Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Five days after the Fono convened for the 4th Regular Session of the 35th Legislature, lawmakers will take a three-week mid-session recess starting at the close of business today, Friday, and reconvene on Aug. 6.

The mid session recess was first announced in the Senate on Monday, when the Fono convened and Joint Resolutions from each chamber were introduced and approved by both the Senate and the House for the recess, which is something that lawmakers take at the start of each regular session.

“In order to preserve legislative session days for more efficient use, it is appropriate to temporarily recess the business of the Legislature to fully prepare for disposition of additional and incoming agenda items,” according to identical Joint Resolutions by the Senate and House.

The recess comes at a time when the biennial conference of the Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa is set to open this Sunday, with a church service at the church’s compound, Kanana Fou. Several lawmakers are delegates to the conference.

Later this month is the All Samoan Invitational Golf Tournament hosted by American Samoa at the Ili’ili Golf Course and several lawmakers are expected to participate.