The Legislature of Guam ( ch, Liheslaturan Guåhan) is the law-making body for the United States territory of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. The

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

legislative branch consists of fifteen senators, each serving for a two-year term. All members of the legislature are elected at-large with the island under one whole district. After the enactment of the Guam Organic Act in 1950, the First Guam Legislature was elected composing of 21 elected members. Today, the current fifteen-member 36th Guam Legislature ( ch, I Mina' Trentai Sais Na Liheslaturan Guåhan) was elected in November 2020.

History

American Period: 1898–1941, 1944–present

Spain lost Guam during the 1898

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (cloc ...

in a bloodless invasion. For the next forty years, the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

assumed executive control of the island, treating it more as a military outpost than an overseas territory, with little to no civilian say in the island's affairs. Governor Captain Willis Winter Bradley instituted the

Congress during the 1930s as an elected advisory body to the naval governor. On December 8, 1941,

Imperial Japanese The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent forma ...

forces invaded Guam, beginning a three-year occupation of the island. The island was eventually retaken in 1944 during the intense Battle of Guam. Following the end of the war, the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

attempted to resume military control of the islands, much to the dismay of the local

Chamorro Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mar ...

population who demanded greater rights on the heels of the harsh Japanese occupation. The

U.S. federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fed ...

listened. The result was the Guam Organic Act of 1950 signed by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. The act established a civilian territorial government with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. It was the first time that

had a democratic civilian government.

Speakers of the Guam Legislature

Structure of the Guam Legislature

The Guam Organic Act of 1950 provides for the establishment of the Guam Legislature. The Organic Act provides that the Guam Legislature is a unicameral body with up to twenty-one members and that elections shall be held every two years. Until a change to Guam law in 1996, the Guam Legislature had 21 members, called senators, but since then it has had 15 senators. Senators of the Guam Legislature have been elected both by a number of at-large districts and by an island-wide at-large election. Since the 1980s, senators of the Guam Legislature have been elected at-large through an open partisan primary and a subsequent island-wide election.

Qualifications

The qualifications for membership in the

legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

are expressly stated in the Organic Act of Guam: *a candidate must be at least twenty-five years old, and; *a candidate must have lived on

for at least five years preceding the sitting of the legislature in which they seek to become a member.

Seat

The legislature currently meets at the Guam Congress Building along Chalan Santo Papa in the village of Hagåtña, directly across from the

Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica ( es, Catedral Basílica del Dulce Nombre de María) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Guam. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agaña. It is located on the site where t ...

Historic composition

The biennial legislative terms and the years of general elections are listed in the table below, along with the number of Democratic, Republican, and Independents and Other Parties' seats in each respective legislative term. The parties are as follows: (D), (P), (R), and (T).

References

External links

''Guam Legislature's Official Website''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Legislature Of Guam Government of Guam

1950 establishments in Guam Politics of Guam