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Lawmakers approve measures affecting Chamorro Land Trust land as floor objections mount
Summary
After roll-call votes on multiple measures that affect land under the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, a senator rose to place on the record objections to transferring trust land for uses outside the trust's mission. Gallery commenters and other senators also raised environmental, cultural and health concerns.
The Guam Legislature on Wednesday approved several measures that affect property under the Chamorro Land Trust Commission (CLTC), prompting at least one senator to rise after the votes to record a formal objection and to warn that the actions depart from the trust’s original purpose.
The post-vote remarks followed roll-call approvals of multiple bills on the floor. Measures discussed during the session included a bill to require competitive solicitation for mass grading and mineral extraction on a portion of Lot 5412, Manila (Bill No. 7-38 COR); bills transferring CLTC parcels to government use, including transfers to the Guam Police Department (Bill No. 51-38 COR and Bill No. 73-38 COR); and legislation amending a CLTC lease with Guam International Country Club, Inc. (Bill No. 130-38 COR). Several of those measures were described in floor debate and were voted on during the session.
Why it matters: The Chamorro Land Trust Commission was created to hold and return land for Chamorro homesteads and farms. Critics on the floor and members of the public who attended the session said transferring trust parcels or authorizing large-scale excavation threatens beneficiaries’ land access, local limestone forest habitat, and neighborhood health.
A senator who spoke at length after the votes said they opposed “all bills that proposed to take land from the Chamorro Land Trust Commission,” saying the trust was established “to return land to the Chamorro people, to provide homesteads and farms” and that removing land from the trust for other uses is an injustice to beneficiaries. The speaker placed on the record historical context, citing past land takings and arguing the trust should be protected for future generations. (The transcript does not identify that speaker by name; the remarks occur in the post‑vote floor remarks recorded beginning at about 00:53:50 into the session.)
Other senators and gallery attendees also urged caution. Speakers during floor remarks and members of the public in the gallery expressed concerns about blasting, dust and other health risks near affected communities and about the permanent loss of native limestone forests.
What the bills would do (as described on the floor): - Bill No. 7-38 COR (as introduced on the floor): amend chapter 75, title 21, Guam Code Annotated to require the Chamorro Land Trust Commission to solicit competitive bids for mass grading and mineral extraction of a portion of Lot 5412, Manila. - Bill No. 51-38 COR: transfer Lot No. 70541, municipality of Jigo, from the Chamorro Land Trust Commission to the Guam Police Department. (Title as read on the floor: transfer of Lot Number 70541 from the CLTC to the Guam Police Department.) - Bill No. 73-38 COR: authorize transfer of title and administrative jurisdiction of Lot 15, Block F, Tract 9 in Barrigada Heights from the Chamorro Land Trust Commission to the Guam Police Department for development of a public safety emergency communications center. - Bill No. 130-38 COR: amend a Chamorro Land Trust lease agreement with Guam International Country Club, Inc.
Discussion vs. decision: The transcript records extended debate and several senators’ floor remarks opposing the transfers; it also records the roll-call votes and shows the measures received final votes on the floor. The record contains post-vote objections and calls to protect trust land, but the transcript does not show any reversal of the approved measures during the session.
Clarifying details recorded on the floor included statements that, in total, the four CLTC-related bills under discussion would remove on the order of hundreds of acres from the trust inventory (the speaker cited figures of about 165 acres and another possible transfer of about 242 acres for Malesso). The transcript does not show any alternate acreage totals from other senators during the same floor remarks.
What comes next: The measures voted on the floor were recorded as passed by the body where that phrase appears in the transcript; the session also confirmed multiple executive nominations before adjournment. The transcript and floor record identify community opposition raised from the galleries and senators’ requests for greater care in land decisions that affect beneficiaries of the CLTC.
