HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Judiciary of Guam is still waiting to appear before lawmakers to discuss its financial needs for next fiscal year, after its budget hearing was canceled for the second time this week.
Recently, the 37th Guam Legislature has heard from government agencies regarding their budget requests for the next fiscal year. However, the Judiciary, along with the Department of Public Health and Social Services, has yet to be heard, Chief Justice Robert Torres said in a Judicial Council of Guam meeting Thursday afternoon.
Torres explained the Judiciary was scheduled to have a budget hearing earlier this week, on Monday, but it was canceled as the Legislature has been in session since the start of the week.
Torres added it was the second time the budget hearing had been canceled, but in the meantime, the second-term chief justice and his staff have worked on presenting the budget to senators.
“Even before the budget hearing was scheduled and canceled, we’ve done at least nine different senators and hope to continue to make presentations to them individually or in small groups before they start to deliberate on the budget,” Torres explained before indicating he was not sure if the hearing had been scheduled.
“We’re still hopeful that there might be a formal budget hearing for us, but you know, we’re already at the end of July, and they usually start debating the budget in the month of August,” he added. “They (are) by law required to pass the budget before the end of August.”
However, if a hearing were to be scheduled next week, Torres said, the chief justice won’t be available because of a conference for chief justices under the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
According to Post files, during a meeting in April the Judicial Council approved submitting a budget request of nearly $42 million for fiscal year 2024, which is a nearly $4.5 million – or 11.94% – jump from the last fiscal year. The increase was primarily due to the updated General Pay Plan, which gives a 22% raise to government employees, as well as the law enforcement pay plan.
At the Thursday hearing, Torres said he was hopeful the proposed budget will advance. However, the revenue number, once adopted by the Legislature, will give a “better picture.”
The Guam Judicial Center in Hagåtña is shown Thursday, July 27, 2023. The Judiciary of Guam is still waiting to submit a budget to lawmakers after its hearing was canceled for the second time this week.
