USVI Public Records

Document text

VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS | Committee on Budget, Appropriations, & Finance 3 Legislature USVI April 4, 2023 · 0.3 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/Tj7D5NZ30GA Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. Public record The underlying proceeding is a public record of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. 3 V.I.C. § 881(a) defines public records to include all records and documents of or belonging to this Territory or any branch of government, or any "department, board, council or committee of any branch of government" · which names legislative committees by category. § 881(b) gives every citizen the right to examine and copy such records, and the news media the right to publish them. (The open-meetings chapter, 1 V.I.C. § 254, does NOT reach the Legislature: § 253(b) expressly excludes it and its Standing and Special Committees. § 881 does, and it is § 881 that confers the right to copy and publish.) The Legislature broadcast this proceeding publicly itself. The source recording is not ours, is not hosted here, and remains with its publisher at the link above. Rights To what we added · the transcription, its arrangement and its description · we assert nothing. A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The committee on budget appropriations and finances back on the record, I believe that we've had our technical difficulties resolved, so we are prepared to move forward. We're going to ask the, I believe we've exhausted much of the conversation, Senator Kephart, 0:00:00 I don't know if there are any other senators in St. Croix, I don't see any. So colleagues, do you have any other burning questions with regards to this measure? I think that it was asked and answered, but I'm just trying to understand the comfort level of us utilizing insurers that are out of the, like are in a Caribbean island. How does the division of banking and insurance monitor and vet these entities? There is, of course, an application as well as financial information that has to be submitted by these entities. Just like a U.S.-based company where we can examine them, we do that for alien insurers also. So regardless whether it's a U.S.-based insurer or insurer outside of the United States, the examination process is still the same in that we can go to that jurisdiction and examine, and we have done that. 0:02:12 And how many alien insurers we have providing insurance in the U.S.-Virgin Islands? How many? We have the Royal Star, we have Island Heritage, we have Nemuel, we have-- We're not hearing. We can't give you an exact number, but we can give you examples of some of them. We have, of course, Lloyds, which is one of the biggest entities. They're an alien insurer. We have Island Heritage, we have Royal Star, we have Nemuel. 0:03:39 Those are all property and casualty companies. And it should also be noted that these companies are not just regulated by our office. They also have domestic regulators in the jurisdiction that they're in. And even though they're outside the, you know, outside of the Virgin Islands, they're not domiciled in a state of the United States, a territory, or the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and I don't know how much this will reassure you, but after the hurricane, we had a number of these companies that were riding, and all of them remained financially stable. The only one company that did go down was actually based in Puerto Rico. And that's not to, in any way, you know, hit out at the regulators in Puerto Rico, because 0:04:20 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 4 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations, & Finance 3 that's just the nature of the business. But I just say that to say, we had Island Heritage that was riding here, we had Nemuel that was riding here, you know, we had these companies, of course, underwriters at Lloyds, and none of these companies became insolvent, and all of those claims were paid. So, you know, I don't know if that gives some level of comfort, but that's all I can say. Okay. And how many companies currently-- And one more statement. Go ahead. These are not companies that are new to the insurance market. These are companies that have been around and have good reputation. Thank you. And how many companies do we have on the ground here locally that stands to benefit from the passage of this legislation? Three. 0:05:22 Yeah. Three. Keswick, Guardian, and Dorchester. All right. Colleagues, I think we've exhausted the questions and we've asked any concerns. They were answered. I'm going to give the testifiers an opportunity to close prior to us voting on this measure. 30 seconds. We're going to start with Ms. Matthew. 0:05:49 Good afternoon, Attorney Matthew. I just want to thank this body for having us here today. We always take pleasure coming to the legislature and providing testimony. I also want to thank our staff, the hardworking staff at the Lieutenant Governor's Office, Division of Banking and Insurance. I continue to praise them because despite sometimes being short staffed and not having the needed resources, they push forward in terms of providing service to the people of this territory. So thank you. 0:06:32 Thank you. And Mr. West. I would like to also thank Madam Chair and the committee for their questions. I've been involved with six states where this companion bill has been passed, and I think the level of deliberation by the staff and the quality of questions by the senators are very impressive. And again, thank you. 0:07:11 Thank you. Thank you. And of course, our very own Mr. George Dudley. Attorney Dudley. Senator, thank you. Thank you. I have to say a small confession. You and Senator Francis kept your promise. When I ran into you all in December at Government House, there were issues involving this legislation. And Senator, you looked at me and said, Attorney Dudley, we can't do it in the 34th. I promise you we will take it up in the 35th. And I am sitting here smiling because the two of you are people of your word, and I'm happy to say that publicly. Thank you very much. 0:07:45 All right. That sounds like an endorsement. Thank you. Thank you for your kind words. Mr. Jeremy Austin. Thank you, Madam Chairman, members of the committee. You know, Keswick is a very small insurance company, but we are domiciled here in the Virgin Islands. And we're growing and and having a tool like this is only going to help us. So, yeah, just offering my support to the bill. And thanks again. Mr. Crates. He's also a very own. Yes. 0:08:33 Thank you, Senator. I think you made the same promise to me that you made to Attorney Dudley. So I do very much appreciate it. I do think that this is an extremely important step. We need to do everything we can to improve the situation with insurance here. I don't see any downside at all to this particular piece of legislation. All right. 0:09:09 And Mr. Alexis. So do that. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. We thank you for the opportunity to present this bill to you. And we look forward to working with the USVI insurance. All right. Well, thank you. Who did I miss? No, I didn't miss anyone. I covered everyone. Well, thank you. Thank you for your time. And this has been a quite a long day. But I think that we've been, you know, we've have done some great work today. So do I hear amendment? Senator Francis Junior, you're recognized for your amendment. 0:09:35 Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Madam Chair and colleagues, I offer amendment number 35-264. And it's an amendment to bill number 35-0026. Bill number 35-0026, section 1, is amended in 1, in subsection A, on page 2, line 1, by striking or of the United States. 2, in subsection C, on page 2, line 14, by striking 1254 and inserting 1256. 3, in subsection E, paragraph 2, on page 3, line 8, by striking administrator and inserting receiver. And in number 4, in subsection F, on page 5, line 2, by striking administrator and inserting receiver. I so move. Amendment number 35-264 has been properly moved by Senator Noveli Francis. 0:10:13 Noveli Francis Junior, seconded by Senator Dewey M. DeGraff, Senator Marvin Blyton, Senator Reeve Fonseca, Senator Samuel Carrion, hearing no objections. So ordered. Senator Noveli Francis Junior, you recognize your motion. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. I move that Bill number 35-0026, as amended, and act amending Title 23, Virgin Islands Code, relating to insurers becoming members of a federal home, loan, bank, and matters related thereto, be approved by the Committee of Budget, Appropriations, and Finance, and sent to the Rules Committee for further vetting and consideration. I so move. 0:11:14 Bill number 35-0026, as amended, and act amending Title 22. Well, guess what? Let me restate that. I'm trying to move fast. Bill number 35-0026, as amended, has been properly moved by Senator Noveli Francis Junior, seconded by Senator Marvin Blyton, Senator Dewey M. DeGraff, Senator Reeve Fonseca, Senator Giovanni James, Senator Samuel Carrion. Hearing no. Roll call, please. 0:12:01 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 4 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations, & Finance 3 Senator Marvin A. Blyton. Yes. Senator Marvin A. Blyton. Yes. Senator Blyton. Yes. Senator Blyton. Yes. Senator Samuel Carrion. Yes. Senator Carrion. Yes. Senator Carrion. Yes. Senator Carrion. Yes. Senator Dwayne M. DeGraff. Yes. Senator DeGraff. Yes. Senator DeGraff. Yes. Senator Ray Fonseca. Yes. Senator Fonseca. Yes. Senator Fonseca. 0:12:49 Yes. Senator Donna A. Fred Gregory. Yes. Senator Fred Gregory. Yes. Senator Fred Gregory. Yes. Senator Novel E. Francis Junior. Yes. Senator Francis Junior. Yes. Senator Francis Junior. Yes. Senator Javon E. James Senior. Yes. Senator James Senior. Yes. Senator James Senior. Yes. 0:13:16 Senator James Senior. Yes. Madam Chair. Yes. Yes. Madam Chair. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Madam Clerk. Bill number 35-0026, an act amending title 22, Virgin Allen's Code relating to insurers becoming members becoming members of a federal home loan bank and matters relating to day two, has been properly moved. Oh. 0:13:43 I'm having a challenge. I've been here too long. Let's do this again. Let's rule from the top. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Bill number 35-0026, as amended, an act amending title 22, Virgin Allen's Code relating to insurers becoming members of the Virgin Allen's home loan bank and matters relating to day two, has been favorably approved by this committee and will be forwarded to the rules committee for further consideration and action. All right, colleagues. This is the last measure for today. So this concludes the business of the committee on budget appropriations and finance since April 4th, 2023 meeting. I want to thank all the testifiers. I want to thank media. I want to thank all of the central staffers, my staff, for making today possible. And most of all, I want to thank my colleagues that were here today who really stayed in the paint and ensure that we engaged and we were able to be successful in moving forward. These very, very important matters for the people of the Virgin Allen's. 0:14:15 And I want to thank the testifiers that traveled all the way from different parts of the states. I suspect it's New York to come and testify for this measure that was before us. It is a measure that is important to the people of the Virgin Islands. And I want to thank you. And most definitely, I want to thank Mr. Kreitz and Attorney George Dudley for being a little nagging. But it's good stuff. It matters. And, you know, we are always here and things that matter to the people of the Virgin Islands. We welcome our stakeholders to really engage with us and have the discussion so we could really understand the things that are necessary for us to be successful as Virgin Islanders. We don't know everything here and we always welcome the external stakeholders assistance. So thank you again, colleagues. If there are no other matters, we are going to be before the legislature tomorrow again. I wanted to say happy Easter, but I guess I'll say tomorrow because our good governor has called the 35th legislature into special session. So we'll see each other tomorrow again. The committee of budget appropriations and finance is hereby adjourned. 0:15:26 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 0:17:05 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 7x Senator Marvin Blyden heard in this transcript as: Blyton, Marvin A. Blyton, Marvin Blyton 7x Senator Samuel Carrion heard in this transcript as: Carrion 6x Senator Dwayne DeGraff heard in this transcript as: DeGraff, Dewey M. DeGraff, Dwayne M. DeGraff 6x Senator Ray Fonseca heard in this transcript as: Fonseca, Reeve Fonseca 4x Senator Francis Junior 4x Senator James Senior 3x Senator Fred Gregory the surname alone also matches: Donna A. Frett-Gregory; Donna Frett-Gregory 3x Senator Novelle Francis heard in this transcript as: Francis, Noveli Francis 2x Senator Giovanni James Sr Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 4 Legislature USVI · | Committee on Budget, Appropriations, & Finance 3 the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Marise C. James; Neville James heard in this transcript as: Giovanni James 2x Senator Javon E. James Senior 2x Senator Nova Lee Francis Junior heard in this transcript as: Novel E. Francis Junior 1x Senator Donna A. Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Fred Gregory 1x Senator Donna Frett-Gregory heard in this transcript as: Donna A. Frett-Gregory Bills and acts referred to Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one the Legislature gave the act. Bill 35-0026 Act 8714 · April 14, 2023 · An Act amending title 22 Virgin Islands Code relating to insurers becoming members of a Federal Home Loan Bank and matters relating thereto aa--Qe== Act 8714 Act 8714 · April 14, 2023 · An Act amending title 22 Virgin Islands Code relating to insurers becoming members of a Federal Home Loan Bank and matters relating thereto aa--Qe== Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 4