After briefly returning to session Wednesday morning, the Guam Legislature adjourned without discussing the governor’s substitute budget bill, which would keep the Business Privilege Tax at 5% and allocate $40 million to Guam Memorial Hospital.
Later, the governor called another special section for a separate bill to provide $40 million to GMH.
Senators went into session Friday to discuss the substitute budget bill after the governor vetoed the fiscal 2026 budget passed by the legislature. Sen. Chris Dueñas asked for a recess at that time so the substitute bill could be reviewed.
When she vetoed the budget, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said she would introduce “a fiscally identical version of this budget with just one major change. I ask only this, that the business privilege tax remain at 5% allowing the $40 million set aside for tax cuts this year to be redirected solely to GMH to address its critical needs.”
When the session resumed Wednesday, Dueñas said the bill that was introduced had a number of differences from the version approved by senators.
“Let’s stop pretending this bill is only about BPT. It’s not,” Duenas said. “This bill rewrites laws that were never vetted nor debated.”
Specifically, Dueñas said the governor’s bill:
- authorized a new headquarters for Guam Police Department with no funding source.
- authorized a new sports facility with no funding source.
- placed the Guam Department of Education under the Central Accounting Act and the State Clearinghouse.
- Extended health insurance contracts worth more than $100 million a year for three years.
- changed the procurement amount that requires approval from the attorney general.
“These are not ‘technical fixes,’” Dueñas said. He said while he supports some of the proposals, they are “sweeping policy changes, crammed into a budget with no public input.”
He said the bill was also presented without strikethroughs or underlines to designate changes, a violation of the standing rules.
Sen. Chris Barnett requested that the legislature be allowed to discuss and debate the bill.
Dueñas moved that the bill be rejected and the session be adjourned, and the Republican majority agreed.
In response, the governor noted that Dueñas “stated that some provisions in the bill did not receive a public hearing. By adjourning without full consideration of the Governor’s bill, he deprived his colleagues and the public of deliberation, and soon forgot the dozens of amendments senators passed a couple of weeks ago without a public hearing, either.”
Legislators were back in special session at 4 p.m. to discuss the governor’s proposal to allocate $40 million directly to GMH.
