By John O’Connor | The Guam Daily
After debating the measure last week, lawmakers have unanimously voted to pass Bill 277-36, a measure authorizing the Chamorro Land Trust Commission to enter into commercial submerged land license agreements with telecommunication companies.
Twelve lawmakers voted in favor of the measure. None voted against. Sens. Frank Blas Jr., Telena Nelson and Amanda Shelton were absent and excused.
Introduced by Speaker Therese Terlaje, Bill 277 also establishes regulations and requirements for the submerged land licenses.
The legislation states that there is a need to update previous cable license agreements entered into by the local government and a need “to bring all telecommunications agreements more in line with the global market.”
There are at least 11 submarine cables that either pass through or end at Guam. In addition to local telecom providers, other major companies operating in a consortium include AT&T, Tata Telecom, RTI, TPG, Google, Verizon, and SoftBank, according to a release from Sen. Telo Taitague, a co-sponsor of Bill 277.
Taitague had authored the bill that became Public Law 35-132, which created a task force to review submarine cable activities and provide recommendations to the Legislature concerning federal and local policy.
“We’ve heard over many years different governors talk about submarine/fiber optic cables and the importance of this industry to the growth of Guam’s economy. Like Public Law 35-132, Bill 277 recognizes that Guam is not just located strategically from a military viewpoint, our island is located strategically from a position of economic opportunity and strength which should benefit all the people of Guam,” Taitague stated in her release.
Early vote
Lawmakers voted on Bill 277 first thing Monday morning, earlier than normal and ahead of other bills, at the motion of the speaker.
Terlaje noted Friday that one lease is expiring at the end of September and she wanted CLTC to have Bill 277 available in renegotiations.
“In order to make that happen before the end of September, I would like to get this to the governor as soon as possible so she can consider approving it and putting it in place for the Chamorro Land Trust Commission,” Terlaje said Friday.
Lawmakers also debated companion legislation Monday, in the form of Bill 278.
This measure places the proceeds of CLTC submerged land license agreements into the CLTC Survey and Infrastructure Fund, which is to be used for surveying land in the CLTC’s inventory and for constructing infrastructure to service these lands. Bill 278 includes sewer and telecommunication resources in the list of infrastructure services.
Bill 278 was placed into the third reading file Monday morning
