Bill to ratify membership In the Western Regional Higher Education Compact submitted in the House

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An administration bill, which seeks ratification of membership in the Western Regional Higher Education Compact and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education was submitted in the House of Representatives for a first hearing on July 11, 2023.

House Bill 38.20 adds a new section into the American Samoa Code Annotated (ASCA) — Title 16, Chapter 22: Western Regional Higher Education Compact.

It adds Sections 16.2201 to 16.2210 that range from Adoption of Compact, Commission Membership, Commission business, Commission officers and compensation, Commission responsibilities and Commission to contract for education benefits and to conduct studies, as well as operating costs, operative dates, termination, consent and withdrawal, and default of membership.

HIGHLIGHTS

Sec16, Chapter 22:  Membership states that American Samoa will share a single membership with all of the other Pacific Territories and Freely Associated States in the Compact, and its commissioner appointments will be made by the Governor in collaboration with the Governors and Presidents of the other jurisdictions, sharing the membership.

Section 16.2203: Commission business states that any business transacted at any meeting must be by affirmative vote of a majority of the whole number of compacting states and territories, that one or more commissioners from a majority of the compacting states shall constitute a quorum for transaction of business, with each state and territory entitled to a vote.

Section 16.2204: Commission officers and compensation, the commission electing from its number, a presiding officer and vice president officer and that commissioners shall serve without compensation but shall be reimbursed for their actual and necessary expenses from the funds of the commission.

Section 16.2205: Commission responsibilities outlined states that the commission shall adopt a seal and bylaws to promulgate rules and regulations for its management control, shall establish and maintain an office within one of the compacting states, and determine the cost of providing facilities for graduate and professional education with interested institutions for use in its contractual agreements throughout the region.

Section 16.2206 Duties states the commission shall first endeavor to provide adequate services and facilities in the field of dentistry, medicine, public health, veterinary medicine and may pursue other professional graduate fields as well, and may enter into contractual agreements with governing authority of any educational institution in the region to provide such graduate or professional educational services upon terms and conditions to be agree upon between contracting parties.

The introduction to the bill points out that “American Samoa and many of the western states individually do not have sufficient numbers of potential students to warrant the establishment and maintenance within their borders of adequate facilities in all of the essential fields of technical, professional, and graduate training nor do all of the states have the financial ability to furnish within their borders, institutions capable of providing acceptable standards of training in all of the fields mentioned above and believes that the Pacific Territories, Freely Associated States and the western states, or a group of such within the region, cooperatively can provide acceptable and efficient educational facilities to meet the needs of the region and of the students thereof.”

Effective date would be 60 days after passage.