A major piece of federal legislation affecting the U.S. Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories passed the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday with three V.I.-related provisions, but without some provisions that Delegate Donna M. Christensen had included in the original draft, the V.I. delegate to Congress announced Thursday.
Christensen said she was pleased that the bill, the Omnibus Territories Act of 2013, still had provisions for the secretary of Interior "to develop an energy action plan for the territories which can build on the good work of the Energy Development in Island Nations (EDIN) project and to increase the number of households that qualify for assistance under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 were approved.”
“I am, however, extremely disappointed that the St. Croix National Heritage Area proposal, which with other NHA proposals were opposed by Republicans, was not included in the final bill. When I heard about the omission of this program that the St. Croix community has worked for over the years, I called and wrote to the committee expressing my displeasure that it was not included in this bill,” she said, adding, “I will continue to work for the approval of the St. Croix NHA because it can be a key economic development program for St. Croix.”
The Omnibus Territories bill, which was passed by a voice vote, included a provision which raised the amount of matching funds that territories can waive from $200,000 to $500,000. “This provision will be beneficial to all territories,” she said. It also included several pet projects of U.S. senators.
Christensen said the Omnibus Territories bill initially included provisions to establish a chief financial officer for the territory, but because of the opposition of the local administration voiced through senators on the committee, Chairman Ron Wyden instead included substitute language requiring the comptroller general of the United States to examine the process used by the territories to develop estimates of forecasts for revenue and expenditures and to make recommendations to enable territorial governments to improve their process for developing estimates and forecasts.
Christensen said she had offered a compromise provision for a referendum on the CFO which were part of earlier negotiations on what could make it into the Omnibus bill. “While it falls far short of what I wanted, I accept the compromise financial accountability language, because it is a small, but significant step towards what all of the territories need to strengthen their financial management,” she said.
The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration in early 2014. Its fate in the U.S. House of Representatives is uncertain, but Christensen said she and her fellow territorial delegates plan to meet with House subcommittee leadership early next year.
