Not Ready For Primetime: Gittens Pulls Bills On Ethics & Conflict Of Interest For Further Work

Acting Attorney General Ian Clement warns of confusion and overextension in Bill 35-228 and Bill 35-227, suggests collaboration for effective implementation

“This bill creates confusion where there should be none,” said Ian Clement, acting Attorney General of the Virgin Islands. He was speaking to members of the Senate Committee on Rules & Judiciary on Thursday, assessing Bill 35-228 – one of two measures introduced in an attempt to address ethics and conflict of interest issues within the territory’s government.

‌Sponsored by Senator Kenneth Gittens and co-sponsored by Senators Diane Capeheart, Franklin Johnson, Novelle Francis and Marvin Blyden, Bill 35-228 and its companion Bill 35-227 aim to establish the Commission of Ethics & Conflicts of Interest (CECI), empowering it to enforce ethics and conflict of interest laws in the territory.

While testifiers all agreed that such efforts were long overdue, several had concerns about the language of the legislation and its move to sidestep already-established mechanisms to do this work.