The proposed V.I. Constitution will be heard before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on May 19, Delegate Donna Christensen said in a statement Thursday. The Senate hearing follows a similar hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives in March where 5th V.I. Constitutional Convention President Gerard Luz James II and other convention delegates testified.
The Constitutional Convention completed the draft constitution last year. Gov. John deJongh Jr. initially declined to forward the document to U.S. President Barack Obama, citing constitutional and other problems with several passages. In December, the V.I. Superior Court concluded deJongh did not have the latitude to decide whether or not to send the document on and ordered him to forward the draft.
Since then, Obama forwarded it to Congress, along with a Department of Justice analysis raising questions about maritime boundaries, tax breaks aimed at native Virgin Islanders and other provisions. Congress can send the document back to the territory unchanged, or it can amend it as it chooses.
James will again testify at the Senate hearing, as will Christensen and a representative from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“My remarks will reflect the belief that the document should be changed only by the delegates elected by the people to write a Constitution on their behalf,” said Christensen. “It is my view that if the Congress believes that there are changes to be made, it should be sent back to the convention for those changes to be made. Once that happens, the people should have the opportunity to vote it up or down.”
The bill will be heard along with other territorial issues, including the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2010, according to Christensen’s statement. That act, introduced by Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico, would provide for a plebiscite giving voters the option to vote to continue Puerto Rico’s present political status, become a state or form an association with the United States as between two sovereign nation, according to the congressional summary of the bill.
Those who want to may submit written testimony and the hearing will probably be webcast live for people in the territory to listen to, Christensen said.
