being tailored to meet local needs.
It appears that economic and social development in the ter-
ritories revolve around two central issues:
(1) whether an
economic development strategy can be developed to overcome or
ameliorate indigenous and federal constraints and (2) whether
the United States and territories can find common ground on how
the territories should be treated in the formulation, extension,
and application of federal policies, laws, and programs.
While
territory
recent
‘and
officials
years
concerns,
made
agree
progress
many
that
believe
in
the
federal
recognizing
U.S.
policy
government
many
does
has
territory
not
in
needs
adequately
address these two issues.
As the territories strive for greater
autonomy and self-reliance, U.S. policymakers in Congress and
the executive branch are likely to face greater pressure to
establish a policy framework which addresses these issues.
39
2000z4hb