it shall not be a law. If he neither approves it nor disapproves it within ninety days from the date of transmittal to him by the Governor, it shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it.] If, after such reconsideration, two-thirds of all members of the legislature pass the bill, it shall be a law. If any bill presented to the Governor contains several items of appropriation of money, he may object to one or more of such items, or any part or parts, portion or portions thereof, while approving the other items, parts, or portions of the bill. In such a case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of the items, or parts or portions thereof, to which he objects, and the items, or parts or portions thereof, so objected to shall not take effect. All laws enacted by the legislature shall be reported by the Governor to the head of the department or agency designated by the President under section 3 of this Act, and by him to the Congress of the United States, which reserves the power and authority to annul the same. If any such law is not annulled by the Congress of the United States within one year of the date of its receipt by that body, it shall be deemed to have been approved. [SEC. 26. (a) The Governor shall receive an annual salary at the rate provided for the Governor of the Virgin Islands in the Executive Pay Act of 1949, as heretofore or hereafter amended, to be paid by the United States: Provided, That if the Governor shall be a retired officer of the armed forces of the United States the pay which he shall receive as Governor shall be his pay and allowances as such officer plus such sum as will total the equivalent of the compensation for a civilian Governor. [(b) The Secretary of Guam shall receive an annual salary to be paid by the United States at a rate established in accordance with the standards provided in the Classification Act of 1949. [(c) All officers and employees of the government of Guam shall, if their homes be outside Guam, be entitled to transportation at the expense of the United States for themselves, their immediate families, and their household effects, from their homes to Guam upon their appointment and from Guam to their homes upon completion of their duties: Provided, That such transportation other than that incident to initial appointment shall not be required to be furnished unless they shall have served in Guam for at least two years, unless separated for reasons beyond their control. They shall accrue leave in accordance with the Leave Act of the United States, and once during every two years shall be entitled to transportation at the expense of the United States for themselves and their immediate families from Guam to their homes and return. For purposes of transportation to their homes and return, they shall be allowed travel time not in excess of thirty days without charge against annual leave and during such travel time they shall be paid their salaries as prescribed by this Act or the laws of Guam. Transportation shall be by the shortest and most direct route. During their term of duty in Guam they shall each be entitled to receive appropriate quarters to be furnished by the United States at established rentals. [(d) All officers and employees of the government of Guam, whose salaries are not fixed by this Act, shall be paid such compensation and shall receive such additional allowances or benefits as may be fixed under the laws of Guam, or, in case they be employees or officers of the department or agency designated by the President under section 3 of this Act, as fixed by or under the rules and regulations of, or applicable to, such department or agency while detailed to serve with the government of Guam. If any official or employee of the government of Guam be a person in the armed forces of the United States, either in active, retired, or reserve status, his employment by the government of Guam and any service thereunder, shall not, in the discretion of the President, operate to affect adversely his rights to duty status, pay, retirement, or other benefits. [(e) Each member of the legislature shall be paid the sum of $15 for each day that the legislature is in session, regular or special, out of sums to be appropriated annually by the Congress. All other legislative expenses shall be appropriated by, and paid out of funds of, the government of Guam.] SEC. 26. The salaries and travel allowances of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, the heads of the executive departments, other officers and employees of the government of Guam and the members of the legislature, shall be paid by the government of Guam at rates prescribed by the laws of Guam. GENERAL MILITARY LAW (70A STAT. 15; 10 U.S.C. 331) CHAPTER 15.-INSURRECTION SEC. 335. For purposes of this chapter, "State" includes the unincorporated Territory of Guam. Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL, OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL, Washington, D.C., May 16, 1966. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of the Department of Justice on whether the enactment of H. R. 11775 and H. R. 11777 would, respectively, affect the status of Guam or the Virgin Islands as unincorporated territories of the United States. H.R. 11775 would provide for the popular election of the Governor and of the Lieutenant Governor of Guam and for the removal of the Governor or Acting Governor of Guam by the President of the United States or by a recall referendum. H.R. 11777 would provide similarly with respect to the Virgin Islands. legislation appears to follow the precedent established by the Act of August 5, 1947 (61 Stat. 770) which provided for the popular election of the Governor of Puerto Rico. The In our judgment the enactment of these bills would not affect the present status of Guam and the Virgin Islands. Section 3 of the Act of August 1, 1950 (64 Stat. 384; 48 U.S.C. 1421a) declared Guam and unincorporated territory of the United States. Section 2 of the Act of July 22, 1954 (68 Stat. 497; 48 U.S.C. 1541) similarly declared the Virgin Islands an unincorporated territory of the United States. In Balzac v. People of Porto Rico, 258 U.S. 291 (1922), the Supreme Court held that the Organic Act for Porto Rico of March 2, 1917 (39 Stat. 951), did not have the effect of incorporating Porto Rico into the United States. The Court's reasoning would appear to be pertinent to the Committee's present question. On page 306 of the opinion the Court stated: "Had Congress intended to take the important step of changing the treaty status of Porto Rico by incorporating it into the Union, it is reasonable to suppose that it would have done so by the plain declaration, and would not have left it to mere inference." Again on page 311, the Court stated: ***it is reasonable to assume that when such a step is taken it will be begun and taken by Congress deliberately and with a clear declaration of purpose, and not left a matter of mere inference." While we believe that on the basis of the decision in the Balzac case, it can be safely asserted that the bills in their present form would not have the effect of disturbing the status of Guam and the Virgin Islands as unincorporated territories, to may be desirable, in the light of the above quotations, to add a specific provision to the bills clarifying the intention of the Congress on the point. ilarly, the Congressional intent might be elaborated in the Committee reports. Sim We note that section 4 of H.R. 11775 provides for the repeal of the first three sentences of section 9(b) of the Organic Act of Guam. That subsection has but two sentences, for which reason the Committee may wish to amend section 4 of the bill appropriately. Finally, we note that section 7 defines "State" to include Guam for purposes of sections 331 through 334 of title 10 of the United States Code. Since title 10 is positive law, we would suggest that section 7 be phrased as an amendment to Chapter 15 of title 10, without reference to the General Military Law. The same consideration is applicable to section 7 of H.R. 11777. The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the submission of this report from the standpoint of the Administration's program. Sincerely, RAMSEY CLARK, Deputy Attorney General. H.R. 13294-A BILL TO AMEND THE ORGANIC ACT OF GUAM TO PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF GUAM BY DISTRICTS H.R. 13298-A BILL TO AMEND THE ORGANIC ACT OF GUAM IN ORDER TO AUTHORIZE THE LEGISLATURE THEREOF TO PROVIDE BY LAW FOR THE ELECTION OF ITS MEMBERS FROM ELECTION DISTRICTS MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1966 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 4:25 p.m., in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Leo O'Brien, presiding. Mr. O'BRIEN. We will at this time commence the hearings on H.R. 13294 and H.R. 13298 with regard to the election of members of the legislature by districts. (The bills referred to follow:) [H.R. 13294, 89th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To amend the Organic Act of Guam to provide for the election of the members of the Legislature of Guam by districts Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 10 of the Organic Act of Guam (48 U.S.C. 1423) is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 10. (a) The legislative power and authority of Guam shall be vested in a legislature, consisting of a single house, to be designed the ‘Legislature of Guam', herein referred to as the legislature. "(b) The legislature shall be composed of not to exceed twenty-one members elected from legislative districts. The districting of Guam and the apportionment of the legislature shall be as provided by the laws of Guam: Provided, That such districting and such apportionment shall not deny to any person in Guam the equal protection of the law: And provided further, That every voter in any district election shall be permitted to vote for the whole number of persons to be elected in that election. Until the legislature shall provide otherwise, the legislature shall remain as it is upon the date of enactment of this section. "(c) General elections to the legislature shall be held on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, biennially in even-numbered years. The legis lature in all respects shall be organized and shall sit according to the laws of Guam." 61-024-66——11 157 [H.R. 13298, 89th Cong., 2d sess.] A BILL To amend the Organic Act of Guam in order to authorize the legislature thereof to provide by law for the election of its members from election districts Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the first sentence of sction 10 of the Organic Act of Guam (64 Stat. 387) is amended by striking out "to be elected at large" and inserting in lieu thereof "who shall be elected at large until such time as the legislature shall otherwise provide by law; Provided, That no districting and no apportionment of members among districts shall deny to any person in Guam the equal protection of the laws and that, if district elections are provided for, every voter within a district shall be permitted to vote for the whole number of persons to be elected in that district in those elections." Mr. O'BRIEN. The first witness is the distinguished Governor, who has requested that his statement be printed in full in the record at this point. Are there any members of the legislature who will have to return or who are planning to return? Mr. TAITANO. Sir, we will stay as long as you need us. Mr. O'BRIEN. I hate to inconvenience you. Let me ask you this. Are you in fairly general agreement on this? Mr. TAITANO. Yes; 100 percent. Mr. O'BRIEN. Why don't we do this just for your convenience: Why don't we print the Governor's statement at this place in the record, to be followed by statements that you will submit? I know that that won't give the members of the committee an opportunity to ask questions, but on the other hand we could ask those questions of the people who will be here from the Department of the Interior, and if we require any additional information, we can ask you to submit it. I am thinking of moving the hearings along with the minimum of inconvenience. I might say we think we have a solution. Supposing that we accept the Governor's statement and that you go ahead with your plans, and we will continue this hearing tomorrow afternoon, and I think that would make it possible for the members of the legislature to remain. We also at that time will hear from the Department, Mr. Won Pat, and others who want to testify, and then we will have a continuation of the Virgin Islands hearing, which were scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, we will have them on Wednesday afternoon, because they are much nearer. So why don't you at this point read your statement, Governor, and then we will recess until tomorrow afternoon at 2 o'clock? STATEMENT OF HON. MANUEL F. L. GUERRERO, GOVERNOR OF GUAM Governor GUERRERO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this very much as I had really planned to return to Guam as soon as possible. As a matter of fact, concerning H.R. 13294, I would like to give a little background of what has happened in the past. Section 10 of the Organic Act of Guam provides for the election of a single house legislature and not to exceed 21 members elected at large. Beginning about 1960 there was suggestion for changes in this basic legislation. The initial proposal would have organized the island into six legislative districts, each of which would be represented by two members with nine legislators to be elected at large, and each voter entitled to vote for four at-large candidates. This proposal modeled generally on the lines of the Organic Act of the Virgin Islands was introduced as H.R. 5309, 87th Congress. It was not enacted. The desire for the amendment described grew out of the fact that for the most part early legislatures on Guam were composed of members of a single body. The current legislation, however, consists of what would appear to be an acceptable balance of 13 majority members and 8 minority members. Legislation to force minority representation along the lines envisioned by H.R. 5309 would draw representative districts so as to separate closely related areas where different problems as to representation do not exist, and would carry a distinct possibility of defeating the majority bill. If there is to be legislation to amend section 10, it should in my view be limited to authorizing the local legislature itself to provide for district representation in the event that changing times dictate such a step. I therefore favor, the enactment of bill H.R. 13294. Thank you. Mr. O'BRIEN. Governor, I want to make this clear in my own mind. Of course I can ask this question on Wednesday of the members of the legislature. Is it my understanding that the bill that you support has bipartisan support in Guam? Is that correct? Governor GUERRERO. I can safely say, so, sir. Yes, sir. Mr. O'BRIEN. And the reapportionment and redistricting would be done by the legislature? Governor GUERRERO. That is correct, sir. Mr. O'BRIEN. It isn't always done by the legislature in our States. Now the courts are doing it, but it used to be that way. Governor GUERRERO. I favor it over H. R. 13298, which is almost identical. However, 13294 is more definitive and more clear in its direction. Mr. O'BRIEN. I think that is about as far as we can go today. I want to thank you all not only for your contribution to the hearing but for your patience in spending the whole day with us. This particular hearing is recessed until 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. (Thereupon, at 4:40 p.m., a recess was taken until the following day, Tuesday, March 8, 1966, at 2 p.m.) |