Jan. 2, 2002 – Although Gov. Charles W. Turnbull signed a number of bills over the weekend, he still made use of his veto pen, taking the Legislature to task for overspending funds that are tapped dry.
He line-item vetoed a measure to spend $10 million of the government's community development loan repayment funds. He told Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd, "These monies must remain available for repayment of our debt services." He emphasized, "As you may or may not be aware, the Hurricane Marilyn loan has not been forgiven by the federal government, and these monies must be available."
Turnbull item-vetoed several other measures, including tapping the Land Bank Fund for a $3 million appropriation for the Cyril E. King Airport lagoon treatment plant, stressing again that the fund is already over-appropriated.
He also line-item vetoed appropriations for hospital equipment, saying the hospitals should be using money from the Health Revolving Fund. "One of the primary reasons for granting the hospitals semi-autonomous status is to assist them in becoming self-sufficient … however, it appears the hospitals are still relying on appropriations from the General Fund. This cannot and must not continue," Turnbull concluded.
