Legislature advances bill to purchase private land used as a Mahina drainage basin; payment and funding amended on floor

Sponsors moved Bill 337 (referred to in the text as Bill 33/337, 37th Guam Legislature) into the third‑reading file after floor amendments set a purchase price and funding source for private land being used as public drainage in the village of Mahina.

Senator Roy A.B. Kanata, the bill’s author, told colleagues the parcel — Lot 215‑2‑1‑2 in Mahina — has been used for drainage and a ponding basin for decades and that recent rains underscored the need to repair and upgrade the infrastructure. He said the owner had allowed the government to use the land without compensation and prefers a land purchase rather than a land exchange.

Senator Luis Duenas (identified on the floor as the affected property‑owner’s relative) told the chamber he would recuse himself from voting because the land would benefit his first cousin. “I am conflicted on this bill and I will be asking during voting to be recused from voting on this,” he said.

Speaker Therese Terlahi and others described changes made in committee and on the floor: the measure was amended from a land exchange to an outright purchase, and the Department of Public Works (DPW) performed an assessment that the floor cited as the basis for the purchase price. On the floor the speaker offered and the sponsor accepted an amendment to appropriate $87,300 from FY24 excess revenues (as enumerated in the Consolidated Revenue and Expenditure Report) to the Department of Public Works for the acquisition and to pay Mr. Luis Duenas no later than Jan. 2, 2025.

Senators described this as an instance of the government having long used private land for public purposes — a situation members said occurs in several villages — and argued that compensating owners is appropriate. Senator Joanne Brown and others spoke in support, describing the broader problem of government use of private parcels for roads and drainage without full compensation and noting maintenance and federal reimbursement complications when property ownership is unclear.

The author then renewed his motion to place the bill — as amended by committee and further amended on the floor — into the third‑reading file, and the motion to place the bill on the voting file carried on the floor. Senator Duenas stated he would seek recusal at the voting stage.

Next steps: the bill was scheduled for third reading and a vote; the transcript records floor amendments, the funding source and payment deadline, and the recusal intention but does not include the roll‑call vote on final passage.