From loosening bond requirements for government contractors to expanding job protections for "temporary" government employees, the Rules and Judiciary Committee passed a slew of bills on to the full Senate Monday evening.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Usie Richards would require notices of personnel action that state the beginning and ending date of employment, require an evaluation after six months that could lead to permanent employment, and limit the term of hire of a temporary employee to not more than a year.
If the employee is terminated without cause after several years employment, they would have the same recourse and right of appeal as permanent employees. Voting yea were Richards, Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Sammuel Sanes, Michael Thurland and Celestino White. No one voted nay. Sens. Neville James and Patrick Sprauve were absent.
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg sponsored a bill to eliminate the need for bonds guaranteeing performance on bids for government contracts valued at less than $150,000. This would expand the number of local contractors able to compete for a wider array of government contracts, helping local businessmen and keeping more of the work in the hands of smaller, local contractors, proponents argued.
Voting yea were Richards, Dowe and Sanes. Thurland voted nay. Absent were White, Sprauve and James.
Also approved and sent on to the full Senate were bills to:
— extend the minimum government salary of $20,000 to semi-autonomous and independent government agencies and institutions;
— appropriate $500,000 to the V.I. Department of Education to help fund its ongoing efforts to evaluate and establish public pre-kindergarten education;
— reduce from nine to seven the number of V.I. Housing Authority commissioners, to bring it into line with federal guidelines;
— exempt fuel-efficient small cars with 30 mpg or better, midsize cars with 25 mpg and sport utility vehicles with 22 mpg or better from the V.I. Highway User’s Tax;
— expand existing Worker’s Compensation benefits for volunteer emergency responders to more recipients under more circumstances, with funding provided from traffic citations;
— bring specialized captive insurance and reinsurance companies to the territory with tax incentives, and to reorganize and revamp the territory’s approach to these specialized insurance products by bringing them more in line with widely accepted standards.
Each was passed out of committee without dissent. Voting yea were Dowe, Richards, Sanes, Thurland and White. Absent were James and Sprauve.