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Acting Governor Gregory Francis late Monday afternoon took action on measures recently passed by the 29th Legislature. The bills were due back at the Senate today. Francis approved legislation to impose a cap on the reconnection fees charged by WAPA. Francis said he too believes that residents should not be subjected to excessive fees when they seek to reconnect to what is for us all essential utility services. “As to the policy of undergrounding electric and fiber optic lines set forth in this legislation, I concur with the goal of the policy, but caution that more than technological feasibility must be used to determine whether the cost of burying such lines is a reasonable burden on our ratepayers.”
Francis also signed into law the bill which increases certain court fees. “Clearly, we would all wish to avoid such increases, but the present times require all branches of government to do all they can do to increase revenues and reduce costs.” Francis also approved the modifications to the reporting requirements relative to gross receipts tax filings in Section 7 of the bill. “I believe steps that reduce the burden on the private sector in complying with tax and regulatory requirements are an area towards which continued attention needs to be directed.”
Francis did exercise his line-item veto pen with respect to Bill 29-0014. He noted that the Senate action to heavily amend the executive budget midway through a fiscal year without even consulting the executive budget office is disingenuous, and the “savings” claimed is deceiving, as some of the now “reduced” appropriations have already been allotted. “It should also be noted, that many of the “cuts” made by the Legislature to the miscellaneous section of the budget were already being implemented by the administration.”
As did Governor John P. de Jongh Jr. in the recent past, Francis took the opportunity Monday to chide the Legislature for failing to remove the Fiscal Year 2011 $31.4 million appropriation for negotiated salary increases. “I have line-item vetoed this amount because, as the administration has stated repeatedly, we do not have the funds to implement those terms negotiated prior to us all – in all branches of government -- having arrived at a full and complete evaluation and understanding of the extraordinary depths of our budgetary crisis not just for this fiscal year, but, more troublingly so, for the year after.” Francis said Monday that it would simply be inequitable to our government workers for some to find themselves in an inferior position with respect to salaries, benefits and work rules solely by the happenstance of the timing or cycle of the renegotiation of their collective bargaining agreements. “Fairness dictates that we must all share equally in the sacrifices demanded of us by the budget crisis loosed upon us by the global Great Recession.”
None in our territory can doubt this administration’s support and praise of our veterans for their service to the territory and our country. “To that end, I approved Section 1 of Bill 29-0014. However, Bills 29-0015 and 29-0025 were vetoed as there are many problems with these bills, which are ostensibly aimed at assisting our veterans. Especially in times of budgetary crisis such as the present, the Legislature simply cannot be in the business providing everything to everybody just because they were asked to do so without regard to cost. And above even these issues is my concern that the definition of Virgin Islander for the purpose of receiving governmental benefits cannot and should not be solely determined by one’s place of birth. This administration has a long record of not discriminating on the basis of place of birth and shall not now mar that record, especially when dealing with the support of or benefits to those who have served us all in the military.”
Francis explained that Section 1 of Bill 29-0015 dealing with burial benefits would obligate this government to pay for burial benefits for veterans whose only connection to the territory was birth in the territory while preventing such benefits from being provided to a deceased service man or woman long domiciled in our territory and who may have provided valuable and long-term service to our territory both in the military and in the territory. “I stand ready to work with any member of the Legislature who seeks to honor our veterans at the time of their deaths in a way which does not do disservice to the ideals they risked their lives to defend while in the Armed Forces.”
Francis said he found too many aspects of these bills to be internally inconsistent and must presume that the Legislature’s intent can be more clearly set forth in legislation. “Our laws need to be consistent in order for there to be just and fair interpretation and clear application of the law. These proposals are not. Bill 29-0025, for example, amends a section of law which a section of Bill 29-0015 strikes in its entirety. Additionally, the type of discharge is required for the receipt of certain benefits requires clarification.”
Francis added that a number of veterans have expressed concern that simply lowering the federal standard setting the number of years of service for benefits may have an unintended consequence detrimental to the Armed Forces themselves. Moreover, greater attention needs to be focused on the definitions of years of service which, it is widely held, ought to be defined as “qualifying” service. “I urge the Legislature to work cooperatively with the Office of Veteran Affairs in developing proposals that serve our shared goal of honoring and supporting our veterans,” Francis said.
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