SEN. Judi Guthertz, author of Bill 445, is inviting the Judiciary of Guam to provide testimony during the legislation’s public hearing today.
Guthertz wrote to Chief Justice Philip Carbullido, who delivered the State of Judiciary address last week, expressing her accord with his message of re-examining the island’s many mandates in the law books.
His message, she said, is in harmony with her Bill 445, which seeks to repeal antiquated, unfunded and underutilized statutes or administrative rules of the government of Guam.
A public hearing for the measure has been scheduled for today at 9 a.m. at the Legislature.
Guthertz hopes to receive testimony from the Judiciary as it also focuses on mandates affecting the executive branch of government, she said.
“Perhaps this could be expanded in scope to include a review of laws that impact the Judiciary that are not needed or due for some amending,” she said.
Guthertz was the author of a law passed in 2007 that intended to “rightsize” government statues. However, she said since the passing of the bill into law, Guam governors have failed to appoint any members to the commission authorized by the law, nor have they made any move to get the review process rolling.
In fact, the senator said she’s received complaints stating that instead of fixing government structure, the executive branch continues to warn the island about laying off government personnel.
“My hope is that this measure will set the basic foundation and structure for modernizing and rightsizing our government. We have not had a thorough review of our laws since the passage of the Organic Act of Guam in 1950,” Guthertz wrote.
