After a 5-minute session, Guam senators toss governor's emergency power bills to committee

Panel chair says the proposals require community input

By Jayvee Vallejera

During a special session that lasted a little over five minutes this morning, the 38th Guam Legislature referred to a committee two bills that aim to equip Gov. Lou Leon-Guerrero with sweeping emergency powers.

Lawmakers will revisit the matter in 30 days, following a public hearing.

Chris Duenas

After just five minutes and 34 seconds, Speaker Frank F. Blas Jr. called for recess and scheduled to reconvene on Sept. 29 to tackle Leon-Guerrero’s two proposed measures, Bills 1-1S and 2-1S.

Blas described both bills as “expansive and substantive,” and a recess will give Guam senators enough time to review the bills and for the public to comment on them.

Bill 1-1S would codify the Guam governor’s special powers during states of emergency. Bill 2-1S would authorize the use of the American Rescue Plan Act for the installation of utility infrastructure in Mangilao, where Leon Guerrero proposed to build a new hospital.

Senators agreed to refer both bills to Sen. Christopher Duenas' finance and government operations committee.

Nine senators were present at the special session.

The governor’s office urged the speaker to call the senators back and address the urgent solutions she offered in her bills.

Krystal Paco-San Agustin, communications director at the Office of the Governor of Guam, described the short session as a show of “failed leadership.”

“It is a tragic failure of leadership for Speaker Blas to demand an emergency declaration at [Guam Memorial Hospital] and then send the legislature into recess for a month,” she said.

Bill 1-1S would codify the Guam governor’s special powers during states of emergency. Bill 2-1S would authorize the installation of utility infrastructure in Mangilao using funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Both bills aim to address critical needs at GMH and the governor's plan to build a new hospital for Guam.

Duenas said in a news release his committee will hold a public hearing on the bills on Sept. 12. Notices will be issued early next week.

He said the public must have a voice in shaping both bills.

“Rushing these measures without hearing from the people would be irresponsible,” Dueñas said. “With the support of my caucus, we now have one full month to deliberate and ensure that the people’s voices guide our decisions.”

He said the people of Guam deserve a seat at the table before any final decisions are made.

Paco-San Agustin finds it insulting to the people of Guam for the legislature not to even consider the proposed measures.

She pointed out it was Blas himself who had demanded an emergency declaration at GMH.

“You don’t call something an emergency and then go into the equivalent of [a] legislative vacation until the end of September,” she said.

Paco-San Agustin said the proposed bills would provide Leon-Guerrero with the legal tools needed to assist GMH and construct utility infrastructure for the new hospital.

She insists the bills are time-sensitive, and senators must act on them immediately—not go on vacation while lives hang in the balance.

“Either the Legislature reconvenes immediately to act, or it admits it never cared about GMH; it just wanted to issue press releases and pretend that it did,” she added.

Leon-Guerrero’s bills, submitted to the legislature on Aug. 29, would give her Covid-19-era emergency powers that would allow her to unilaterally declare a state of emergency and speed up her plan to build a new hospital in Mangilao.

The plan for a new hospital has been stalled for several months now, largely due to disagreements between the governor and the Legislature over where to build it.

In her letter to the legislature, Leon-Guerrero said her emergency powers during the Covid-19 pandemic no longer apply.

Guam needs to set in place laws that would authorize certain actions specifically for emergencies, whether natural disasters or man-made events that endanger the health and safety of the community, she said.

“Emergency procurement measures available to agencies under the law are at times inadequate to address particularly urgent or time-sensitive emergencies,” said Leon-Guerrero.

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