Guam - Senator Ben Pangelinan recently introduced legislation responding to various issues following the passage of the bond bill. After discovering that many of the Chamorro Land Trust Commission's properties don't have official licenses or leases, Pangelinan wrote Bill 344, which would remove CLTC property from the tax rolls and raise the debt calculation from 90% to 93%, which would boost up the values of properties on Guam in order to achieve the $240 million in bond authorization.

He said, "We really aren't raising the debt ceiling because if you take out the Chamorro Land Trust property and then you increase it from 90% to 93%, you're still at $240 million, which is where the debt borrowing would have been with the Chamorro Land Trust in there, so we're not authorizing more borrowing, we're reducing the base of the value so the property by removing property that was never part of that calculation."

Pangelinan adds that he isn't trying to backdoor changing what they can borrow but rather to ensure that the trust is protected and restore back its enabling legislation. He says the bill will actually make it easier for Governor Eddie Calvo, who is currently in San Francisco, to sell the bond.

"This would ensure that we can continue to move forward, so there's no delay," he continued. "Because the bond counsel said that unless we certify all the Chamorro Land Trust properties, he's not going to be able to give an unqualified opinion unless we certify those properties, and you can't certify them without licenses, leases and maps."

The bill also addresses concerns regarding the effects of making the changes in Chamorro Land Trust enabling legislation on how the property is treated which may open Chamorro Land Trust for legal challenges.