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Committee hears bill to create independent Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics; agency roles, funding and overlap with AG debated
Summary
The Rules and Judiciary Committee heard testimony Tuesday on bill 36‑0077 to create a standalone Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest and voted to hold the bill until companion funding and implementation language is available.
The Committee on Rules and Judiciary held a detailed hearing on bill 36‑0077, which would repeal and replace existing language and create an independent Virgin Islands Commission on Ethics and Conflicts of Interest. Witnesses from the Division of Personnel (DOP), the Virgin Islands Bar Association's Legislative and Law Reform Committee, the League of Women Voters and the Department of Justice testified. The committee voted to hold the bill in committee for further work and to coordinate language with a companion appropriation and implementation measure (bill 36‑0078).
Key themes at the hearing were jurisdiction, resourcing, interagency coordination and the commission's investigative powers. DOP urged clarification to avoid overlapping authority with the Attorney General and proposed a complementary model: an independent commission empowered to investigate elected and high‑ranking officials, paired with a Personnel Accountability and Compliance Unit (PACU) inside DOP to oversee the broader government workforce. DOP said it has recently issued an executive code of conduct (Executive Order 540‑2024), established online reporting tools and provided training across executive branch staff.
The Bar Association's legislative committee urged transparency in appointment vetting, public disclosure of nominees, a guaranteed independent budget stream to protect the commission's impartiality, and language allowing outside counsel where internal conflicts arise. The League of Women Voters urged explicit staggering of initial terms to avoid simultaneous turnover, alternates for vacancies to prevent long periods without quorums, and verification procedures for reimbursement of member work outside meetings.
The Department of Justice said it supports the establishment of an ethics commission in principle but raised concerns about wording that would require indefinite operational support from DOJ (personnel, space and equipment) without a defined funding source; DOJ suggested limiting the Attorney General's open-ended obligation and adding the Office of the Inspector General as a named agency to provide investigative and financial forensics support.
After extended discussion, Senator Kenneth L. Gittens moved — and the committee voted — to hold bill 36‑0077 in committee until the companion fiscal and implementation language in bill 36‑0078 is available for joint consideration. Committee members requested clearer delineation of jurisdiction between the proposed commission, DOP and the Attorney General; a mechanism to ensure quorum and fill vacancies promptly; explicit funding language; and more detail about investigative authority and whether investigators will be sworn peace officers and how they would be trained.
The committee's disposition was to continue work on the enabling statute (36‑0077) only after review of the companion implementation/appropriation measure (36‑0078) in the Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee. Witnesses left the record with committee requests to submit proposed text changes and coordination language.
