HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two measures competing to determine the location of a new public hospital or medical complex on Guam will be up for debate during this month’s legislative session.
Members of the Committee on Rules added Bill 184-37 and Bill 185-37 to the session agenda at their meeting Thursday.
Bill 184-37 was introduced by the governor and would facilitate the sale or lease of Guam Ancestral Lands Commission property in Barrigada and Mangilao for the purpose of constructing a new medical complex, which is intended to include a new public hospital and other medical facilities.
In contrast, Bill 185-37, authored by Sen. Chris Barnett, would ensure that any new hospital constructed under the previously enacted Guam 21st Century Healthcare Center Act will be built in Tamuning.
The law defines the 21st Century Healthcare Center to mean the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, Department of Public Health and Social Services and Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, all located on one property, or separately, if feasible.
Bill 185 wouldn’t bar other facilities from being collocated with a new hospital, but in case they cannot be built in one location, the bill allows GBHWC and DPHSS to be located separately.
Bills amended
The current version of Bill 185 differs from its original language. At first, the bill required only that the new hospital be in Tamuning, and did not specify any locations. The amended version, put out by the Committee on Health, Land, Justice and Culture, allows the hospital to be built on Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-R7, Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-7, and LOT 5173-1-R2NEW-6.
“I Liheslaturan Guåhan finds that most of the testimony on this bill centered around one specific place in Tamuning, Ypao Point (also referred to as Satpon Point and Oka Point), which is the location of the old Guam Memorial Hospital. … Some of the original lots have been partitioned and dedicated by law for other uses, including as a Chamorro Cultural Center and a rape crisis center,” the new Bill 185 stated.
The governor’s administration has argued that Ypao Point is too small to house a medical complex, but medical groups and individuals opposed to the governor’s plan have called for only a new hospital to be built at Ypao Point, due to its proximity to existing clinics.
Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-R7, Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-7, and Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-6 remain under the control of the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, according to Bill 185.
“(Five) acres were subsequently reserved for the Naftan Manaina-ta Shrine through P.L. 33-204, which … includes a buffer and the coral outcropping known as “the Rock” and runs contiguous to Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-4, which currently houses the Chamorro Cultural Center (Sagan Kutturan CHamoru). Lot 5173-1-R2NEW-6 was previously separated for use as a foster home but remains currently available. It is the intent of I Liheslatura that the use of the remaining Ypao Point property for a hospital or medical complex shall not interfere with the 5 acres that has been reserved for the Naftan Manaina-ta Shrine or the adjacent cultural center,” Bill 185 stated.
Under the bill, the CLTC would be authorized to negotiate with the governor for the sale or lease of the lots for a hospital or medical complex and to approve such sale or lease with legislative approval required for the final sale terms and lease terms exceeding 50 years.
Bill 184-37 was also amended in committee. The original bill would have made it so that GALC could approve the sale or lease of its properties without further legislative approval. Similar to Bill 185, this was amended by the Committee on Health, Land, Justice and Culture to require legislative approval of final sale terms and for lease terms exceeding 50 years.
Other major bills included in the session agenda are Bill 165-37, which would facilitate mandatory participation in trash collection services, and Bill 182-37, which would establish an Ordot Dump Reserve Fund.
Rules change
At Thursday’s rules committee meeting, lawmakers also adopted a resolution fixing an error in the Legislature’s standing rules.
Before the fix, Section 14.09 (w) stated that all appointments to positions in the 37th Guam Legislature would expire on Jan. 5, 2024. Resolution 285-37 changed the year from 2024 to 2025, in addition to other changes.
Sen. Chris Barnett asks questions Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023, in the Public Hearing Room of the Guam Congress Building in Hagåtña.
