A report signed by Gov. Niel Abercrombie shows that state government expenses rose from $32 million in 2002 to $115 million last year to pay for government services to migrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.
Abercrombie writes in the report, dated Tuesday last week, that the state can’t continue to absorb these costs without additional support from the federal government.
The report was sent to the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs, which is evaluating ideas to reduce costs to local governments under a federal treaty granting financial assistance and migration rights after the U.S. used the Pacific islands for nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1958.
