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Senators who make up the Committee on Rules and Judiciary took action Wednesday on a slew of bills aimed at meeting the government’s various departments’ and agencies’ financial obligations for fiscal year 2020. They also took action on some special request bills on behalf of Governor Albert Bryan.

In the first block of the meeting, 31 measures were approved and forwarded to the full body for further consideration:

Bill No. 33-0157– An Act appropriating money for the operation of the Government of the Virgin Islands during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0158– An Act appropriating funds for the operating expenses and capital projects for the Legislature of the Virgin Islands for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0159- An Act providing appropriation for operation expenses of the Judicial Branch of the Virgin Islands, the Judicial Council and the Office of the Territorial Public Defender
Bill No. 33-0160- To appropriate monies from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund to the Waste Management Authority and Department of the Public Works for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0161- An Act providing appropriation for operation expenses of the Virgin Islands Board of Education from the General Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0162- To provide an appropriation for operating expenses of the Business and Commercial Properties Revolving Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0163- To provide an appropriation for operating expenses of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles of the Government of the Virgin Islands during fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0164- To provide an appropriation from the Caribbean Basin Initiative Fund for fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0165- An Act providing appropriation for operation expenses of the Virgin Islands Career and Technical Education Board from the General Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0166- An Act appropriating money for salaries and expenses of the Board of Elections and the Office of the Supervisor of Elections for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0167- An Act appropriating funds from the Government Insurance Fund for operating expenses of the Department of Finance and the Department of Labor for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0168- An Act to provide for the lump sum appropriation from the Health Revolving Fund for fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0169- An Act providing appropriations for operation expenses of the Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation from the General Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0170- An Act to provide for the lump sum appropriation from the Indirect Cost Fund for salaries, operating expenses and for other purposes, of the Office of Management and Budget, the Division of Personnel, the Department of Property and Procurement and the Department of Finance for the fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0171- An Act providing appropriation for operation expenses of the Virgin Islands Office of the Inspector General from the General Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0172- An Act to appropriate the sum of $5,000,000 from the V.I. Insurance Guaranty Fund as a contribution to the General Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0173- An Act to appropriate the sum of $1,100,000 from the interest earned on Debt Services Reserves as a contribution to the General Fund
Bill No. 33-0174- An Act to appropriate funds to the Public Services Commission for the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020 for operating expenses
Bill No. 33-0175- An Act appropriating the sum of $2,000,000 from the Internal Revenue Matching Fund as a contribution to the St. Croix Capital Improvement Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0176- An Act to provide an appropriation for operating expenses of the Department of Public Works and the Waste Management Authority from the St. John Capital Improvement Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0177- An Act to provide an appropriation for operating expenses of the Waste Management Authority from the Sewage System Fund of the Government of the Virgin Islands during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0178- An Act to appropriate funds to the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission for the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020 for operating expenses
Bill No. 33-0179- An Act to provide for an appropriation from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund to the Office of the Governor, Virgin Islands Police Department, the Department of Public Works, the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority and the Department of Tourism during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0180- An Act to provide for an appropriation from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund to the Department of Education, Department of Agriculture and Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation during the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0181- An Act to appropriate the sum of $4,000,000 from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund as a contribution to the General Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0182- An Act to appropriate the sum of $10,000,000 from Transportation Trust Fund as a contribution to the General Fund for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0183- An Act to provide for the operating expenses of the Public Employees Relations Board and the Labor Management Committee for the fiscal year October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0184- An Act to appropriate monies for salaries and expenses of the University of the Virgin Islands for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020 and for other purposes
Bill No. 33-0185- An Act to appropriate monies for salaries and expenses from the General Fund to the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0186- An Act providing appropriations from the Internal Revenue Matching Fund for the fiscal year October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020
Bill No. 33-0187- An Act amending the Virgin Islands Code, Title 22, Chapter 10, Section 237(a)(3)(A) and Title 33, Chapter 111, Section 3061 relating to the balance in the Insurance Guaranty Fund to amend the currently required $10,000,000 amount, which is set to increase to $50,000,000 on September 30, 2020, to $20,000,000

Following recess, the lease agreements below were approved during the second block of the meeting:

Bill No. 33-0084- An Act approving the Lease Agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Commissioner of the Department of Property and Procurement and Fabien’s Trucking, LLC for the leasing of Parcel No. 149C Submarine Base, No. 6 Southside Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Bill No. 33-0088- An Act approving the Lease Agreement between the Government of the Virgin Islands Department of Property and Procurement and Dadlie’s Trucking Service, Inc. for the leasing of Parcel No. 32A and Parcel No. 33 Submarine Base, No. 6 Southside Quarter, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

The Committee also approved four special request bills sponsored by Senate President Novelle Francis on behalf of the governor:

Bill No. 33-0146- An Act to amend Title 9, Chapter 22 (“The Uniform Money Services Act”) of the Virgin Islands Code, by changing the license renewal period from biennial to annual for an authorized delegate of a money transmission, check cashing or currency exchange business.
Bill No. 33-0147- An Act amending Title 22, Chapter 10 of the Virgin Islands Code by deleting from Section 232 the words “life” and “disability” and by adding a new Section 248, all to satisfy the accreditation standards established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and to provide more effective protection to the policyholders in the Territory.
Bill No. 33-0148- An Act amending chapter 60, section 1521 title 22 Virgin Islands Code to reflect a change to the definition of a Third-Party Administrator Trust Fund Account as it appears in Act 7695.
Bill No. 33-0149- An Act amending title 22 Virgin Islands Code to add a new chapter 20b entitled “Corporate Governance Annual Disclosure Act,” requiring the Territory’s domiciled insurers and alien insurers not doing business in any other U.S. jurisdiction to submit to the Commissioner of Insurance a corporate governance disclosure report in accordance with the accreditation standards established by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, and that all such reports and related documents shall be kept confidential by law and privileged.

During the final block of the meeting, the following measures were approved:

Bill No. 33-0090- An Act amending title 24, chapter 12, sections 302 and 308 of the Virgin Islands Code to implement a new methodology for assigning individual employer Unemployment Insurance Taxes as administered by the Virgin Islands Department of Labor’s Division of Unemployment Insurance.
Bill No. 33-0052- A Resolution to petition the Governor of the Virgin Islands and the Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress to join the 33rd Legislature in pursuing the return of a portion of the gasoline excise tax collected by the Federal Government.

“Today marks the second to last leg in an intense budget process, and the bills before us today are the culmination of various discussions and hard work of the Legislature. I thank my colleagues, the divisions of Post Audit, Legal Counsel, Media and all those who assisted in the process,” said Rules Chairwoman Sen. Janelle Sarauw.

Senators in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting: Chairwoman Janelle Sarauw, Senators Novelle Francis, Myron Jackson, Alicia Barnes, Kenneth Gittens, Javan James and Athneil J. Thomas.