5 Guam Code Ann. § 30115
Terms Used In 5 Guam Code Ann. § 30115
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
- Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
- Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
shipping rates established by the ocean carriers in the Guam trade. This authorization shall continue until such time that the Attorney General determines that the litigation is no longer in the best interest of the territory.
(b) Legislative intent for source of funding in subsection (c) of this section. Section 26 of Public Law 22-41, the General Appropriation Act of 1994, appropriated Nine Million Five Hundred Sixty Thousand Thirty-Eight Dollars ($9,560,038) to the Government of Guam Retirement Fund to pay for the increased contributions to the Retirement Fund for all branches of the government as provided for in the amendment to § 37 of Title 4, Guam Code Ann., made in Section 8 of Public Law 22-06. The Governor has been applying the appropriations within the various departments and agencies to fund this increase, thereby leaving an excess in the appropriation in Section 26 of Public Law
22-41 which can be redirected to use for the maritime litigation.
(c) Reappropriation of Two Million Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars to Department of Law’s Ocean Freight Rate Legal Fund for legal fees and expenses in the continuation of the Government of Guam’s case before the Federal Maritime Commission. Two Million Four Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($2,450,000) are reappropriated from the appropriation of Nine Million Five Hundred Sixty Thousand Thirty-Eight Dollars ($9,560,038) previously made in Section 26 of Public Law 22-41 to the Department of Administration for the payment of increased contributions to the Government of Guam Retirement Fund as mandated by law, to the Ocean Freight Rate Legal Fund, under the Department of Law, for legal fees and expenses in the continuation of the Government of Guam’s case before the Federal Maritime Commission challenging current shipping rates in the Guam trade. Funds appropriated to the Ocean Freight Rate Legal Fund may be utilized to accommodate billings for legal fees and expenses incurred in prior fiscal years.
SOURCE: Added by P.L. 22-111:5 (Apr. 11, 1994).
COMMENT: Compare the case of Government of Guam v. U.S., D.C. Civ. Case No. 82-1, Dist. Ct. Guam, which stated with regards to the Legislature’s involvement in litigation:
“”It is the further opinion of this Court that two branches of the government of Guam cannot be vested with the authority to institute and prosecute causes of action and take appeals and other legal action for and in the name of the Government. This would, in effect, destroy the Executive Branch of the government of Guam for the Legislature could at any time enact legislation appointing private counsel to institute and prosecute in the name of the Government of Guam to challenge any Executive Branch position or decision.””
While this section authorizes the Attorney General, rather than a private counsel, to prosecute this action, such section is similar to the one objected to in the above case.
NOTE: P.L. 22-111:5 added this section designating the second and third paragraphs as subsections (b) and (c) respectively, but without designating the first paragraph as subsection (a). The Compiler believes this was an oversight and therefore references the first paragraph of this section as subsection (a).