Conference committee adopts ground rules for House Bill 24-74 SS2; debate opens on $750,000 tourism aid
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Summary
The Senate conference committee approved ground rules for House Bill 24-74 SS2 and opened deliberations on using trust interest income to address shortfalls caused by a federal pause in assistance; Representative John Paul P. Sablan urged diverting $750,000 to the Marianas Visitors Authority to stabilize air service and support tourism jobs.
The Senate conference committee met in the Senate Chamber and approved conference committee ground rules for House Bill 24-74 SS2, then began deliberations on proposed uses of trust interest income, including a proposal to divert $750,000 to the Marianas Visitors Authority (MVA) to support air service and tourism.
Representative John Paul P. Sablan argued the diversion was necessary to protect the Commonwealth’s primary economic engine. “Tourism is not a luxury for the Commonwealth. It is our principal economic engine,” Sablan said, warning that “market distortion following the Korean–Asiana merger have produced capacity imbalances and deep fare discounting to Guam” that he said are pulling visitors away from the Commonwealth. He told conferees the $750,000 would let MVA continue incentive programs to stabilize routes and protect hotel and tourism jobs.
Committee members approved the conference committee ground rules for House Bill 24-74 SS2 by unanimous conferee votes. House conferees recorded unanimous affirmative votes and the senate conferees likewise recorded unanimous yes votes; the chair announced the ground rules were adopted and the committee signed them during a brief recess.
In presenting the bill’s background, the chair summarized earlier budget activity: during a recent federal shutdown payments to NAP recipients were suspended, the Maranis Public Land Trust (as described to the committee) transmitted $1,000,000 to the administration as part of steps tied to a larger marginal line of credit discussed at approximately $29,000,000, and the house and senate versions differed in how to use those funds. Because the senate’s substitute changed the bill’s intent, the committee agreed to deliberate on the amended substitute in its entirety.
A senate conferee later asked for additional discussion with conferees from the senate about follow-up communications from the Travel Advisory Council after members said council messaging produced mixed public signals about flight service. With no objection, the committee recessed to continue deliberations and scheduled the next session for 08:30 the following morning in the Senate Chamber.
What happens next: the committee will resume at the scheduled time to continue deliberation of House Bill 24-74 SS2 and any proposed funding allocations, including the $750,000 MVA proposal.