April 11, 2001 – Working into the night Tuesday, the Legislature passed 15 bills and a few unrelated riders, addressing such diverse issues as veterans' benefits, special appropriations for schools, and policy changes in tax collections. (See separate stories on the Legislature's budget and the hotel/timeshare room tax.) Many items were approved unanimously. Some votes split along majority/minority lines.
Among the measures passed was a majority bill to use "excess" tax collections in the current year toward paying government employees their overdue "step" raises. Another bill creates an incentive program for employees in the Internal Revenue Bureau to collect delinquent taxes.
On a 14-1 vote, with Sen. Lorraine Berry the lone dissenter, the Legislature voted to put into the Union Arbitration Award and Government Employees Increment Fund any revenues collected by IRB over and above money the Legislature already appropriated for fiscal year 2001, as well as half of the funds collected this year by the Tax Assessor's Office on delinquent property taxes.
The vote was unanimous on a bill authorizing the IRB director to implement a rewards program within the agency for employees who collect delinquent taxes. At his/her discretion, the director will be able to give bonuses of up to $5,000, depending on the amount collected.
Also passing unanimously were several bills giving special benefits to veterans and members of the V.I. National Guard. One authorizes the governor to negotiate the transfer of the former V.I. Hotel to the Office of Veterans Affairs for use as a veterans' multipurpose center and to acquire land in Smith Bay and Altona for use as a veterans' cemetery. Another directs the governor to construct a Military Museum and Veterans Memorial Complex, including a medical facility, on government-owned land. A third bill gives veterans free emergency medical service. A fourth increases from 32 to 36 the number of course hours of free tuition for National Guard members at the University of the Virgin Islands.
On a split vote, the Legislature approved Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen's bill to expand the types of small businesses — to include those employing no more than five people — that may apply for tax incentives under the Small Business Program of the territory's Economic Development Commission (formerly the Industrial Development Commission).
The bill makes eligible small businesses engaged in rum production, dairy operation, watch and jewelry assembly, agriculture and food processing, mariculture, the marine industry, telecommunications, transportation, e-commerce, call center operations, high tech operations, international public relations, international trading and distribution, services to clients outside the Virgin Islands, hotel and guesthouse operations, raw materials processing, regulated utilities, banking, health care and operating recreation facilities, and any others the commission may designate.
The tradeoff is that small businesses receiving tax incentives also become subject to the provisions of the Wrongful Discharge Act. Small businesses in general are now exempt from that act.
The bill passed on a vote of 9-6 with Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg joining majority Sens. Adelbert Bryan, Donald "Ducks" Cole, Carlton Dowe, Norman Jn. Baptiste, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Norma Pickard Samuel, Celestino White and Alicia Hansen. Opposed were minority Sens. Douglas Canton, Emmett Hansen II, David Jones, Vargrave Richards, Roosevelt David and Berry.
The Legislature also passed bills to:
* Appropriate $500,000 from the interest on bond proceeds for school repairs.
* Give two summers worth of free tuition at UVI to teachers in the public schools pursuing a master's degree in education in exchange for future service in the schools.
* Appropriate $200,000 from the Interest Revenue Fund to Dober Elementary School.
* Appropriate $20,000 from the Anti Litter and Beautification Commission for a wastewater treatment plant at Magens Bay.
* Give officers and the commissioner of Planning and Natural Resources peace officer status and authorize them to ticket violators of environmental laws.
The Legislature also approved, unanimously, the following St. Croix zoning changes and variance. Liburd said all had gone through the public hearings required for zoning changes:
* Plot No. 109, Estate Peter's Rest, Queen's Quarter, 1/4 acre, from residential-low density to business-scattered. Purpose not listed.
* Plot No. 49J, Estate Whim, West End Quarter, 1/4 acre, from residential-low density to business-scattered. Purpose not listed.
* Variance for Plot No. 49J, Estate Profit, King's Quarter, 1/4 acre to allow a bakery, barber/beauty shop and used car sales. The action is conditional on the owner putting in a buffer of fencing, trees and/or shrubs and parking.
