Nov. 29, 2001 – Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed more than a dozen bills into law Wednesday and he didn't use his veto once. However, he probably will by Saturday, the deadline for him to act on six more bills, most of them controversial and one containing a barrelful of amendments.
The amendments are attached to a bill to take $4.4 million from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund for repair and maintenance of the territory's waste-management system. The amended appropriations bring the bill's spending to $9.6 million.
The other pending bills include leasing the old Virgin Isles Hotel for use as a multipurpose veterans center, placing a moratorium on the sale of taxi medallions to non-veterans, and authorizing $650,000 to Sen. Adelbert Bryan for the formation of his "2001 Sustainable Economic Development Commission."
The bills Turnbull signed on Wednesday include six that rezone property on St. Thomas and St. John. He commented in his transmittal letter to Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, "these rezonings will allow the property owners to maximize the use of their property … Each will bring economic relief to our community in the form of additional income taxes for the government, and the purchasing of supplies and new jobs for the private sector."
Turnbull also signed bills to:
– Set a Jan. 30, 2002, deadline to pay the members of the American Federation of Teachers their negotiated salary increases.
– Create a commission to develop a comprehensive aquaculture and mariculture develoment plan for the territory.
– Enact the Athlete Agents Act to regulate contracts between student athletes and agents.
– Require government agencies to have employees, not machines, answer all initial telephone calls.
– Name the Veterans Affairs Office building on St. Croix after Eryle Rohlsen.
– Name the facility across from Fort Frederik the Midre Almeric Cummings Recreational and Youth Facility in honor of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball player, a native of St. Croix.
– Create an organ donor identification card in honor of the late Mark Marin, longtime headmaster of Antilles School.
Turnbull chided Liburd about the clerical and typographical condition of the bills that he received. "I again urge the Legislature to exercise greater care in its preparation and review of bills prior to transmittal to me," he said in his cover letter.
