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FLOOR 04/25/2024-SPECIAL ORDERED TO THE FLOOR BILL NO. 35-0266 Thirty-Fifth Legislature of the Virgin Islands April 25, 2024 An Act reappropriating funds to pay current year obligations of the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and Medical Center, the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center, and the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority to the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority; and to authorize, the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority to issue a credit to the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and Medical Center, the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center, and the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority in lieu of payment to the Government of the Virgin Islands PROPOSED BY: Senators Donna A. Frett-Gregory, Novelle E. Francis, Jr., Marvin A. Blyden, Kenneth L. Gittens, Diane T. Capehart, Ray Fonseca, Milton E. Potter, Dwayne M. DeGraff, Samuel Carriόn, Franklin D. Johnson and Alma Francis Heyliger WHEREAS, the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority, the Roy L. Schneider 1 Hospital and Medical Center and the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital and Medical Center have 2 historically been unable to meet their outstanding utility bill obligations to the Virgin Islands 3 Water and Power Authority (WAPA); 4 WHEREAS, the central government has continuously failed to timely pay WAPA for 5 its services which has impacted WAPA’s ability to pay its critical vendors; 6 WHEREAS, WAPA’s critical vendors have withheld services for nonpayment; 7 WHEREAS, without critical vendors, WAPA curtailed power generation and instituted 8 rotating power outages in the Virgin Islands; 9 WHEREAS, on January 30, 2020, the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission 10 approved a base rate increase requested by WAPA; 11 2 WHEREAS, there exists an outstanding loan of $6,000,000 owed to the Government of 1 the Virgin Islands by WAPA; Now, Therefore, 2 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands: 3 SECTION 1. (a) Act No. 8246, section 4 is amended as follows: 4 1. Designating the existing language as subsection (a); 5 2. striking “If a justified base rate is instituted” and inserting the following at the end 6 of the section: “In lieu of payment to the Government of the Virgin Islands, WAPA shall 7 immediately issue credits to the accounts receivables of the Governor Juan F. Luis Hospital, 8 the Roy L. Schneider Hospital, and the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority to fully 9 cover the past due amounts owed for utility services by the hospitals and a portion of the past 10 due amount owed for utility services by the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority. The 11 credited amounts are: 12 Juan F. Luis Hospital $2,026,408.00 13 Roy L. Schneider $3,354,521.00 14 V.I. Waste Management Authority $619,071.00 15 Add the following new subsection (b): 16 (b) A formal notice of credit shall be issued in the amounts in subsection (a) to the 17 respective entities no later than five business days after enactment of this Act.” 18 SECTION 2. Act No. 8759, Section 1 is amended as follows: 19 (a) In subsection B. “ORG 150 BUREAU OF CORRECTIONS”, line-item “OTHER 20 SERVICES AND CHARGES” by striking “$10,063,390” and inserting “$9,838,390”:in its 21 place and adding two new line item as follows: 22 “7110 JFL HOSPITAL – Medical Services $103,000 23 7110 RLS HOSPITAL – Medical Services $122,000” 24 3 (b) In subsection P. “ORG 370 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, SUB-TOTAL 1 DEPARTMENT OF LABOR”, by striking “$6,951,406” and inserting “$6,449,406” in its 2 place and adding two new line items as follows: 3 “7110 JFL HOSPITAL – Medical Services $229,000 4 7110 RLS HOSPITAL – Medical Services $273,000” 5 (c) In subsection X. “ORG 370 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH”, line-item “OTHER 6 SERVICES AND CHARGES” by striking “6,857,181” and inserting “$6,594,181” in its place 7 and adding a new line item as follows : 8 “7110 RLS HOSPITAL – Utilities $263,000” 9 SECTION 3. The Department of Health shall enter into an agreement within ninety days 10 with the Roy L. Schneider Hospital and Medical Center to pay a portion of utility costs incurred 11 by the Department of Health for areas occupied by the Department of Health in the Roy L. 12 Schneider Hospital. 13 SECTION 4. ACT No. 8817 section 2 (a) is amended by striking “100,000” and 14 inserting “$10,000”. 15 BILL SUMMARY 16 Section 1 of the bill amends Act No. 8246 by crediting the Juan F. Luis Hospital, the Roy 17 L. Schneider Hospital, and the V.I. Waste Management Authority for utility payments made 18 on their behalf by the Government of the Virgin Islands. 19 Section 2 of the bill amends Act No. 8759 reappropriating $10,063,390 from the Bureau 20 of Corrections budget to the Juan F. Luis Hospital, the Roy L. Schneider Hospital, and the V.I. 21 Waste Management Authority. 22 Section 3 requires an agreement between the Department of Health and the Roy L. 23 Schneider Hospital and Medical Center for the payment of a portion of utility costs incurred 24 4 by the Department of Health for areas occupied in the Department of Health by the Roy L. 1 Schneider Hospital and Medical Center. 2 Section 4 reduces the appropriation to the Virgin Islands Board of Education to fund the 3 Virgin Islands Maritime Industry Educational Scholarship from $100,000 to $10,000. 4 BR24-1099/April 25, 2024/PFA 5