by Nick Delgado

Guam - In an effort to prevent any loss of Section 30 funds, Senator Ben Pangelinan introduced Bill 438, which requires disclosure of Section 30 requests to the United States Treasury and evaluation of the request by the Special Accounting Service. Pangelinan notes that the governor overestimated the request in fiscal years 2003 and 2004 by $16.5 million, which reduced the funds for 2007, 2008 and 2009 by $5.5 million to repay the feds.

He further notes in fiscal years 2005 and 2007, the governor again submitted overestimated requests by more than $23 million, which he anticipates will cut funds for 2010 thru 2013 by $ 5.8 million. The finance committee chair states, "these continued overestimates of Section 30 revenue limit the Legislature's ability to prioritize funding for tax refunds and other important government programs.

The $6 million dollars removed from the current budget should be in the pockets of Guam taxpayers, not repaid to the federal government." The legislation also requires disclosure of all treasury warrants or payments issued to Guam for transactions with the internal revenue service and notice of garnishments of any federal grants or other federal monies earmarked for Guam.