Bryan signed 19 bills and vetoed seven from final 34th Legislature session

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. acted on 26 bills and one resolution from the 34th Legislature’s final session held on Dec. 29 and Dec. 30, 2022, signing 19 measures into law and vetoing seven, according to a Government House statement released Feb. 2, 2023.

Among the measures signed was Bill No. 34-0279, which restructures and adopts the Virgin Islands Behavioral Health Act and provides for a public behavioral health facility. Bryan also approved Bill No. 34-0153 establishing and funding the Sixth Constitutional Convention, while noting in his transmittal letter that the measure did not identify an adequate funding source.

Other approved measures included bills on noise pollution enforcement, road-construction reporting, Virgin Islands and Caribbean history in public-school curriculum, property-tax exemptions on certain real property, an Office of Disability Integration within VITEMA, discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Virgin Islands Stenography Scholarship Fund, the Virgin Islands Commission on Youth, real-estate appraisers, the Opioid Abatement Fund, and $250,000 for the second phase of the Cruz Bay playground revitalization project.

Bryan also signed Bill No. 34-0298, which appropriated $500,000 for Mobile Integrative Health Care Programs, but used a line-item veto to strike five sections, including provisions directing funds to the Department of Health and sections concerning firefighter and first-responder benefits, candidate-sign exemptions, and a reappropriation of funds used by the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation.

The vetoed measures were Bill No. 34-0080, directing the Office of the Inspector General to investigate the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority; Bill No. 34-0236, extending Higher Education Scholarship eligibility to part-time students while lowering the GPA requirement; Bill No. 34-0243, changing the composition of the Board of Naturopathic Physicians; Bill No. 34-0272, authorizing the Taxicab Commission executive director to hire staff; Bill No. 34-0388, increasing the minimum salary for government employees and workers at semiautonomous agencies and independent instrumentalities; and Bill No. 34-0397, increasing the appropriation for Frederiksted Health Care.

Government House said Bryan also approved five zoning bills and acknowledged Resolution No. 1899, which supports U.S. House Resolution 279 concerning the Insular Cases and the Territorial Incorporation Doctrine.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-takes-action-on-26-bills-from-final-session-of-34th-legislature/