Rules committee clears three public-safety and tax bills: domestic-violence bail minimum, updated traffic fines and impound lots, and tightened gross-receipts

The Committee on Rules and Judiciary voted unanimously on April 24 to forward three bills to the full Senate: (1) a bill setting a mandatory minimum bail framework in domestic-violence cases (36-0005, as amended), (2) a bill updating traffic penalties and establishing government impound lots with specified revenue allocations (36-0036), and (3) a bill clarifying that gross-receipts taxes must be paid by contractors doing business in the Virgin Islands regardless of physical location (36-0063).

Senators and sponsors said the measures aim to improve public safety, close tax loopholes discovered during disaster-recovery spending, and update penalties that have not kept pace with inflation.

Sponsor Senator Angel L. Bocas Jr. described 36-0005 as intended to "prioritiz[e] the safety of domestic violence survivors" and said the measure now includes an amendment (36-353) that removes a legislative-appropriation clause after consultation with stakeholders. Bocas told the committee the bill had been amended in the committee of jurisdiction, and that the Office of the Territorial Public Defender, the Attorney General and the Virgin Islands Police Department had endorsed the revised…