Senators will not now travel to Hawaii for Retirement Fund meeting

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Senators will not attend the bi-annual meeting of the ASG Employees Retirement Fund (ASGERF) in Honolulu as initially planned, due to among others, the COVID-19 pandemic and since senators are at the age most susceptible to the virus, said Sen. Soliai Tuipine Fuimaono, chairman of the Senate Retirement Committee.

Senate President Tuaolo Manaia Fruean, who is also a member of the ASGERF board of trustees informed senators two weeks ago about the meeting in Honolulu set for May and the board had agreed for Fono members to travel there.

However, he said the invitation for Senate Retirement Committee members to attend the meeting, was based on the okay being given by the ASG Health Department, and with assurance that lawmakers could return by June in time for the start of the Second Regular Session in July.

When contacted yesterday, Soliai told Samoa News that senators will not be attending the meeting, due the “fa’ama’i” — referring to the COVID-19 and that senators are in the age group most susceptible to the deadly pandemic.

He also said that there’s no guarantee that senators would be able to return to the territory after the meeting, in time before the Fono convenes in July, due to the flight suspension and only one flight a month — referring to the repatriation flights.

And there is also the issue of lawmakers having to go through quarantine in Hawaii prior to boarding the plane back to the territory, as well as the required local quarantine upon arrival.

Therefore, he said it was decided that senators are not traveling.

A handful of House members told Samoa News that the issue of the meeting in Honolulu and lawmakers attending it, was never raised in the House chamber. They are also opposed to it, with one faipule saying that it’s “a very bad idea” and the focus should be on saving money.

The protocol in past years has been that the ASGERF pays for all travel expenses for lawmakers although there have been calls by the House for the Fund to hold the biannual meeting in American Samoa to save on the travel and accommodation costs.

ASG employees and members of the Fund, and others have suggested — on social media posting and comments to Samoa News — that the ASGERF should utilize “Zoom” and other avenues of virtual technology for meeting participation.

“Use Zoom to meet and save money for current and future retirees instead of wasting money to travel to Hawaii,” said one of the comments, sent to Samoa News.

Samoa News notes that using Zoom for virtual meeting would be a decision made by the ASGERF board.

Samoa News also points to the latest update from the COVID- 19 Task Force (see elsewhere in today’s issue). Under the new classifications of passengers for the Repatriation flights, the Retirement Fund group would be denoted as “Other” — meaning not only would they not be given priority to return, but they would also prepay the cost share of the flight, including the cost of the quarantine ($4,800).