Legislature advances two bills to realign and convert bull‑cart trails to public easements

The Guam Legislature moved two related land bills — Bill 379 and Bill 381 (37th Guam Legislature) — from committee onto the session agenda and to third‑reading/voting files after sponsors described them as mechanisms to realign existing bull‑cart trails and convert corridors into clearer public easements.

Speaker Therese Terlahi explained that Bill 379 authorizes the Chamorro Land Trust Commission (CLTC) and the Department of Land Management (DLM) to realign the boulevard/bull‑cart trail along certain lots so owners can consolidate parcels and develop them with clearer boundaries. She said the realignment would preserve public ocean access while straightening and widening the trail and allowing landowners to consolidate lots for development.

Bill 381 would authorize CLTC to sell 15,080 square meters of an existing bull‑cart trail in Timuning (or to transfer it to DLM and authorize an exchange for approximately 13,101 square meters of a 60‑foot public easement through consolidated lots). The sponsor said the bill responds to long‑running property partition and boundary issues on ancestral lands and would preserve access to the same part of the cliff and shore while enabling owners to move forward with subdivision and development plans.

Both motions to place the bills on the session agenda and to move them to third reading/voting file carried without recorded objection. Sponsors said both measures had undergone public hearings, received Chamorro Land Trust and Guam Land Use Commission review, and were intended to improve public beach access and legal clarity for adjacent landowners.

Next steps: Both bills were set for third reading and a future vote; the transcript records committee history and floor scheduling but not final third‑reading roll calls in the provided excerpts.