Despite several House members being visibly upset and even unhappy, in the end the House gave in to Senate pressure and passed the amendments made to the House version of the Charter Bank bill. This led yesterday to approval of the measure to set up a government owned financial institution.

The bill is now being enrolled in Fono records before it’s sent to the governor for his review and approval.

The Senate amendments to the House version of the bill call for all seven board members of the proposed government holding entity, Territorial Bancorp, to be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Fono.  The holding company will oversee and manage the Territorial Bank of American Samoa.

However, the House rejected the amendments on Thursday and called for a conference committee of both Chambers to convene yesterday (Friday) to iron out final language of the bill.

But several senators flatly opposed a conference committee when the Senate session convened yesterday morning and informed the House that they remained firm on the amendments and if the House wanted a conference committee they would have to wait until next month when the Fono reconvenes following a four-week mid-session recess.

Because of the administration had voiced an urgent need to set up the charter bank, with great sadness House members endorsed the Senate amendments and approved the entire bill.

See Tuesday’s edition for details.