House faipule continue to disagree with Senate on session days

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Members of the House of Representatives during their second discussion of the Senate Joint Resolution seeking to amend the Constitution to allow for year-round sitting of the Legislature instead of the current two-45 days sessions  a year, strongly oppose the amendment.

The hearing was chaired by Vice Speaker of the House, Fetui Fetu Jr, who is the chair of the House Rules Committee.

Fetu was the only one who supported the senate changes. He stated that there are times things happen in the government, which affects the lives of the people while the Fono is not in session. However, if the Fono had its session for the whole year, senators and faipule would have the time to respond to the people’s requests or any issues pertaining to the betterment of the government.

Tualauta Faipule Larry Sanitoa disagreed with the Senate Resolution. He said this is not the first time this bill has been introduced into the Fono. He recalled the same House bill that was introduced in past years to amend the Constitutional to allow the Legislature to convene in two 60-day sessions a year. The bill did not go through that time either, according to Sanitoa.

Sanitoa reminded legislators that a faipule is a person who works for the whole year and if this resolution passes and the Fono convenes for the whole year, faipule would not have the chance to visit his or her district. He also stated that the governor has the power under the Constitution to call a special session if he feels that an important issue is coming up.

All members of the committee supported Sanitoa’s opposition to the senate resolution as it stands.

Faipule(s) Vailoata E. Amituana’i, Titiali’i Kitara Vaiau, Lavea Fatulegaee P. Mauga, Faimealelei Anthony F. Allen seconded the motion for the amendment to allow the Legislature to convene 120 days a year (2 sessions of 60 days).

“What is the motive of the senate amendment and why do they want to change the Constitution?” Faimealelei asked, adding that “if the reason behind the changes is that the Fono has a lot work to do but there aren’t enough days to conduct their work, we must understand that the governor has the power under the law to call for a special session.”

Faimealelei pointed out that even though he was off island, he continued to communicate with his district through email and telephone.

Faipule Lua’itaua agreed. He said faipule already work 7 days a week including Sunday.

“Even inside church during Sunday service, the phone vibrates and the faipule will notice that the call is from a constituent seeking help for the family,” Lua’itaua said, adding that “We’re not working for the Fono — we’re working for our constituency and we have a lot of work that needs to be done for our constituents.”