Gov. Kenneth Mapp vetoed recent legislation that would have required him to eventually justify conferring emergency powers to himself indefinitely by continually extending the territory’s post-hurricane state of emergency, according to a news release issued Wednesday by Government House.
The state of emergency allows the governor to bypass many restrictions on how the administration awards contracts and spends money. At the beginning of September, Mapp extended the territory’s state of emergency for an 11th time and the Legislature passed this measure requiring him to eventually explain the need to the Legislature.
Under the terms of the legislation, the governor would be able to renew an existing state of emergency for 30 days without question. But then, the governor would have to appear before the Senate five days before the end of the current state of emergency and justify any further extension.
The law does not sunset or automatically end the state of emergency. If the Senate does not act within five days the state of emergency can continue. It only requires the governor to explain what he is doing with the power and why he needs to continue the state of emergency.
“This measure is irresponsible; it reeks of politics,” Mapp wrote in a statement about the move.
“The Virgin Islands of the United States remains under a Presidential State of Emergency. The Presidential State of Emergency exists so federal agencies can respond and assist the people of the Virgin Islands in a more responsive and timely manner. The Virgin Islands’ State of Emergency exists so that we can expedite the procurement process and response to federal imposed cost share deadlines. While I understand the need of some members of the Legislature to ask for a ‘go slow’ process, this adds no benefit to the recovery of the territory … this measure will only result in delaying the Executive Branch’s immediate response to disasters and increase the territorial cost as we rebuild,” Mapp said.
Mapp gave no example of how justifying the extension to the Legislature will delay emergency response or increase costs.
Like every state and territory, V.I. law gives the governor power to mobilize the National Guard and bypass time-consuming normal processes to organize a quick response to the immediate needs after a disaster. Mapp initially declared a state of emergency just before the first of two hurricanes hit the territory last September.
The governor has wide latitude so long as the state of emergency continues. He may, for example, “(s)uspend the provisions of any statute prescribing the procedures for conduct of territorial business, or the orders, rules, or regulations of any territorial agency,” “(u)tilize all available resources of the Territory” and “(t)ake any other action he deems necessary.”
His repeated extensions with extremely minimal explanation have raised questions both inside and outside the territory.
It is not clear the governor’s ongoing extensions meet existing law. The law says “(a)ll proclamations issued under this subsection shall indicate the nature of the emergency or major disaster, the area or areas threatened the conditions which have brought it about or which make possible termination of the state of emergency.”
None of the extension proclamations appear to meet that statutory requirement. Instead, they give a rote statement that there were hurricanes in September 2017, with no mention of specific conditions and no mention of what would “make possible termination of the state of emergency.”
Mapp has not been transparent about what he is doing under the auspices of a state of Emergency. Government House has not responded to multiple requests from the Source for clarification of the reasons for the continued extensions sent first in April and reiterated multiple times through mid-July.
In April, the V.I. Source requested information on all contracts entered into under the looser procurement terms of the state of emergency. After months of silence, Attorney General Claude Walker responded July 13, saying he had confirmed “no such contracts have been entered into by the government of the Virgin Islands. All such contracts were entered into consistent with the local procurement laws.”
Mapp contradicted Walker on July 30, saying the state of emergency “allows a truncated procurement process so that when we did the modular systems for the various schools, had we had to do that under a regular procurement it would have added two to three more months in the schedule but under the state of emergency it truncates those schedules.”
V.I. statutes do not automatically mandate extensive time periods for a bidding process. And the law allows faster processes for emergency or “exigency” situations, so it is unclear what part of the process was truncated for the modular buildings contract.
V.I. law requires that “bids shall be opened in public at the time and place stated in the newspaper notices,” that a “tabulation of all bids received shall be filed for public inspection” and “(e)ach bid, with the name of the bidder, shall be entered on a record, and each record with the successful bid indicated shall, after the award of letting of the contract, be opened to public inspection.”
Nine senators voted for the bill, with four voting against it and two senators absent. If Mapp vetoes it, ten votes would be needed to override. Because Sens. Sammuel Sanes (D-STX) and Positive Nelson (ICM-STX) were absent, their votes would decide if an override occurs if no other senators change their positions.
Duh, I have ultimate power to do whatever I want. You want me to justify myself. VETO that Sh!t.
Be aware of Mapp’s devious ways, especially when it comes to manipulating the elections, or even cancelling, due to his emergency powers edict he has declared. BEWARE the forked tongues serpents seeking to continue their ruination of our Virgin Islands.