Guam Receives $5.7 Million in 2019 Compact Impact Funding

WASHINGTON –  Doug Domenech, U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, has released $5,736,250, a portion of Guam’s fiscal year 2019 share of Compact Impact funding, to support the public school leaseback program on Guam.

“We are pleased to release a portion of Compact Impact funding in support of Guam’s public schools,” said Assistant Secretary Doug Domenech. “As soon as the fiscal year 2019 enumeration population numbers are finalized, we can calculate the updated distribution amounts and release the remainder of this year’s funding to Guam and the other affected U.S. jurisdictions.”

Under the Compacts of Free Association (Compact), citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau are legal nonimmigrants able to live, work, and study in the United States. As a result of migration under the Compact and the increased impact and demands placed on public services on Guam, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, the U.S. Congress, in 2003, allocated $30 million in annual funding to be distributed among these four affected U.S. jurisdictions. Every five years, the U.S. Census Bureau conducts an enumeration of Compact migrants that is used to determine distribution amounts. The next enumeration will be completed in early 2019.

Under current law, the $30 million Compact Impact allocation for affected U.S. jurisdictions expires in 2023.

The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for coordinating federal policy with respect to the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance provided under the Compact of Free Association to the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. The Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, executes these responsibilities, on behalf of the Secretary, through the Office of Insular Affairs whose mission is to foster economic opportunities, promote government efficiency, and improve the quality of life for the people of the insular areas.

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