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 legislature 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.) 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 TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1966 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, at 2:15 p.m., in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Leo W. O'Brien, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. O'BRIEN. The Subcommittee on Territorial and Insular Affairs will be in order for a resumption of the hearings of H.R. 13294 and H.R. 13298, to amend the Organic Act of Guam to provide for election of the members of the Legislature of Guam by districts. Yesterday, we started the hearings on these two bills and, because of important engagements in Guam, the Governor of Guam testified and then left and we will proceed from that point. Mr. Secretary, here we are again. The Honorable Harry R. Anderson, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Public Land Management, accompanied by Mrs. Ruth Van Cleve, Director, Office of Territories, Department of the Interior. We do not have the reports as yet on these bills, I believe, Dr. Taylor; is that correct? Dr. TAYLOR. They have not been entered into the record. Let me put it that way. Mr. O'BRIEN. Do we have them physically here? Dr. TAYLOR. I don't believe we have, Mr. Chairman. Mr. O'BRIEN. Unless there is objection, the reports which are available in the Office, I understand will be made a part of the record at this point. The report is favorable, I believe? Dr. TAYLOR. That is right. Mr. ANDERSON. Mr. Chairman, I don't believe we have a report. We have not submitted a report. My presentation here today will be our report. |