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Fono News

IMMIGRATION BOARD MEMBER APPROVED BY SENATE

 

In a unanimous 11-0 vote, the Senate last Friday confirmed the governor’s nomination of Rep. Timusa Tini Lam Yuen as a member of the Immigration Board. His nomination remains pending in the House for review and confirmation. 

 

The other nominee to the board, submitted by the governor, was Matagi Ray McMoore, who was off island and unable to attend the Senate confirmation hearing. No decision will be made on his nomination until he appears in a future Senate hearing. 

 

Timusa represents the House on the board while Sen. Tuiasina Esera is the Senate’s representative.

 

Prior to the Senate vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a brief confirmation hearing earlier in the day and senators urged the nominee to do all possible as a board member to protect local borders. Senators noted the influx of Asians and urged the board to make the right decision when it comes to approving foreigners to live and work in American Samoa.

 

ADOPTING FEDERAL PESTICIDE LAWS INTO LOCAL LAWS

 

The Senate approved last week an administration bill which incorporates federal pesticide tolerances into local laws, regulates pesticides used by farmers and sets the limits on the amount of pesticides that may remain in or on foods marketed in American Samoa.

 

Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga explained that the limits on the amount of pesticides left on foods are called tolerances, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency establishes tolerances for each pesticide based on the potential risks to human health posed by that particular pesticide.

 

If adopted into local law, Lolo says this will serve as a guideline to which local farmers must adhere when treating crops with pesticides, and provide the territory with the mechanism by which to measure the safety of food prepared for human consumption.

 

One big concern for the governor as well as ASG officials who testified before the Senate on this measure, is the safety of vegetables sold to the school lunch program and at the Fagatogo Market Place.

 

One serious concern is the number of Asian farmers who use too many chemicals— and  Agriculture has banned some of these farmers from selling vegetables to the school lunch program as well as the market place, the Agriculture Department deputy director Peter Gurr  said.

 

While senators were supportive of the bill, some of them were angry that a machine to test the amount of chemical reside on vegetables had yet to be purchased.

 

Senate Agriculture Committee chairman Sen. Leatualevao Asifoa noted that it’s been “more than a year later, since that Senate hearing (to purchase the machine), still nothing has been done, and it appears that it's only talk but no action from Agriculture.”

 

Gurr explained that the machine in question is expensive — costing around $260,000 and he said that Agriculture has set aside $100,000 as its share of the cost with other ASG entities. This didn’t sit well with senators who were adamant the machine should have been purchased a long time ago.

 

Sen. Laolagi F.S. Vaeao added that the additional money needed should have been included in the FY 2015 budget, under Special Programs, which has a total funding allocation of $22 million. He says some of the programs to be funded with this could have waited for the next fiscal year.

 

American Samoa Environmental Protection Agency director Ameko Pato told the committee that it was his understanding that the funding issue was to have been resolved between Agriculture, Health Department, and ASCC Land Grant. But since it’s not, Pato asked senators to give him time to start working on a funding source to help purchase this necessary machine.

 

REGULATING CORPORATE SPONSORS OF FOREIGNERS

 

Both the Senate and House have expedited approval of an administration bill which seeks to amend current immigration laws, which allows only “corporations doing business in American Samoa” as corporate sponsors for foreigners to work in the territory.

 

The measure, approved in third reading last Friday by the Senate and last Tuesday by the House, also provides steps — such as approval by the Attorney General — for a corporation to address when applying for sponsorship of a foreigner.

 

The bill deletes a current provision which allows the corporate sponsorship to be transferred from one employer to another. This provision was praised by senators during a recent committee hearing, where Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale was called to testify.

 

Sen. Magalei said this has been a big problem over the years in which one employer terminates sponsorship of a foreigner due to issues such as the employee not being honest, but the foreigner would quickly look for another employer as a sponsor, thereby allowing that foreigner to stay in the territory instead of having that person return to their home country.

 

Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga informed the Fono that current provisions of corporate sponsorship have led to abuse by corporations and it's inconsistent with the constitution.

 

The governor submitted an identical measure last year, but didn’t get full approval of the Fono when the 33rd Legislature ended.

 

For the current bill, the Senate and House now goes through the protocol of approving each other’s version before the final one is sent to the governor for review and approval.

 

Although it is not part of the proposed amendments for the bill, several senators asked about a provision of the law which allows a foreigner to remain in American Samoa for up to 20 days after the termination of sponsorship or employment.

 

Talauega explained that this provision protects the foreigner in case the person has any grievances against the sponsor — for example, a lawsuit. And in the case where the foreigner has been subjected to domestic or family violence  by the sponsor or by the sponsor's household or family member, the foreigner has the right to remain in the territory for up to 45 days after termination of sponsorship or employment.

 

He also pointed out that the sponsor is still responsible for any expenses incurred by the foreigner for all the time the person remains in the territory, no matter if employment or sponsorship is terminated.