FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (October 22, 2021 – Hagåtña, Guam) – Speaker Therese Terlaje has issued the following statement on today’s legislative session and Bill 130-36 (COR):

After being alerted to an error in the engrossment of Bill 130-36 (COR) AN ACT TO ADD A NEW SECTION 13.2 TO CHAPTER 1 OF DIVISION 1, TITLE 5, GUAM CODE ANNOTATED, RELATIVE TO ESTABLISHING THE GUAM WORLD WAR II RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2021 TO COMPENSATE CLAIMS OF THE GREATEST GENERATION OF GUAM FOR THE ATROCITIES SUFFERED DURING THE WORLD WAR II OCCUPATION OF GUAM, my office worked with the Committee on Rules and central staff to determine the cause of the clerical error and to identify any gaps that could be closed in our administrative processes.  The Clerk’s Office provided a verbal and written timeline of what transpired on Bill 130 and the error that was made.

I promptly issued the attached release to the media to assure the people of Guam that there was a concerted effort to find how the error happened and was assured by the Acting Chairperson of the Committee on Rules, Senator Amanda Shelton, that measures were being put in place to ensure it will not be duplicated.

While colleagues have made accusations in the media that the clerical error was intentional, corrupt, and sowing seeds of distrust, I remain committed to honoring the credibility of this institution, the tenet of attorney client privilege, as well as the will of this body to provide a productive solution by majority vote.   No solution was proffered today and session was impeded by repeated walkouts.

In addition, P.L. 36-34, authored by Senator Joanne Brown, that requires our agenda be properly noticed.  Bill 130-36 (COR) was not included as an agenda item on the Legislature’s notice which was published on October 15 and 19, 2021.  Actions on the floor require eight (8) votes.

I understand the calls for accountability from our Republican colleagues and hope they see this as an opportunity to improve upon our processes and not to threaten the livelihoods of these employees over a clerical error or to create chaos instead of a solution. The Committee on Rules should implement changes to prevent future errors.”