Minority Leader Chris Duenas is defending his decision to vote "No" on the Fiscal Year 2023 budget bill. He's opposed to certain provisions in the legislation that were inserted without going through the proper public hearing and vetting procedure.

Senator Duenas mentions two examples in particular: the teacher pay raises, which he says he supports, but were not first presented to the Guam Legislature and approved through the regular process, and secondly the Guam Visitors Bureau's budget amendment giving president and CEO Carl Gutierrez full control over all spending.

"One of the primary reasons why I didn't vote for it was this issue with the Guam Visitors Bureau is really bothering me," he detailed. "You know...what I call the 'miscellaneous provisions' now, I call it the 'mischievous provisions'. And the reason why is this is where mischief happens."

Gutierrez has said the elected board-members are conflicted as they make spending decisions that can benefit their companies. But Duenas says if problems exist, they shouldn't be solved by simply amending the budget bill. "This problem has been festering for over six months, maybe almost closer to eight months or a year between the board and the current general manager. And so to enter that into a budget, I think we should have had an oversight earlier if it was this troublesome, we should have had a bill introduced which redoes the structure, so that everybody knows what's going on," he shared.

He concedes its not likely the governor will veto the budget bill. But he supports passing a standalone bill to revoke the president's complete spending power, in favor of a full review of board rules and regulations. "It's important if the structure is going to be fundamentally changed to any of these public corporations, which in the end...belong to the people of Guam, that's something that should be publicly heard and done in the whole light of day," said Duenas.

Citing Gutierrez's concerns over conflicts of interests, the board has declined to meet since May. GVB has hired a consultant to review board policy.