U.S. - Pacific
Negotiating Compact Impact
U.S. Moves To Give Guam, Hawaii and CNMI Migration Relief
The provisions of the first two Compact of Free Association agreements between the U.S. and the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the U.S. and the Federated States of Micronesia allowed RMI and FSM citizens to move to the U.S. with little restriction. Citizens of the two young countries could work or study freely in the U.S. —with the state of Hawaii, the territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas being the top three choices for migration.
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Unforeseen, perhaps, by the original negotiators, was the fact that poor education and healthcare facilities in the Marshalls and in the four FSM states—and the sparse employment opportunities in both Freely Associated States—made migration to Hawaii and Guam very attractive. The other unforeseen consequence of Compact I was the fact that, not only would FSM and RMI citizens work and study on U.S. soil, they would also use healthcare facilities, apply for public assistance and put their children into CNMI, Guam and Hawaii schools.
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As the Compact II negotiations have proceeded, the so-called “compact impact” issue has surfaced in earnest. The governments of Hawaii and Guam, and to a lesser extent the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, have been putting pressure on U.S. Federal officials to take this migration impact on their economies into account. Now the Bush administration has pledged to include $15 million a year in its new budget, to be divided between the CNMI, Guam and Hawaii, depending on the number of Compact migrants in each place.
Hawaii Congressman Ed Case, who represents the non-Honolulu district of Hawaii, was in the Hawaii Legislature before being elected to fill the late Patsy Mink’s seat. “This issue of Compact impact has come up rapidly on the radar screen in the last two years. Before that, I maybe heard the issue mentioned twice. But the combination of dramatic local government deficits in both Guam and Hawaii, and a generally poor economy, means that Guam and Hawaii can no longer afford to pick up the tab like they could in more prosperous times.”
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Case says the increasing number of Marshallese children in Big Island schools is now being presented to him as one of the top problems being faced in island schools like the high school in rural Honokaa. “The new No Child Left Behind Federal law,” Case says, “also makes it more difficult for schools in Hawaii and Guam to deal with cultural and language issues. Micronesian migration is also stressing out the rural healthcare system. This is one issue where we see the [Democratic] Congressional delegates working with the [Republican] Camacho and Lingle administrations on a true non-partisan basis.”
Hawaii’s new Republican Governor, Linda Lingle, has actively lobbied the Bush administration to address the issue and the Pacific delegates in the U.S. Congress have also united in a common effort to get Federal officials to look at compact impact.
In a recent teleconference hosted by Hawaii Congressman Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii government and private social service, education and healthcare officials were briefed on the Bush administration’s $15 million commitment. Republican Congressman Rick Pombo, who chairs the House Resources Committee, was also at the Washington end of the teleconference. “Coming from California,” Pombo told the teleconference attendees, “I understand the impact of migration on a state.” Abercrombie announced that “we’re proposing a mandatory appropriation of $15 million each year for the next 20 years to be shared between the CNMI, Guam and Hawaii on a pro-rata basis.” The wording here was crucial, since compact impact assistance had sometimes been “authorized” in previous years, but rarely “appropriated.”
The pro-rata formula is one of the bedeviling numbers controversies surrounding compact impact. The truth is, as most officials involved admit off the record, no one really knows the true numbers. Dave Cohen, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Affairs, admits there’s a numbers problem. “That’s why in this legislation, we’re proposing to take 1 percent of the $15 million to help the Census Bureau do a special enumeration for us.”
In addition to the head-counting problem, the other big number issue is the $15 million figure. One Hawaii hospital administrator told the on-screen Federal officials that the unpaid FSM and RMI medical tab at his hospital alone amounted to $14 million.
Cohen and Abercrombie emphasize that the $15 million figure was a minimum figure, a “floor” as they called it. But this is unlikely, according to Case. “These numbers are being driven from higher levels. They [the Bush administration] just don’t want to pay. They say it’s a floor, but I have a suspicion it’s a ceiling.”
