Budget discussions are now in full swing as lawmakers address several amendments to the $1.4 billion government funding measure – or at least try to.
Finance committee chair Sen. Chris Duenas, who was overseeing proceedings at the start of the session Monday morning, ruled various healthcare-related funding amendments out of order.
He said those amendments would be entertained later, in the bill’s section on miscellaneous provisions.
Duenas had said, regarding the rules of engagement, that a senator wanting to increase an appropriation to an agency or department must identify the funding source and explain impacts to the receiving agency and defunded agency.
“Meaning we’re only doing in these chapters a movement (of) revenues from agency to agency. Not new appropriations,” Duenas said.
But Sen. Therese Terlaje rejected that interpretation.
She had proposed an amendment to appropriate $20 million from fiscal year 2026 general fund excess revenues for the refurbishment of the Department of Public Health and Social Services facility in Mangilao.
“The answer is there is no impact on any other agency because it’s being taken from 2026 unaudited excess revenues,” Terlaje said.
She objected to Duenas’ ruling that her amendment should be considered in the section on miscellaneous provisions, but her objection failed to get enough support from fellow senators.
Duenas continued to rule other amendments out of order due to their funding language. These amendments support various initiatives, such as homelessness assistance.
Terlaje continued to object to the rulings, maintaining that the amendments complied with the rules, calling it a change of rules “in the middle of the game” and an attempt to prevent discussion.
But the rulings ultimately stood, and the Guam Legislature moved on to the next chapter of the budget bill, the unified judiciary, and then to the chapter on the executive branch.
Storm assistance program
Over the weekend, most lawmakers had rejected an amendment from Sens. Chris Barnett and William Parkinson to forego the further reduction of the business privilege tax, or BPT, and create a “Storm Assistance For U,” or SÅFU, grant program.
Lawmakers reduced the BPT to 4.5% from 5% through the last budget measure for fiscal 2026. The fiscal 2027 budget bill would drop it further to 4%, which completely rolls back the tax to where it was before being raised to 5% in 2018 to make up for lost revenue due to federal tax cuts.
Most small businesses already pay a lower BPT than 4% due to certain exemptions enacted over the years.
Barnett and Parkinson’s amendment would appropriate $42 million to the SÅFU program, which would provide eligible households with $1,000 grants for residential hardening, storm preparation or recovery, or food and storm supplies.
“Since we’ve already given the businesses the help that they needed in the form of that half percent business privilege tax rollback, I think it’s safe to say that if we look at who needs assistance more at this time, it would definitely be our working families,” Barnett said during the session on Saturday.
Parkinson urged colleagues to keep BPT at 4.5%, stating that he would advocate for more but hoped to maintain it as is in the spirit of compromise.
But the amendment ultimately failed to get enough support. Only Barnett, Parkinson, Terlaje, and Sen. Sabina Perez – all Democrats – voted for the amendment. No Republicans in attendance Saturday supported the measure.
Barnett told The Guam Daily Post Monday that he will propose the amendment again during the chapter on miscellaneous appropriations but with another funding source.
