[Pages H5435-H5437]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

AUTHORIZING APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER FOR THE VIRGIN
ISLANDS

Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 3706) to create the Office of Chief Financial Officer of the
Government of the Virgin Islands, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:

H.R. 3706

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS.

(a) Appointment of Chief Financial Officer.--
(1) In general.--The Governor of the Virgin Islands shall
appoint a Chief Financial Officer, with the advice and
consent of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands, from the
names on the list required under section 2(d). If the
Governor has nominated a person for Chief Financial Officer
but the Legislature of the Virgin Islands has not confirmed a
nominee within 90 days after receiving the list pursuant to
section 2(d), the Governor shall appoint from such list a
Chief Financial Officer on an acting basis until the
Legislature consents to a Chief Financial Officer.
(2) Acting chief financial officer.--If a Chief Financial
Officer has not been appointed under paragraph (1) within 180
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Virgin
Islands Chief Financial Officer Search Commission, by
majority vote, shall appoint from the names on the list
submitted under section 2(d), an Acting Chief Financial
Officer to serve in that capacity until a Chief Financial
Officer is appointed under the first sentence of paragraph
(1). In either case, if the Acting Chief Financial Officer
serves in an acting capacity for 180 consecutive days,
without further action the Acting Chief Financial Officer
shall become the Chief Financial Officer.
(b) Duties of Chief Financial Officer.--The duties of the
Chief Financial Officer shall include the following:
(1) Develop and report on the financial status of the
Government of the Virgin Islands not later than 6 months
after appointment and quarterly thereafter. Such reports
shall be available to the public.
(2) Each year prepare and certify spending limits of the
annual budget, including annual estimates of all revenues of
the territory without regard to sources, and whether or not
the annual budget is balanced.
(3) Revise and update standards for financial management,
including inventory and contracting, for the Government of
the Virgin Islands in general and for each agency in
conjunction with the agency head.
(c) Documents Provided.--The heads of each department of
the Government of the Virgin Islands, in particular the head
of the Department of Finance of the Virgin Islands and the
head of the Internal Revenue Bureau of the Virgin Islands
shall provide all documents and information under the
jurisdiction of that head that the Chief Financial Officer
considers required to carry out his or her functions to the
Chief Financial Officer.
(d) Conditions Related to Chief Financial Officer.--
(1) Term.--The Chief Financial Officer shall be appointed
for a term of 5 years.
(2) Removal.--The Chief Financial Officer shall not be
removed except for cause. An Acting Chief Financial Officer
may be removed for cause or by a Chief Financial Officer
appointed with the advice and consent of the Legislature of
the Virgin Islands.
(3) Replacement.--If the Chief Financial Officer is unable
to continue acting in that capacity due to removal, illness,
death, or otherwise, another Chief Financial Officer shall be
selected in accordance with subsection (a).
(4) Salary.--The Chief Financial Officer shall be paid at a
salary to be determined by the Governor of the Virgin
Islands, except such rate may not be less than the highest
rate of pay for a cabinet officer of the Government of the
Virgin Islands or a Chief Financial Officer serving in any
government or semiautonomous agency.
(e) Referendum.--As part of the closest regularly
scheduled, islands-wide election in the Virgin Islands to the
expiration of the fourth year of the five-year term of the
Chief Financial Officer, the Board of Elections of the Virgin
Islands shall hold a referendum to seek the approval of the
people of the Virgin Islands regarding whether the position
of Chief Financial Officer of the Government of the Virgin
Islands shall be made a permanent part of the executive
branch of the Government of the Virgin Islands. The
referendum shall be binding and conducted according to the
laws of the Virgin Islands, except that the results shall be
determined by a majority of the ballots cast.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

(a) Establishment.--There is established a commission to be
known as the ``Virgin Islands Chief Financial Officer Search
Commission''.
(b) Duty of Commission.--The Commission shall recommend to
the Governor not less than 3 candidates for nomination as
Chief Financial Officer of the Virgin Islands. Each candidate
must have demonstrated ability in general management of,
knowledge of, and extensive practical experience at the
highest levels of financial management in governmental or
business entities and must have experience in the
development, implementation, and operation of financial
management systems.
(c) Membership.--
(1) Number and appointment.--The Commission shall be
composed of 8 members appointed not later than 30 days after
the date of the enactment of this Act. Persons appointed as
members must have recognized business, government, or
financial expertise and experience and shall be appointed as
follows:
(A) 1 individual appointed by the Governor of the Virgin
Islands.
(B) 1 individual appointed by the President of the
Legislature of the Virgin Islands.
(C) 1 individual, who is an employee of the Government of
the Virgin Islands, appointed by the Central Labor Council of
the Virgin Islands.
(D) 1 individual appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of
St. Thomas-St. John.
(E) 1 individual appointed by the Chamber of Commerce of
St. Croix.
(F) 1 individual appointed by the President of the
University of the Virgin Islands.
(G) 1 individual, who is a resident of St. John, appointed
by the At-Large Member of the Legislature of the Virgin
Islands.
(H) 1 individual appointed by the President of AARP Virgin
islands.
(2) Terms.--
(A) In general.--Each member shall be appointed for the
life of the Commission.
(B) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled
in the manner in which the original appointment was made. Any
member appointed to fill a vacancy shall be appointed for the
remainder of that term.
(3) Basic pay.--Members shall serve without pay.
(4) Quorum.--Five members of the Commission shall
constitute a quorum.
(5) Chairperson.--The Chairperson of the Commission shall
be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States Virgin Islands or the designee of the Chief Justice.
The Chairperson shall serve as an ex officio member of the
Commission and shall vote only in the case of a tie.
(6) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the
Chairperson. The Commission shall meet for the first time not
later than 15 days after all members have been appointed
under this subsection.
(7) Government employment.--Members may not be current
government employees, except for the member appointed under
paragraph (1)(C).
(d) Report; Recommendations.--The Commission shall transmit
a report to the Governor, the Committee on Natural Resources
of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources of the Senate not later than 60 days
after its first meeting. The report shall name the
Commission's recommendations for candidates for nomination as
Chief Financial Officer of the Virgin Islands.
(e) Termination.--The Commission shall terminate upon the
nomination and confirmation of the Chief Financial Officer.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions
apply:
(1) Chief financial officer.--In sections 1 and 2, the term
``Chief Financial Officer'' means a Chief Financial Officer
or Acting Chief Financial Officer, as the case may be,
appointed under section 1(a).
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Virgin
Islands Chief Financial Officer Search Commission established
pursuant to section 2.
(3) Governor.--The term ``Governor'' means the Governor of
the Virgin Islands.
(4) Removal for cause.--The term ``removal for cause''
means removal based upon misconduct, failure to meet job
requirements, or any grounds that a reasonable person would
find grounds for discharge.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) and the gentleman from the Northern Mariana
Islands (Mr. Sablan) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado.

General Leave

Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days to revise

[[Page H5436]]

and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill
under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Colorado?
There was no objection.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
H.R. 3706 would create the Office of Chief Financial Officer of the
Government of the Virgin Islands to assist in the development of a
balanced budget through a review of incoming revenues and recommend
spending limits to the Governor and legislature. The intent behind the
bill is to create more fiscal certainty and address concerns regarding
the overestimation of incoming revenues, which leads to overspending
and a budget deficit in the Virgin Islands. The bill would allow Virgin
Islands voters to have the final say on the office. If they find this
to be a successful process, they will vote in a referendum to determine
if the office should be retained in the long term.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SABLAN. I yield myself as much time as I may consume.
(Mr. SABLAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3706, to create an
Office of Chief Financial Officer for the Government of the United
States Virgin Islands.
Delegate Christensen is to be commended for her hard work on behalf
of her constituents. Today marks the fourth time--the fourth time--the
House will vote on legislation she sponsored to provide greater
accountability and transparency in the management of her district's
finances.
This is a good bill, I urge my colleagues to support its adoption,
and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield as much time as she
may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from the United States
Virgin Islands, Dr. Christensen.
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank the ranking member for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in strong support of H.R. 3706,
legislation I introduced to provide for a Chief Financial Officer for
the Government of the Virgin Islands. I want to begin by thanking
Chairman Hastings and Ranking Member Markey of the Natural Resources
Committee for their support in making it possible for H.R. 3706 to be
on the floor today. I also want to thank Subcommittee on Fisheries,
Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs Chairman John Fleming and, of
course, Ranking Member Kilili Sablan for their support, as well.
Mr. Speaker, today, as you heard, marks the fourth time in 9 years
that this House will consider legislation that I have sponsored to
provide for a CFO for my congressional district, the U.S. Virgin
Islands. It has passed the previous three times.
While I have been severely criticized by some for its introduction,
there are many who support it. But I continue to believe that having an
independent professional third party being responsible for determining
the amount of revenues that the local government has available to spend
for an ensuing fiscal year would be a positive development for our
government and is also generally supported by a broad cross-section of
our electorate.
When I first sponsored the first CFO bill in 2003, the Territory was
technically insolvent, and urgent action was necessary to avoid needing
a Federal bailout and all that would entail. After studying the
experience of the District of Columbia, which sought and obtained a
Federal bailout and the accompanying loss of political autonomy through
a financial control board, I concluded then that it would have been
better if we avoided being taken over by a control board, and I crafted
my original CFO bill to do that.
Unlike H.R. 3706, my first chief financial officer bill did involve a
loss of authority for the Governor and legislature to accumulate public
debt, but it was temporary and would have prevented a complete loss of
political autonomy. Today, while the territory is experiencing very
serious fiscal challenges, the government is not on the verge of
imminent fiscal collapse and no longer has a structural deficit over $1
billion or annual deficits in excess of $100 million.
In view of this, one could reasonably ask, then, why the need for the
current bill? First of all, H.R. 3706 seeks to end the acrimony and
mistrust among the different branches of Virgin Islands Government and
the public at large and provide for revenue projections from a highly
qualified person. This individual would be appointed by the Governor
and confirmed by the legislature but does not serve at the pleasure of
the Governor.
This is the process that is used by the District of Columbia
currently through its CFO, and there have been no complaints from the
chief executive of D.C., the mayor, about a loss of sovereignty or of a
return to colonialism.
Since last year, when the Virgin Islands Governor John de Jongh, Jr.,
announced a pending $135 million deficit in his budget projections for
fiscal year 2012, several members of the 29th legislature questioned
the Governor's numbers and they have continued to do so, pointing to
differences in figures between reports done by auditors and figures
presented in budget documents.

{time} 1710

Similarly, public sector union members who have been greatly impacted
by various austerity measures also scoffed at the budget projections,
saying:

there had not been enough transparency to truly demonstrate
that there really was a financial crisis and (that there was)
no other way to solve it but layoffs or pay cuts.

H.R. 3706 does not affect in any way the Governor or the
legislature's ability to spend the territory's funds as they see fit.
It simply attempts to end questions on what the exact revenue of the
territory is so that we can move forward on a sound economic recovery.
I'm not under any allusion that my CFO bill will be a cure-all for
all that ails the Virgin Islands. I am, however, proposing it as a 5-
year pilot program for improving transparency and trust in our
budgetary and fiscal practices. If Virgin Islanders approve of the
process and system for determining our annual budget limits that the
bill provides, they can vote to make it permanent through a referendum
that is provided for after 4 years of the CFO's 5-year term.
Each time I have introduced this or one of the earlier versions of
this bill, there have been concerns that the United States Congress is
imposing itself into the governance of the territory. There are some
that would wish that this were the case, but I am not one of them, and
this bill would not do that.
Because we do not have a constitution, the people of the Virgin
Islands have come to Congress on a number of occasions, for example, to
attempt to abolish the Office of Lieutenant Governor; to expand
borrowing authority, which we did; to limit the number of senators, and
for other purposes. I don't really see this process as being any
different coming as a representative of the people of the Virgin
Islands and representing their interests.
Moreover, attempts by our local legislature to pass similar
legislation have failed, and legislative proposals by nonpartisan
organizations have never been considered. Therefore, as a
representative of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands in the
Congress, it fell to me, and I accept the responsibility. I just regret
that our Governor and I could not see eye to eye on this.
The Federal Government has and will be providing significant funds to
the U.S. Virgin Islands, especially in light of the economic disaster
that currently exists. I am sure that having such an office as the one
being proposed by H.R. 3706 will enhance our ability to successfully
navigate through this very critical time because of the added
accountability and transparency that it provides.
So I thank you for the time, and I urge my colleagues to support the
adoption of H.R. 3706.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to inquire if my colleague, Mr.
Sablan, has any further speakers.
Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I have no further speakers, and
I urge the adoption of the legislation.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. LAMBORN. I, too, yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by

[[Page H5437]]

the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Lamborn) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3706, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. LAMBORN. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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