Senators Chris Barnett and Sabina Flores Perez are urging a complete redraft of the Draft 2025 Programmatic Agreement (PA), citing concerns about transparency, community involvement, and protections for Guåhan’s cultural and historic resources.
During a March 19 oversight hearing, State Historic Preservation Officer Patrick Lujan confirmed he has the authority to start the PA drafting process from scratch. Senators stressed that the current draft, developed largely behind closed doors, excludes meaningful participation from the community.
“The people of Guam were not included from the beginning. Our People's voices never even entered the conversation,” Senator Barnett said. “Now we are being forced to submit comment on an agreement that a large segment of our community continues to raise red flags about."
Senator Perez highlighted provisions in the Draft 2025 PA that could reduce oversight, including allowing unilateral execution by a single signatory, maintaining military authority in dispute resolution, and decreasing reporting requirements for archaeologically sensitive sites from quarterly to twice yearly.
“Section 106 (of the National Historic Preservation Act) is the gold standard for historic preservation,” Perez said. “This draft weakens those protections and shifts the balance toward operational efficiency over cultural preservation. If implemented as written, it risks undermining our ability to protect CHamoru heritage for future generations.”
Both senators are calling for the withdrawal of the draft PA and the development of a new agreement grounded in transparency, community consultation, and cultural preservation. The public comment period on the current draft closes March 20, 2026.