Guam senators reject amendment to restore judicial client service fund backing for private attorney panel

An amendment to restore language allowing the judicial client service fund to continue paying for the Private Attorney Panel (PAP), Erica’s House, marshals and interpreters failed after a contested floor debate in the Committee of the Whole. Senator Tydigwe, who proffered the change, said the fund "maintain[s] this client service fund to cover any shortfalls for the PAP." He argued the language simply restored existing law and the court-created funding structure that was intended to cover those four purposes.

Ranking Member Munya Barnes opposed the amendment, citing legal advice and a letter from the Sixth Amendment Center. Barnes warned that "systems based on user fees or taxes should be avoided" and that relying on fines and fees can make indigent-defense funding volatile and threaten the independence of defense services. She told colleagues the center’s review "made clear that the PAP could not remain under the judiciary without risking the independence of defense services."

Other senators pressed whether the change was substantive or had been the subject of a public hearing. Tydigwe said the underlying law already specified the fund’s purposes and said the amendment merely restored the language “because it belongs there.” After debate and a show-of-hands vote, the amendment failed.

The debate highlighted a tension in the budget process: preserving an established funding channel that advocates say supports indigent defense versus legal counsel and national experts urging general-revenue funding to ensure stability and constitutional protections. The committee recorded the failure of Tydigwe’s amendment; no alternate funding mechanism was adopted during the discussion.