Guam governor vetoes 2026 budget bill

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Gov.  Lou Leon Guerrero today vetoed Bill 44-38, the spending measure for 2026, which she said has misguided priorities and failed to fund health care adequately.

 If signed into law, she added, the budget bill could create “potentially dangerous shortfalls.”

The governor said she will transmit a fiscally identical version of their budget with just one significant change: the retention of the 5 percent business privilege tax, allowing the $40 million set aside for tax cuts this year to be redirected solely to GMH to address its critical needs.

“Pass this substitute budget immediately. Make it law—let’s just help GMH, too,” she said in a video message.

Full transcript of the governor’s message:

Håfa adai! Thank you for allowing me to join you in your homes or on the go—wherever you might be listening. I know how busy life can be, and I am truly grateful for your precious time. 

From time to time, an issue impacts all of us in a way that cannot be ignored—demanding that I come to you personally, that I speak plainly, and that I seek your help and understanding. The ongoing challenge at GMH has presented us with one of those times. 

Whether you’re a Republican, Democrat, or somewhere in between, we can all agree on this much: We want a hospital that works. We want GMH to be safe, reliable, and strong enough to care for our families when life itself hangs in the balance.

For weeks, the legislature has sought a declaration of emergency at GMH, citing a collapsing facility and a recurring financial shortfall—all while the budget they passed gave the hospital less money than it has in the current year. Less money in a time of crisis.

Last week, when I called the legislature into special session to address the emergency at GMH, I also sent down measures that would give me the legal tools to act—tools to repair failing electrical systems, pay the power bills, and keep our patients safe.

They could have debated those bills. 

They could have amended them. 

They could have rejected them entirely or offered their own in a succeeding session.  

But instead, they recessed for a month and went home, leaving GMH to burn in its own need. But, in a burning house, you don’t write a letter to the fire department—you don’t issue yet another press release—you grab a hose and anything you have to put the fire out. Because, in an emergency, the greatest failure isn’t choosing the wrong tool. It’s failing to pick one up at all.

Now, instead of putting real money into GMH, the Republican majority authored a resolution asking the federal government to reallocate funds already locked away by Congress. That is dangerous for two reasons: First, if GMH is truly in an emergency, it needs help now. It cannot wait on an act of Congress or the sprawling machinery of the federal government. Second, by arguing over the use of these funds after the federal deadline for their obligation has passed, we risk losing them altogether.

So today, I offer a way forward. Since we all agree GMH must be helped, let us choose a compromise without compromising GMH…

I have vetoed the budget bill recently transmitted to me by the Legislature. In its place, I will transmit a fiscally identical version of their budget with just one major change. I ask only this: that the Business Privilege Tax remain at five percent, allowing the $40 million set aside for tax cuts this year to be redirected solely to GMH to address its critical needs…

Now, our Legislature must choose: Support GMH for all of us or secure a tax giveaway for the favored few.

To those of you who spent weeks opposing this budget with me, thank you. This budget, as passed, creates potentially dangerous shortfalls. Its priorities are misguided, and it fails to properly fund what should be essential. But that is sometimes the nature of compromise; we each walk toward the other because neither of us can walk away.

Pass this substitute budget immediately. Make it law—let’s just help GMH, too.

For more than 40 years, we have changed hospital boards, changed management, changed governors. But we have never fully funded GMH. Year after year, the cost of care rises faster than most families can pay. Year after year, our government is left to fill the gap. And year after year, that gap grows wider.

Even this won’t get us all the money GMH needs, but, coupled with the emergency measures I sent the legislature last week, it will represent our most significant step forward for GMH in a long time.

This is not about blame. It is not about who gets credit. It is about whether we will finally do what our people expect of government—to solve problems and make progress—to come together instead of tear each other apart.

We can repair GMH today and build a new hospital for tomorrow. We can rise above the petty and the small, choosing a safe hospital for all instead of tax cuts for the few. 

The people of Guam expect no less.