By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE director of the Bureau of Budget Management and Research may face criminal liability if he fails to control government spending amid tight cash availability, Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite, said yesterday.
Calvo said holding BBMR more accountable for its performance as the government of Guam’s budget controller is the most significant aspect of Bill 15, which was signed into law by Gov. Felix P. Camacho on Monday.
Bill 15, now Public Law 29-01, implements stricter reporting requirements for revenues, allotments and cash received by the government of Guam, and requires the administration to come up with a fiscal recovery plan that corresponds to the revenue collection status.
“This bill allows more transparency with respect to the government’s fiscal condition and holds BBMR accountable for the way it manages the budget,” said Calvo, chairman of the finance committee, and author of Bill 15, the first measure that became law under Camacho’s new administration.
“The last provision of the bill deals with the role of BBMR. Its role is to control spending if actual collections are not those which have been forecasted and ratified in the budget,” Calvo said.
If BBMR fails to remedy the imbalance between the revenue collections and spending levels, the director can be taken to court, Calvo said. “He may face sanctions; he can be subject to reimbursement claims,” he added.
P.L. 29-01 requires the Department of Administration and the Department of Revenue and Taxation to provide a revenue tracking report 30 days after the close of each month and to “determine if the actual revenues collected for each quarter are on track with the projected revenue for the fiscal year 2007.”
The law also requires the administration to furnish the Legislature with a fiscal recovery plan including cost containment measures and government reorganization, and a plan of action if the collection status indicates a 3 percent fluctuation in revenues adopted in the current budget law.
Calvo said the current budget law requires financial reporting, but it does not contain provisions for actual sanctions on BBMR for failure to fulfill its responsibility. “In this new law, if you don’t act accordingly, there will be consequences,” he added.
The governor’s office said Camacho’s transmittal letter will offer a list of recommendations for amendments to Bill 15.
Calvo said the Legislature had not received the governor’s transmittal letter.