July 20, 2001 – The Senate wound up its intense three-day session around midnight Thursday, having passed all of the multitude of bills on its agenda, the final one being the governor's supplemental appropriations bill. That measure, which the majority massaged from the $47.2 million the governor had requested to $58 million in the Rules Committee on Monday, topped out at $64.5 million in the version approved Thursday night.
The 22-page Fiscal Year 2001 supplemental appropriations bill prompted Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg to wonder aloud, "Did you guys leave anything out?" He and Sen. Lorraine Berry warned that the governor was bound to veto portions. The nine-member majority is one vote short of being vetoproof. New majority member Emmett Hansen defended the measure as being "chock full of things we really need, not frivolous things."
Many of the appropriations had been approved into and then taken back out of an earlier bill Wednesday. They were in effect reinstated Thursday in an "amendment in the nature of a substitute," one of the lawmakers' common ways of going about making laws.
Before taking up the supplemental appropriations measure, the Senate passed two other bills late Thursday night.
By a vote of 13-1 late Thursday, it okayed a bill creating the V. I. Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority and authorizing it to issue bonds backed by the territory's anticipated $50 million share of the nationwide $208 billion tobacco settlement to be paid over 25 years. Sen. Vargrave Richards was excused from the session. Sen. Adelbert Bryan case the lone negative vote.
The measure had been held late Thursday afternoon for further amendments and study. Earlier this year, explaining the proposal, Kent Bernier, the governor's economic adviser, said its intent was to take "the future revenues of the bonds to use as up-front money to improve health facilities. For instance, if the Roy L. Schneider Hospital needs a piece of equipment that cost $135,000, it would be able to get the equipment and put it to use right away, instead of having to wait for funding."
Attorney General Iver Stridiron cautioned at the time that the tobacco settlement was still undergoing adjustments in payment levels to the states and territories as disputes between various jurisdictions and the tobacco companies were settled.
Bryan said on Thursday that he opposed the measure because he didn't think the territory was getting a big enough cut of the pie, citing a $15 billion out-of-court settlement received by the state of Texas, among others. Sen. David Jones responded that such settlements were based on population size and estimated health-care costs.
After a long and rancorous battle over the initial plan to divide the territory's tobacco proceeds between health care and the Union Arbitration Fund, the 23rd Legislature had voted to earmark 32 percent for each of the territory's hospitals and the remaining 36 percent for the Health Department.
Also passed 13-1, with Sen. Alicia "Chucky" Hansen dissenting, was a bill sponsored by Sen. Emmett Hansen II to increase fines and penalties for unlawful possession and use of firearms. Alicia Hansen said the bill targets "little guys" and legislation should go after the people who bring guns into territory, the "big guys."
The supplemental budget appropriation bill lived up to its "Christmas tree" tag, with something for everyone except, perhaps, Scrooge. However, the governor's request for $4 million to commence negotiations to acquire the Wheaton property overlooking Magens Bay was chopped to $1 million.
The appropriations approved included $1 million for the Legislature and $4 million for the executive branch to pay off outstanding bills; $2.5 million for the construction of a water production plant and substation on St. John; and an increase (proposed by the minority bloc) in the minimum annual wage for government employees to $15,000 from $10,000.
Among the dozens of other appropriations, the larger ones included:
– $17 million for overdue government Water and Power Authority bills.
– $2 million to WAPA specifically for V.I. Housing Authority overdue bills.
– $2 million to VIHA as reimbursement for the Estate Nazareth disaster shelter housing.
– $5.3 million for local matching funds for disaster assistance.
– $1 million to the Public Works Department for a public cemetery on St. Thomas.
– $2.3 million for the Savan Gut Project on St. Thomas.
– $1.3 million for the Nadir Bridge Flood Control Project.
– $1 million to the Police Department for Hurricane Marilyn overtime pay and $100,000 for the Crime Information Fund for a reward for information leading to the location of Officer Wendell Williams and for personnel purposes.
– $500,000 for the Education Department school lunch program.
– $660,000 to the Agriculture Department — including $150,000 for a drought relief fund and $75,000 each for the Humane Society of St. Thomas and the Animal Shelter of St. Croix, and $10,000 to the Animal Care Center on St. John. The not-for-profit facilities have not been funded for more than two years for services provided to the government.
– $2.8 million for renovations to the Finance Department offices.
– $1 million for construction of a central fire station on St. Thomas.
– $ 1.5 million to the Government Employees Retirement System to help fund the new GERS retirement plan.
The bill also includes numerous appropriations for school repairs, athletic teams, educational programs and agricultural projects on all three islands.
The appropriations are to come from the General Fund, the St. John Capital Improvement Fund, the Industrial Development Fund, the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund and the Interest Revenue Fund, plus interest earned on bond proceeds.
