HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — With a vote of nine to six, Bill 173-37, the energy credit extension measure, passed the Guam Legislature Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker Therese Terlaje, the measure’s author, voted to pass the bill along with Vice Speaker Tina Muña Barnes and Sens. Chris Barnett, William Parkinson, Sabina Perez, Amanda Shelton, Roy Quinata, and Telo Taitague.
Sens. Frank Blas Jr., Joanne Brown, Chris Duenas, Thomas Fisher, Jesse Lujan and Dwayne San Nicolas voted against it.
The measure will now go to Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero for her decision.
Bill 173 will extend the Prugråman Ayuda Para I Taotao-ta Energy Credit Program another three months, from October through December. The program had been providing ratepayers with $100 monthly credits on their power bills. These credits were last applied to September’s billings.
The concern with Bill 173 had been its funding source. As introduced, it would have drawn from fiscal year 2023 general fund excess. However, lawmakers appropriated that funding to the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority to pay vendors and to perform facility repairs.
During the course of session, the speaker amended the bill to simply say “general fund,” reasoning that there was $16 million in unspent Medicaid reimbursements in the fund that could be used to support the extension.
The 37th Guam Legislature gathers for a session at the Guam Congress Building in Hagåtña on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023.
