WHEREAS, the Compact of Free Association is an agreement established in 1986 between the United States and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and in 1994 with the Republic of Palau; and

WHEREAS, under the Compact, the United States provides direct economic assistance, federal services, and military protection to these nations, in exchange for defense rights; and

WHEREAS, after three years of negotiations, government representatives are close to finalizing an agreement that will revise and review the expiring fund provisions of the fifteen-year-old compact and increase its overall effectiveness during its second term; and

WHEREAS, United States payments to the Federated State of Micronesia will expire on October 1, 2003, if not renegotiated, and because Congress must enact the amended compact this fall, time is running out; and

WHEREAS, the United States State Department should consider the impact of Freely Associated States citizens on Hawaii during this year's renegotiation of the compacts; and

WHEREAS, citizens of these Freely Associated States are also allowed to freely enter the United States without a visa or other immigration requirements; and

WHEREAS, drawn by the promise of better medical care and a better education for their children, over six thousand Freely Associated States citizens have migrated to and are currently residing in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, Freely Associated States citizens that enter the United States may have contagious diseases, criminal records, or chronic health problems—conditions normally grounds for inadmissibility into the United States; and

WHEREAS, the 1996 federal Welfare Reform Act cut off access to federal welfare and medical programs forcing citizens of these Freely Associated States to rely on state aid; and

WHEREAS, instead of mitigating the incentive for Freely Associated States citizens to migrate by improving the overall quality of life in the Freely Associated States through more use of economic aid, the United States has proposed giving additional funds to regions affected by "Compact impacts" along with creating "various mechanisms" to ensure that migrants from Freely Associated States are eligible for admission; and

WHEREAS, the cost of supporting Freely Associated States citizens, largely in healthcare and education, was $86,000,000 between 1996 and 2000; and

WHEREAS, Freely Associated States students have higher costs than other students due to poor language and other skills; and

WHEREAS, due to Freely Associated States students entering and leaving school a few times each year, their integration into the school system difficult; and

WHEREAS, since the Compact went into effect in 1986 until 2001, the State spent over $64,000,000 to educate Freely Associated States citizens and their children in our public schools, $10,000,000 in 2000 alone; and

WHEREAS, last year, the number of Freely Associated States students in our primary and secondary public schools increased by twenty-eight per cent, resulting in costs to the State of over $13,000,000 for the academic year, bringing the total cost since 1988 to about $78,000,000; and

WHEREAS, during the academic school year 2001-2002, the University of Hawaii lost over $1,200,000 in tuition revenue as a result of students from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau paying resident rather than non-resident tuition; and

WHEREAS, inadequate and delayed federal compensation to Hawaii's education system will be at a cost to our own children, and contributes to Hawaii being substantially below many other states in per pupil expenditures for its public school children in kindergarten through grade twelve; and

WHEREAS, state Medicaid payments for Freely Associated States citizens from 1998 to 2001 totaled $12,400,000; and

WHEREAS, the financial stability and viability of private hospitals and medical providers is threatened by staggering debts and write-offs resulting from medical services to Freely Associated States citizens, in spite of state Medicaid reimbursements; and

WHEREAS, the Queen's Medical Center alone has incurred operating losses of $16,000,000 between 1995 and 1999, and is owed over $11,000,000 by Compact of Freely Associated States nations; and

WHEREAS, community health centers estimate an annual cost of $420,000 for services to Freely Associated States residents; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Health has also been significantly impacted by the cost of public health services to Freely Associated States immigrants with $967,000 spent on screening vaccination and treatment of communicable diseases and $190,000 spent for immunization and outreach by public health nurses; and

WHEREAS, inadequate and delayed federal compensation threaten to overwhelm Hawaii's health care systems, leading to potential cutbacks in services and personnel that would impact all of Hawaii's citizens; and

WHEREAS, it is imperative that Hawaii be granted immediate and substantial federal assistance to meet these mounting costs; and

WHEREAS, the fact that Micronesians should qualify for federal benefits, while residing in Hawaii and the rest of the United States, can best be summed up by the resolution which was passed on September 9, 2001, in Washington, D.C., by a national group called Grassroots Organizing for Welfare Leadership supporting the insertion of language in all federal welfare, food, and housing legislation because Micronesians are eligible for these and other benefits as "qualified non-immigrants" residing in the United States; and

WHEREAS, the United States government is not owning up to its responsibility for what the United States did to the Micronesian people by refusing them food stamps and other federal benefits when they come to Hawaii and the rest of the United States seeking help; and

WHEREAS, the excuse by the United States government to deny any aid to the Micronesians in the United States is the word "nonimmigrant" used in the Compact of Free Association to describe Micronesians who move to Hawaii and the United States; and

WHEREAS, Micronesians have also developed high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity as a result of American dietary colonialism; and

WHEREAS, it is the intent of this Resolution to encourage the responsible entities to implement the provisions of the Compact of Freely Associated States, which authorizes compact impact funds to be made available to states that welcome and provide services to the people of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau, because most of the Freely Associated States citizens that come to Hawaii do so for medical problems related to the United States' military testing of nuclear bombs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2003, that the Bush Administration and the United States Congress are requested to appropriate adequate financial impact assistance for health, education, and other social services for Hawaii's Freely Associated States citizens; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bush Administration and the United States Congress are requested to insert language in all federal welfare, food, and housing legislation which says that Micronesians are eligible for federal food stamps, welfare, public housing, and other federal benefits as "qualified nonimmigrants" residing in the United States; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Bush Administration and the United States Congress are requested to restore Freely Associated States citizens' eligibility for federal public benefits, such as Medicaid, Medicare, and food stamps; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's congressional delegates are requested to assure financial reimbursements, through the establishment of a trust, escrow, or set-aside account, to the State of Hawaii for educational, medical, and social services and to Hawaii's private medical providers who have provided services to Freely Associated States citizens; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, Secretary of the United States State Department, President of the United States Senate, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, members of Hawaii's congressional delegation, Governor, State Attorney General, Superintendent of Education, Director of Health, Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture, Director of Human Services, Grassroots Organizing for Welfare Leadership, Micronesians United, United Church of Christ, Hawaii Conference of Churches, United Methodist Church of Honolulu, national negotiating teams of the Compact of Free Association, and Presidents and Hawaii Consulates of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau.

Report Title:

Federal Impact Assistance for Costs of FAS' Hawaii Residents