Should legislature be cut from 15 senators to 7?

by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - The Guam Election Commission will soon be in receipt of a proposed initiative that aims to reduce the number of senators in the Guam Legislature from fifteen to seven. If all works out, the proposed initiative will be decided by the voters of Guam in the 2014 general election.

"I don't represent any special interest groups, I'm not a part of the government, I'm not seeking a government job, I'm just looking to have a better island and build a sentiment and support from the community," said Ryan Calvo in discussing the proposal. He said it would reduce expenses, increase savings, improve efficiency and effectiveness as well as maintain adequate job performance. "I think we'll have a more responsible government, we'll be able to live within our own means," he added.

Calvo says he's been working on the initiative for two years along with input from former senators, judges, commissioners and mayors. GEC executive director Maria Pangelinan says while nothing has come in yet, Calvo has come by her office to put up samples of past initiatives. "And it becomes a little complicated because there's a new law that was passed at the end of last year that we are still introducing ourselves to and reviewing it that we familiarize ourselves well enough so that we meet the mandates," she said.

Pangelinan is referring to the Initiative Reform and Transparency Act of 2012, introduced by former senator Judi Guthertz and passed at the end of last year. Overall some of the requirements include a $200 filing fee, submitting 10% of the number of registered voters in the last general election that had over 50,701 votes along with some of the new items. "The proponents also must conduct ten village meetings and the villages they choose, two of them must be in the higher populated villages," she said.

She adds the proponents must also prepare a fiscal impact statement for the first year it will become affective and the following four years.

Majority Leader Rory Respicio says because the idea is still in the beginning stages he preferred to reserve comment in order to not provide any undo influence over individuals who want to bring the initiative forward ultimately sayings he supports the process. "And at the end of the day and in any democracy you leave these decisions to the voters and let the voters decide collectively whether this initiative is really about wanting to save government money or wanting to reduce democracy. So that's a debate for a later date," he explained.

Like Respicio, Republican senator Michael Limtiaco, who pushed for political reform on the campaign trail, says he only learned of the initiative over the weekend and hopes to read it in its entirety soon. He understands what, saying, "But I know opponents too such a move would basically say that we're putting a lot of the decision making process into fewer hands and fewer ideas. So it doesn't span a breath of experience that you currently have with the body of fifteen, but if the intent is to reduce costs, I think the better way to go is to take a serious look at the part-time legislature."

Calvo says this is his first time writing an initiative but is aware of the push by some for a part-time legislature. "It's something that is out there already so it's being worked on, and I think if we all work in different aspects and areas we can have a government that helps the people and works for the people," he said.

Calvo says he has 80% of the initiative done and hopes to submit it in its entirety in the next few weeks. He is continuing to gather feedback from the community and can be contacted at [email protected].