HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Lawmakers were scheduled to go into emergency session Wednesday afternoon following a brief delay due to Typhoon Bolaven. The purpose of the session is to discuss matters related to the Guam Memorial Hospital, as well as any urgent matters related to the typhoon.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has asked lawmakers to also consider a bill she proposed Tuesday, one that would authorize the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission to negotiate the sale or lease of lots in Barrigada with the governor for the purpose of housing a planned medical complex.
As of press time, lawmakers were in the process of getting session underway, and it will be up to the body to decide which bills to consider and what other matters to address relative to the storm, according to Speaker Therese Terlaje.
“However, I do not agree with the governor’s suggestion that attention be diverted from the immediate crisis at GMH. Plans for a new hospital should be more fully disclosed, and possible sites fully vetted,” the speaker said.
“But right now, the executive branch must immediately bring it’s full attention, Organic Act powers, and best management to GMH, and must deliver to GMH the money already within the administration’s control, including the $20 million to 35 million appropriated to GMH in previous fiscal years for capital improvement and other uses, $153 million in (American Rescue Plan) funds, and its $100+ million in transfer authority to address the crisis it ignored for too long,” the speaker stated in a release.
Although lawmakers may still choose to tackle the governor’s bill during the emergency session, at least as of Wednesday morning, the speaker had said that the proposal would be scheduled for a later public hearing so that ancestral landowners could weigh in on the removal of the selected lots from GALC’s land inventory.
The bill that Leon Guerrero is proposing would not only allow GALC to negotiate with the governor for the sale or lease of lots in Barrigada, it would also authorize the agency to approve the sale or lease without needing additional legislative approval. The lots identified by the governor’s bill total 61 acres.
Emergency session
The matters that the Legislature is expected to take up during the emergency session are Resolution 215-37 and Bill 164-37. Both were introduced by the Republican caucus at the Guam Legislature.
Resolution 215 urges the governor to declare a state of emergency for GMH and to direct assistance toward it. Bill 164-37, as introduced, would appropriate all fiscal year 2022 and 2023 audited excess funds to GMH for payments, repairs and cleaning needs.
Concerns with ailing facility conditions at GMH are longstanding. The governor has been pushing for the construction of the medical complex, which includes a new public hospital, as an ultimate remedy for facility woes.
In asking the speaker to consider her bill on the GALC lots, the governor also said that she is committing $20 million in American Rescue Plan funding to address immediate structural concerns at the hospital, while adding that Sen. Jesse Lujan, the main sponsor behind Bill 164, had agreed to amend the measure to appropriate $30 million for outstanding vendor invoices.
Lujan issued a statement after the governor sent her request, stating that although he serves as the main sponsor, the measure was introduced by the Republican caucus, and he wasn’t keen on making any final decisions without consulting his colleagues.
The senator stated that the governor sent him a draft amended Bill 164 Monday night proposing the $30 million appropriation for vendor payables.
“While this is a good start, I immediately had a concern with the source of funding. Especially since we just passed the budget bill for (fiscal year) 2024. In my correspondence with her, I asked Gov. Leon Guerrero to identify where in the FY 2024 budget will we appropriate her proposed $30 million,” Lujan stated in the release.
According to Lujan, the governor responded by referring to unappropriated funds in the general fund, specifically moneys collected exceeding the fiscal year budget.
“When Gov. Leon Guerrero answered my question regarding the funding source, I stated again that Bill 164 and Resolution 215 are caucus pieces and that I will need to discuss this proposed amendment with them. She said she understood and implied that she would let me bring this amended bill back to the caucus for their consideration,” Lujan stated.
“However, in her letter to Speaker Terlaje, she indicates that I agreed to her amendment. This is not the case. I am more than willing to collaborate with the administration, and (I) am glad that Gov. Leon Guerrero sees the urgency of restoring GMH to properly functioning and safe conditions. But once again, this is a caucus-introduced legislation, and it should be heard and debated on the session floor,” Lujan concluded.
Speaker Therese Terlaje presides over a public hearing held June 23, 2023, at the Guam Congress Building in Hagåtña for the status of the CHamoru Land Trust Commission’s eviction of Guam International Raceway.
