Governor Lolo Moliga says his administration is trying to find ways to resolve American Samoa’s non compliance with the REAL ID law which requires specific security conditions for ID documents such as drivers licenses.
The law was prompted by the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2011.
Last week, we reported that Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Esther Kia’aina, had written to Governor Lolo Moliga about a cabinet member who was denied entry into a federal building because her American Samoa driver’s license was not compliant with the REAL ID law.
The cabinet member was Director of Marine and Wildlife Resources, Dr. Ruth Matagi Tofiga.
Kia’aina had urged the governor to look into bringing American Samoa in compliance with the federal law as there would be ramifications for people from the territory.
Governor Lolo said in a phone interview with KHJ News that his administration is trying to resolve this issue and the Department of Interior is aware of this.
He indicated that the government has urgent priorities to meet but something is being done.
A report obtained by KHJ News shows that ASG spent $1.9 million in federal money on the Real ID Act Implementation.
The administrator of the federal grant at the Department of Public Safety was Fred Scanlan who is no longer there.
A mainland contractor, Wei, Inc. of Connecticut, was awarded a contract of $181,5000 July 1, 2009, but by December 3, last year, the contract had undergone 5 change orders and the total amount expended was $1.9 million.
The governor says the grant was spent with little to accomplish and the last thing he wants is for the feds to demand that ASG pay back the federal grant since the territory is not compliant with the READ ID law.
He said a lot of money was spent on travel and they are trying to piece together the information for a report to show how the money was spent.
