Guam Legislature puts FY2026 budget bill on agenda; members press for time to review 1,000+ page committee report

Senator Duane Schier moved to place Bill No. 44-38 COR, the Fiscal Year 2026 operating appropriations bill introduced by the governor under the Organic Act of Guam, on the session agenda so the Legislature can receive and review the committee substitute and committee report. The committee report is more than 1,000 pages, and Schier said the substitute version will be uploaded before members are called back into session so they have time to review it before deliberations. "It is over a thousand page document, so the committee report is currently being uploaded and will be available well before you call session again to introduce the substitute version," Schier said. The motion to place the bill on the agenda carried with no objections. Speaker Blas and other members discussed a schedule: the Legislature will likely convene in session on the eighth (next week) to provide the substituted documentation to members and will reconvene on the afternoon of the eleventh to begin budget deliberations. The sponsor and staff said the substitute would be uploaded by the evening before the eighth so members would have the weekend and Monday morning to review before Monday afternoon introduction. Members asked for clarification about whether they would receive the substitute in time to prepare amendments. One lawmaker asked whether the substitute would be "significantly different" from the introduced bill; committee leadership replied that members would need the weekend to review and that no deliberations would begin on the eighth, only the document upload and an introduction of the substitute on the eleventh. The body agreed to the schedule, with several members urging that the substitute be made available as soon as it clears CORE so members and staff can start preparing. Schier said the Legislature would not begin deliberations until the eleventh and that members could request additional recess time if the weekend proved insufficient. The motion to place Bill 44 on the agenda passed without objection, and members were told the substitute and committee report would be uploaded in advance of the next session call so review time is available.