SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET & ABOLITION OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT PASSED
It wasn't until around 10 o'clock Friday night that the 12th Sitting of the 1st Session of the 14th Legislative Council of the Virgin Islands was adjourned sine die, after a session that turned out to be more of a classroom for the opposition National Democratic Party (NDP). They spent over ten hours in committee stage discussing a motion brought by Chief Minister and Minister of Finance the Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal.
The motion, which was eventually passed, called for the Legislative Council to approve monies required to be expended in excess of the amount appropriated in each case by the Appropriation (2000) Act, 1999, (Act No. 4 of 1999). He requested that Recurrent Expenditure amounting to $6,636,292 (which includes the sums of $105,000 from the Disaster Relief Account and $102,900 to replenish the Contingencies Fund) be charged against the Consolidated Fund of the territory and Capital Fund Expenditure amounting to $9,602,583 (which includes the sums of $1,205,000 from the Transportation Network Improvement Fund and $90,655 to replenish the Contingency Fund) to be a charge against the Capital Fund of the territory.
In moving the motion, Chief Minister O'Neal pointed out that the normal budget for the BVI deals mostly with current expenditure and depending on how the excess revenue comes in, government is then able to accomplish more projects than originally estimated. He noted that there were a lot of advance warrants in the schedule and he explained that these monies are used to take care of the interests of the people of the territory. The BVI Leader expressed concerned that one of the annual checks and balances is the annual reports of Departments. "But no matter how I preach, no matter how I try, no matter how I talk, we cannot get some Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments to understand that...Elected Members are not responsible for the civil service and maybe because of that, we cannot get annual reports and so on." He observed that the figures are probably the largest supplementary ever brought before the House, but he said figures are only a guide to show what is happening in the territory. "What we want to make sure is that we can provide certain services, though we will not be able to provide all..."
Earlier in the August 25th sitting, Chief Minister O'Neal laid one document on the table - the Office of Disaster Preparedness Annual Report for 1999. After the Chief Minister's motion, the Attorney General moved the Introduction and First Reading of the Bill entitled "Law Reform Commission Act, 2000", following which the Chief Minister moved the Second and Third Readings of the Bill entitled "Corporal Punishment (Abolition) Act, 2000. This was debated and passed. Speaking under Other Business, Minister of Education and Culture Hon. Andrew Fahie commended the Festival Committee for staging a successful BVI Festival 2000. Member for the 7th District Hon. Dr. Kedrick Pickering addressed the issue of having more of the territory's history taught in schools, especially as it relates to festival. The Honourable Chief Minister announced that he would be going to the United Kingdom September 10th, along with the Director of Financial Services, for the official release of the KPMG Study on the financial services sectors in the Overseas Territories. He said he is expected back in the territory September 14th, in time for the visit of Baroness Scotland, British Minister responsible for the UK Overseas Territories, from September 14th-16th.