by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - The Executive Director of the Legislature, Vince Arriola, has issued a press release announcing that employees from the 31^st Guam Legislature are receiving their annual lump sum payment checks today. "A total of $430,769 in existing legislative funds was released for accrued leave of which $114,649 of that was for senators and $316,120 was for legislative staff," the press release stated.

Here's the breakdown of how much each Senator from the 31^st Guam Legislature will be receiving today:

Sen. Judi Won Pat      $10,400
Sen. BJ Cruz                   $9,360
Sen. Tina Muna Barnes      $9,360
Sen. Frank Blas,Jr.              $9,360
Sen. Rory Respicio          $9,360
Sen. Judi Guthertz           $9,360
Sen. Adolpho Palacios         $9,360
Sen. Tom Ada                      $9,360
Sen. Tony Ada                 $5,762
Sen. Dennis Rodriguez, Jr. $5,148
Sen. Sam Mabini                 $8,628
Sen. Mana Silva Taijeron       $6,084
Sen. Aline Yamashita           $9,360
Sen. Ben Pangelinan             -0-
Sen. Chris Duenas                  -0-

According to Arriola the process of paying out accrued annual leave at the end of each term has occurred for nearly every legislative term since the beginning of the Guam Legislature. This is a routine practice at the end of terms for elected officials and unclassified staff and is authorized by law. "Members of the 31^st Guam Legislature in their last session repealed annual leave benefits so there will be no future lump sum payments for lawmakers," Arriola said.

The press release did not indicate where the money came from to pay out the annual leave benefit. It was last week Speaker Judi Won Pat said there was no money to pay it out. This was her comment to KUAM on January 24^th, 2013:

"But that amount was not appropriated for this fiscal year so that means there's no money to cash out, but we're not just talking about Senators, but the employees as well the staff because every two years when there's a turnover, especially a major turnover then these monies would kind of help carry these employees for a couple of months to find employment elsewhere or hopefully with the legislature. You won't see that happening until there is that funding source."

Arriola says checks can be picked at the Legislature's Payroll anytime today.