Buenas yan Håfa Ådai Chairperson Barnes,

I want to thank you and your office for spearheading the efforts for the audit report released recently by the Office of Public Accountability. The report disclosed “several deficiencies relative to the registration and licensing requirements, gross receipts reporting and BPT payments, questionable exemptions without sufficient documentation, and lapses in internal controls.” 

The audit ultimately asserted that the Government of Guam is not collecting nearly as much revenue as it should be. I would assume that, based on the evidence, this shortfall is attributable to the technological systems currently in place today. As much as I know how hard working and diligent the people at the Department of Revenue and Tax are, it is impossible for them to manually keep up the pace and process these collections efficiently and in a timely manner without the assistance of the latest technological advancements that many governments around the world utilize today. Since these taxes are a major source of funding for the government, it is imperative that I stress how crucial it is for Guam to collect what is owed to Guam. I’d also like to emphasize that this audit was released at a time when funding sources are desperately needed to provide basic public services and government operations. 

We need to hold an oversight so we can examine how to improve the tech and data collection capabilities of Government of Guam agencies. For example, I did a quick review of the website www.usaspending.gov, which provides a fairly detailed account of the annual federal spending on Guam and discovered that while this information is easily accessible to any internet user without much difficulty, it is also nearly impossible to track similar information on federal spending in any corresponding Government of Guam website or public database.

Usaspending.gov lists information of almost all Federal dollars spent on Guam. But to try to find and locate details of these public expenditures with the corresponding Government of Guam entity is very difficult. This should not be the case. The Government of Guam is too far behind in providing timely online information and searchable databases for the residents of Guam. Government of Guam agencies need to explain their plans to improve the situation and we in the Legislature should hold them accountable to do so. Once again, I thank you for collaborating with the Office of Accountability to bring this issue to light and proactively working to find viable solutions. 

I hope you will act on my request and I standby ready to assist and support you.

Si Yu’os ma’åse,

Jesse A. Lujan                                                                                                 Thomas J. Fisher

Senator                                                                                                            Senator