Bryan approved fiscal 2024 budget bill and other measures, with line-item vetoes

Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. acted on 30 bills passed by the 35th Legislature during its Sept. 22, 2023, session, according to Government House.

The measures included agreements between the Virgin Islands government and several health insurance companies, appropriations for government agencies, boards and commissions, and a bill authorizing $25 million in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 to continue payments on retroactive wages owed to eligible government employees.

In a transmittal letter to Senate President Novelle E. Francis Jr., Bryan said he used his line-item veto authority on portions of Bill No. 35-0141. He struck references to the Government Insurance Fund in Sections P and R, saying those amounts were appropriated in Bill No. 35-0156, and vetoed an $8,000 appropriation for the Virgin Islands Police Department Police Athletic League on St. Croix because it duplicated funding elsewhere in the bill.

Bryan also noted what he described as typographical errors in Bill No. 35-0141, saying the VITEMA allocation in Section G for other services and charges should read $636,892 rather than $363,892, and that the total for the Police Department in Section T should read $74,542,585.

In Bill No. 35-0171, Bryan said he line-item vetoed Sections 8 and 9, which addressed placement of underground storage tanks near water wells, because the Department of Planning and Natural Resources had not weighed in and because the measure conflicted with 12 VIC 657(a). He also line-item vetoed Section 12(a), saying the language was more restrictive than existing law.

Bryan further noted that Section 5(b) of Bill No. 35-0171 did not appropriate any sum for the construction and repair of Contentment Road. He asked the Legislature to review his recommendations.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-bryan-approves-fiscal-year-2024-executive-budget-bill-other-legislation-passed-by-the-virgin-islands-legislature/