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Gutierrez: Adjusting our economy and following the money
By Carl T.C. Gutierrez
Håfa adai. Today I am delighted to see Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and other island leaders taking rapid strides toward switching up the way Guam does business with the world by capitalizing on our dormant but natural strengths.
Scraping rock bottom of a COVID-shuttered visitor industry, we can hardly diversify our local economy fast enough not if we hope to fill the revenue gap between $660 million in new federal stimulus funding and the tourism rebound we’re targeting over the next 24 to 36 months.
Four industries
Right off the bat, four industries are shaping up for precedence and traction along the 21st century causeway to a sustainable island economy.
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Sen. Christopher Duenas has introduced a bill intended to ensure that funding provided through the American Rescue Plan is committed toward the construction of a new hospital.
The Building Trust Act would take the $300 million in federal money that Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero stated she would commit towards building a replacement for the Guam Memorial Hospital and place it in a trust fund to be managed by the Guam Economic Development Authority.
The trust is already in existence, in accordance with Public Law 12-69, Duenas said. The proposed act would supplement it with incoming federal funding, and allow for the trust to be able to receive further funds appropriated by the legislature as well as private donations.
Bill to create transshipment taskforce heard
Joe Taitano II
Lawmakers held a public hearing April 22 on a bill directed at encouraging economic diversification by establishing a transshipment industry.
Bill 2 was sponsored by Vice Speaker Tina Muña Barnes. It would create a task force to review laws at the federal and local level and coordinate the use of land and government resources towards the new industry.
The transshipment task force would be made up of administrators from the Guam Economic Development Authority, the Port Authority, Customs and Quarantine Agency, Land Management and the airpory. They would work toward creating a comprehensive economic diversification plan towards, establishing the island as a shipping hub.