34th Legislature is Already Late to Legislate

The official agenda for the session had originally included committee reports from the respective chairpersons, special orders and overrides and the consideration of Bill No. 0187, sponsored by Senate President Donna Frett Gregory, which would establish:

“An Act changing the date for commencing the 2022 Regular Session of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands to January 24, 2022.”

That date ultimately fell outside of the parameters set forth by the Revised Organic of 1954, which ultimately grants the U.S. Virgin Islands government its legal identity as a government and serves as an unofficial territorial constitution of sorts in the absence of a formalized constitution.

Section 7(a) of the The Revised Organic Act of 1954 states:

“Regular Sessions of the legislature shall be held annually, commencing on the second Monday in January (unless the legislature shall be law fix a different date), and shall continue for such term as the legislature may provide.”

If the 34th Legislature had followed the Revised Organic Act of 1954, it would’ve commenced its Regular Session on January 10, 2022. So as the full body of Senators convened to formally consider a delayed start which should’ve commenced 14 days earlier as the law dictates, several lawmakers expressed their discontent with the diversion from the government’s most essential guiding principles.

Supporters of the delayed commencement of the 34th Legislature’s Regular Session cited the onslaught of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus as an extenuating circumstance under which the government should plausibly delay the start of its operations with the intention of protecting public safety. At the same time, lawmakers also opposed the idea of the Legislature failing in its accountability to the law.

As the first Senator to take on her two minutes of allotted debate time, Senator Alma Francis Heyliger hoped to clarify some of the opposition.

“As it relates to bill number 34-0187, I do not rise in support of this measure,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger. This is a situation where basically, under the Revised Organic Act where the Legislature should’ve met on the 10th of this month.”

As noted by Sen. Francis Heyliger, lawmakers not only delayed the start of 34th Legislature’s first regular session of 2022 in order to adapt to the Omicron variant and stiffened COVID-19 protocols, but also to honor a request submitted by Governor Bryan, which would coincide the convention of the regular session with the delivery of the State of the Territory Address later that evening.

“We are the first branch of government,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger. “And based on the law the legislature can change the date, but at no given time with myself or at least seven of my colleagues that I did tally said that they had no discussion about a date to be chosen. I believe that as an institution we had to have a caucus of the whole to discuss this. And hopefully we would’ve come up with a date collectively as opposed to one person presenting it and we now have to follow suit.”

At that time, Senate President Donna Frett-Gregory noted that Sen. Francis Heyliger had elapsed her allotted time and asked her to wrap up.

“I was elected, along with all 14 of us, to the first branch of government,” concluded Sen. Francis Heyliger. “I do not work for the administration. And I would like for us to act accordingly.”

Once again, the Senate President called for Sen. Francis Heyliger’s time. While Sen. Francis Heyliger graciously relinquished her time, the Senate President would far exceed her own allotted time later in the session in her support of the measure despite the vocal cry of her colleagues to yield the floor.

Such a session would typically provide lawmakers with the opportunity to align their priorities for the forthcoming year and provide prospective feedback to the executive branch of the governor as it prepares to voice its own agenda. It foreshadows future dialogue between the legislative branch, which proposes and passes the laws and the Executive Branch, which approves or rejects (vetoes) the laws.

The 34th Legislature fast forwarded past those committee reports and special orders even earlier in the session, much to the chagrin of multiple lawmakers, when it approved a motion by Senator Novelle E. Francis, Jr. to waive the reading of committee reports and bump special orders from the agenda.

“I would first of all like to touch on what just transpired here,” said Sen. Francis Heyliger. “A few moments ago this body chose to remove all special orders as well as committee reports from this agenda. One of the things why is because a special order is before them to special order bill number 34-0045,” which was assigned to the Committee on Finance since April 2021.

The bill, which is sponsored by the four independent party minority members of the legislature, aimed to repeal Title 2, chapter 5, section 73 of the Virgin Islands Code, which states the following:

“During the regular session of the Legislature in each calendar year, the Governor may submit to the Legislature his recommendations with respect to the exact rates of pay, which he deems advisable, for the members of the Legislature, Provided, however, That the rates of pay of members of the Legislature may not be decreased under the authority of this section. All or part (as the case may be) of the recommendations of the Governor transmitted to the Legislature shall become effective at the beginning of the fifteenth day following the transmittal of such recommendations; but only to the extent that, between the date of transmittal of such recommendations and the beginning of the fifteenth day thereafter—

(1) there has not been legislation passed by the Legislature which establishes rates of pay other than those proposed by all or part of such recommendations,

(2) the Legislature has not passed legislation which specifically disproves all or part of such recommendations, or

(3) both.”

Senators currently earn a salary of $85,000 per year. While the governor’s recommendations prohibit a decrease in salary, it would affect any potential increases. Of course, no politician likes the public image of increasing his or her own salary, but ultimately that portion of the law could affect any potential future increases to even reflect the cost of living by even a dollar.

If the governor recommends an $85,000 salary for lawmakers, that would take effect 15 days after the governor first officially submits his recommendation. If lawmakers feel the necessity to increase that salary to $85,001, the legislature would have just over two weeks to override the Governor’s recommendation through a lengthy legislative process.

As outlined by Sen. Francis Heyliger, the bill would take away the Governor’s authority to set any type of fixed compensation for the legislature, the first branch of the Territory’s government, and ultimately allows the Legislature to manage its own internal affairs. But ten members of the USVI Legislature opted to bypass the special order, which has lingered around the 34th Legislature since April even as the bill’s sponsors simply sought to add it to the agenda.

“So y’all keep removing special orders and I will keep bringing it along with my colleagues,” said the defiant Sen. Francis Heyliger, now in her second year as a lawmaker as a member of the minority caucus.

Several of Sen. Francis Heyliger’s colleagues in the Senate echoed similar concerns over the Legislature’s handling of affairs for the new year of 2022, but ultimately fell short of dissuading the full legislature from approving the seemingly procedural, but contentious measures.

As the 34th Legislature’s first official session neared adjournment, several Sen. clearly called directed points of information, points of personal privilege, points of order and points of inquiry to the Senate President, the acting official of the proceeding. The 34th Legislature’s Rules allow for a lawmaker to submit a point of inquiry or information through the presiding officer of the session in order to submit facts or questions germane to the discussion.

Those efforts were quite clearly ignored by the presiding officer, Senate President Donna Frett-Gregory. And with the slam of Sen. Frett-Gregory’s gavel, the 34th Legislature formally kicked off 2022 with outstanding objections over governmental accountability from the gallery of elected representatives.