Gov. John deJongh Jr. on Tuesday vetoed a section of a bill that would have exempted government employees who are paid from federal funds from the salary-cutting provisions of the Economic Stability Act, passed by the Senate earlier this month.
In a letter to Senate President Ronald Russell Tuesday, deJongh said he approved most of the measure but was vetoing portions. Russell could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The exemption is in Section 2, paragraph 2(i) of Bill No. 29-0077. While the bill mainly deals with casino licensing practices, that particular passage amends the recent emergency budget act’s 8-percent salary cut. The bill says the pay cut “does not apply to government employees who receive a salary through federal funding if the grant under which the salary is paid specifically sets the salary for that particular position.”
In his letter, the governor said the paragraph "seeks to create a distinction between local employees whose salaries are funded by federal funds from those funded by local funds. This is a distinction we should not permit to exist. It has been my consistent position that all must share in the burden imposed by the Great Recession and our resulting budget crisis."
DeJongh said that distinction would create a lack of equity and fairness.
"The devastation to morale that would result from creating such a distinction between classes of V.I. government employees is simply unacceptable and unwarranted."
DeJongh also vetoed paragraph 2(iii) of the same section to prevent confusion as a portion of the previously enacted Economic Stability Act covered much the same ground.
Noting that he had vetoed a section of the Economic Stability Act that, in his view, violated the separation of powers and that the Senate had overridden the veto, deJongh vetoed two paragraphs of Bill 29-0077 that he said similarly infringed on the executive’s authority.
"It should not be the role of the Legislature to ‘order’ hiring freezes on either the executive or the judicial branches of government with specificity contained in either the original provisions or amendments," deJongh wrote.
Section 7 of the bill, the governor said, because it appropriated money from a trustee-controlled fund that does not permit that use.
