Committee on Rules and Judiciary

The Committee on Rules and Judiciary has scheduled a meeting for Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 9:00 AM in the Frits E. Lawaetz Legislative Conference Room, St. Croix, Virgin Islands to consider the following nominations, bills and resolutions:

BLOCK I

Governor’s Nomination of Magistrate Ernest E. Morris, Jr., Nominee, Superior Court of the Virgin Islands – District of St. Croix

BLOCK II

Governor’s Nomination of Julian Penn, Nominee, Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission – District of St. Thomas

BLOCK III

Governor’s Nomination of Harith Wickrema, Nominee, Virgin Islands Conservation District – District of St. John

BLOCK IV

 Bill No. 35-0227         An Act amending title 3 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 37 to enact the Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest.

Bill No. 35-0228         An Act amending title 3 Virgin Islands Code, chapters 8 and 37 to enumerate the duties and functions of the Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest; appropriating $500,000 from the General Fund of the Treasury of the Government of the Virgin Islands to the Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest and for other related purposes.

Invited Testifiers:

Attorney Gordon Rhea, Attorney General Nominee, Department of Justice

Delia Thomas, Inspector General, Office of the VI Inspector General

Attorney Marjorie Whalen, President, VI Bar Association

Regina deChabert Petersen, Esq., Administrator of Courts Judiciary of the VI

Julie Smith-Todman, Esq., Chief Public Defender, Office of the Public Defender

Dr. Gwen Moolenaar, League of Women Voters

Bill No. 35-0269         An Act amending title 2 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 1 by adding a section 10 providing a penalty for the commission of perjury in proceedings before the Legislature of the Virgin Islands.

Invited Testifiers:

Attorney Gordon Rhea, Attorney General Nominee, Department of Justice

Julie Smith-Todman, Esq., Chief Public Defender, Office of the Public Defender

Dr. Gwen Moolenaar, League of Women Voters

BLOCK V

Bill No. 35-0229         An Act honoring and commending the Eighth elected Governor of the Virgin Islands, Kenneth Ezra Mapp for his years of service to the people of the Virgin Islands and naming Route 75 on the island of St. Croix from Bassin Triangle intersection at Route 70, Estate Richmond and ending at Krausse’s Lagune the “Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp Highway”; appropriating $45,000 from the General Fund of the Treasury of the Government of the Virgin Islands to the Department of Public Works to implement the mandates of this Act, to bestow the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor on Kenneth Ezra Mapp and for other related purposes.

Invited Testifiers:

Val Collens, Resident

Mona Barnes, Resident

Delroy Richards, Resident

Attorney Peter Hiebert, Friend

Pedro Cruz, Resident

Margaret Guarino, Friend

BLOCK VI

Bill No. 35-0240         An Act transferring the administration of the Government Insurance Fund from the Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Department of Finance to the Commissioner of Virgin Islands Department of Labor and amending various sections of title 24 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 11 to facilitate better recovery for injury or disease that arises out of and in the course of employment in the Virgin Islands under the Workers’ Compensation Administration, and to ensure that workers entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits receive medical coverage, rehabilitation services, and disability compensation without undue delay by merging the benefits and payment components of the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Program.

 Bill No. 35-0262         An Act appropriating $1,434,950 in Fiscal Year 2024 from the Community Facilities Trust Fund for the pre-construction soft cost funding to prepare the Charlotte Amalie harbor for dredging.

BLOCK VII

Bill No. 35-0195        A Resolution honoring and commending Mr. Willard John for his many contributions to the youth and the culture of the Virgin Islands

Bill No. 35-0239         An Act honoring and commending Mrs. Claire Lorraine Brown Roker for her dedicated service to the Virgin Islands community by naming the visitors center at the Ann E. Abramson Marine Facility, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, the “Claire L. Roker Visitors Center”.

Bill No. 35-0242        A Resolution honoring and commending Miguel Santos, Jr., aka “DJ Poppy Pops” for his contributions in the field of music and in radio broadcasting of musical events and local social musical events and specifically contributing to the art of deejaying and the teaching of deejaying.