By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Jesse A. Lujan, R-Tamuning, has introduced a revised bill that proposes a tax break for business entities that contribute to the development of sports and recreational facilities on Guam.
“The island lacks much-needed sports/recreational facilities within villages, and for those villages that currently have such facilities, they lack the funding for proper maintenance and repair,” states Bill 8, cosponsored by Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite, and Sen. Tony Unpingco, R-Santa Rita.
The bill thus seeks “to provide an incentive to businesses that are willing to contribute for the construction, development, upgrading, repair or maintenance of village recreational and sports facilities by authorizing gross receipts tax credits of up to $80,000 per village project.”
Bill 8 is a revised version of Lujan’s Bill 397, which was introduced in the 28th Legislature. It was publicly heard but never passed.
The old bill proposed to grant tax break in an aggregate amount of up to $5 million to business entities that would donate to the Father Duenas Memorial School’s sports complex project.
Public Auditor Doris Brooks opposed Bill 397, saying it violated the constitutional provision on the separation of church and state because the  proposed tax break incentive was specifically directed at a Catholic school.