I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] finds that education, health and safety are among the many government responsibilities whose facilities have required much improvement and expansion. As stakeholders, all of Guam’s residents, temporary visitors, and new immigrants have an interest in the improvement of these vital services.

I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] finds that almost all of Guam’s public school buildings have fallen into some degree of disrepair. Some school facilities already have deteriorated to the point that they cannot be occupied, forcing schools to share classrooms with other schools. Whether the cause of disrepair is age, natural disaster, or a simple lack of regular care and maintenance, it is of great public interest that existing public schools be repaired and refurbished and new public school buildings be constructed to standards optimally conducive to student learning.

Further, I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] finds that for many years, the number of public schools have not kept pace with the trends in Guam’s population. As a result, many of Guam’s public schools have become overcrowded, at times far surpassing the student capacities they originally had been designed to accommodate. Consequently, Guam’s educators on a
daily basis have had to overcome the challenges of teaching students in an environment that often detracts from, rather than enhances, the teaching-and-learning process.

At the same time, but in a different area of need, the people of Guam also have had to cope with the Guam Memorial Hospital’s CT Scan System that has nearly surpassed its useful life and also is in great need of technological update. I Liheslatura also recognizes the much-needed expansion and redesign of the emergency medical department, as well as the need to establish an endoscopy suite on Guam.

Moreover, I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] realizes that the Department of Public Health and Social Services regional community health clinics are unable to accommodate the population increases in the island’s villages, and therefore, would require expansion of the health centers, or in some cases, may require additional ones.

Less visible to the general public yet very important to the overall safety of the community, Guam’s Adult Correctional Facility requires safety upgrades in order to meet mandates set forth by the U.S. Federal government in a Consent Decree entered into between the government of Guam and the Federal government as a result of a lawsuit. These safety upgrades, which include fire control and entry control devices, would ensure adequate security for Guam’s people and safety for the facility’s personnel and inmates. I Liheslatura finds that the interests of public security and the humane delivery of justice demand that these upgrades be completed without further delay.

I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] further recognizes that the repair and refurbishment of existing public schools, the construction of new public schools, the establishment of healthcare facilities, and safety upgrades to the prison are expensive endeavors. However, they are investments of vital importance to the island’s future. While the financing of large projects is difficult, it is neither an insurmountable obstacle, nor a necessarily reckless and risky financial undertaking. This legislative body is mindful of the need for new facilities but also equally mindful that the price of educating our students,

improving health care, and ensuring security does not have to be a huge debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren.

Therefore, it is the intent of I Liheslaturan Guåhan [The Legislature] to enable the financing for the repair and refurbishment of existing public schools, the construction of new public schools, the replacement of the CT Scan System and the establishment of an endoscopy suite at the Guam Memorial Hospital, the expansion and the redesign of the emergency medical department of the Guam Memorial Hospital, the expansion of the Department of Public Health and Social Services regional community health clinics or the construction of new ones, and safety upgrades to our prison facility; thereby investing in a solid future for Guam’s people, while ensuring that this same investment is not compromised by large public debt.

I Liheslatura further finds that the securitization of future revenue streams to be received by the government of Guam is an acceptable source of repayment of bonds issued with no recourse to full faith and credit of the government for repayment. I Liheslatura successfully issued bonds using this method with the securitization of the future payments of the master settlement agreement between the tobacco companies and the various states attorneys general. In addition, other state and local governments have done the same with revenues of Federal grants to states authorized by Congress.

For Guam, we have such an opportunity to maximize the future revenues of the Compact Impact reimbursements authorized for twenty (20) years by the recent re-authorization in United States Public Law 108-188 of the Compact of Free Association. The securitization of these future revenues can be used to issue bonds of a sufficient amount to accomplish the projects authorized herein that will result in an economic stimulus that creates new jobs and increased government revenues.