Senate President Vargrave Richards was the first to respond to the agenda presented Monday by the League of Women Voters of the Virgin Islands at its annual "Luncheon with the Legislature."
In response to the league's demand for decorum on the Senate floor, Richards said he intended to run the Legislature on a fair and equal basis.
"We have rules, and those rules must be enforced vigorously. But I will not prejudge any senator where behavior is concerned," he said.
He commended fellow senators Donald "Ducks" Cole and George Goodwin for setting an example of fiscal responsibility last week by refusing or limiting use of government vehicles assigned to them, and, in Goodwin's case, furnishing his office with used or recycled furniture.
Referring to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's visit to the territory and the forthcoming joint U.S.-V.I. effort to develop a plan that will get the V.I. economy moving again, Richards said that instead of having a plan imposed by the federal government in Washington, D.C., "We should impose it on ourselves."
He said a management team would have to be set up to make sure the territory sticks with whatever plan is developed.
The 23rd Legislature will not waste time on bills that were defective from the start, Richards said. Bills coming to the Legislature without the "scrutiny of the committee" and the community will be sent back, he said.
Each senator in attendance Monday was given two minutes to respond to the league's agenda (see separate story), which is basically unchanged from past years: fiscal responsibility and disclosure, a comprehensive land and water use plan, and election reform.
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg said he hoped to place Territorial Parks System legislation on the table by June. The legislation would call for a land trust to be established, something members of the league strongly support.
Both Donastorg and freshman Sen. Cole called for review of the Industrial Development Commission. Cole pointed to the need for a monitoring component for the IDC.
"The IDC has two workers," Cole said, adding that that had to change.
Other senators reviewed their own agendas, most of them touching on some aspect of fiscal responsibility.
Another issue discussed at the luncheon was the possibility of a biannual budget, which the league and others feel would be more efficient than the present yearly system.
The Virgin Islands is, however, tied by the Organic Act to an annual budget.
Sen. Lorraine Berry, head of the Finance Committee in the new Legislature, is one of the senators favoring a change to a biannual budget.
Berry said the measure had been passed but never implemented through Congress.
According to LWV board member Norma Levin, a senior analyst with the Office of Budget and Management for more than nine years, the legislation has in fact passed twice.
"But it is up to Congress," she said.
Those who support the biannual system believe it would save time and energy for agencies that have no sooner finished one budget than it is almost time to worry about another.
Also, according to Levin, the agencies could plan expenditures a lot better on a two-year basis.
Senators in attendance were: Richards, Cole, Donastorg, Berry, Almando "Rocky" Liburd, Allie-Allison Petrus, Roosevelt David, George Goodwin, V. Anne Golden and Gregory Bennerson.
