[House Report 106-807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



106th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     106-807

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SIZE AND QUORUM OF LEGISLATURE DETERMINED BY LAWS OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

                                _______
                                

 September 6, 2000.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on 
            the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2296]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 2296) to amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin 
Islands to provide that the number of members on the 
legislature of the Virgin Islands and the number of such 
members constituting a quorum shall be determined by the laws 
of the Virgin Islands, and for other purposes, having 
considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment 
and recommend that the bill do pass.

                          Purpose of the Bill

    The purpose of H.R. 2296 is to amend the Revised Organic 
Act of the Virgin Islands to provide that the number of members 
on the legislature of the Virgin Islands and the number of such 
members constituting a quorum shall be determined by the laws 
of the Virgin Islands, and for other purposes.

                  Background and Need for Legislation

    The U.S. Virgin Islands is an unincorporated organized 
territory of the United States acquired by purchase from 
Denmark in 1917. In 1927, Congress extended U.S. citizenship to 
the residents of the islands and enacted extensive organic 
legislation in 1936. In 1954, Congress replaced the 1936 act 
with a Revised Organic Act. While the Virgin Islands organic 
legislation provided for a civil government, which was during 
the period when the governor was still appointed by the U.S. 
president, Congress subsequently enacted additional measures to 
increase self-governance for the Virgin Islands, including 
authorization for the direct election of governor, a delegate 
to Congress, and a local constitution. However, as the Virgin 
Islands has yet to implement local constitutional government as 
authorized by Congress in 1976 with the enactment of Public Law 
94-584, any changes to executive, legislative, and judicial 
branches of the Virgin Islands or other provisions of the 
Organic Act of the Virgin Islands must occur by an act of 
Congress.
    The Revised Organic Act of 1954 provided for a unicameral 
legislative body comprised of 11 members elected at-large. 
Congress amended the Act in 1966, increasing the legislature's 
membership to 15.
    The instability of government revenues and volatile 
economies of the U.S. territories have caused their respective 
governments to seek ways to reduce government spending. The 
Virgin Islands, through enactment of Resolution No. 1590 in 
1998, petitioned Congress to amend the Revised Organic Act of 
1954 to reduce the number of members from 15 to 9. This 
reflects the importance of this issue to the people of the 
Virgin Islands.

                            Committee Action

    H.R. 2296 was introduced on June 22, 1999, by Donna M.C. 
Christensen (D-VI). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources. On May 17, 2000, the Committee conducted a hearing 
on Virgin Islands self-government and the need for 
constitutional self-government. On June 28, 2000, the Full 
Resources Committee met to consider the bill. No amendments 
were offered and the bill was favorably reported to the House 
of Representatives by unanimous consent.

            Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations 
are reflected in the body of this report.

                   Constitutional Authority Statement

    Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the United 
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    Compliance With House Rule XIII

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    3. Government Reform Oversight Findings. Under clause 
3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee has received no report of 
oversight findings and recommendations from the Committee on 
Government Reform on this bill.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                      Washington, DC, July 5, 2000.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2296, a bill to 
amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands to provide 
that the number of members of the legislature of the Virgin 
Islands and the number of such members constituting a quorum 
shall be determined by the laws of the Virgin Islands, and for 
other purposes.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is John R. 
Righter.
            Sincerely,
                                          Barry B. Anderson
                                    (For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
    Enclosure.

H.R. 2296--A bill to amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin 
        Islands to provide that the number of members on the 
        legislature of the Virgin Islands and the number of such 
        members constituting a quorum shall be determined by the laws 
        of the Virgin Islands, and for other purposes

    H.R. 2296 would amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin 
Islands to allow the Virgin Islands to determine the size of 
its legislature and the number of members needed to constitute 
a quorum. CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 2296 would have no 
impact on the federal budget. Because the bill would not affect 
direct spending or receipts, pay-as-you-go procedures would not 
apply. H.R. 2296 contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 
and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The CBO staff contact is John R. Righter. This estimate was 
approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for 
Budget Analysis.

                    Compliance With Public Law 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

         Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported

    In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the rules of 
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by 
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law 
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

REVISED ORGANIC ACT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS

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                           legislative branch

    Sec. 5. (a) * * *
    (b) The legislature shall be composed of [fifteen] members 
to be known as senators. The number of such senators shall be 
determined by the laws of the Virgin Islands. The apportionment 
of the legislature shall be as provided by laws of the Virgin 
Islands: Provided, That such apportionment shall not deny to 
any person in the Virgin Islands the equal protection of the 
law: And provided further, That every voter in any district 
election or at large election shall be permitted to vote for 
the whole number of persons to be elected in that district 
election or at large election as the case may be. Until the 
legislature shall provide otherwise, four members shall be 
elected at large, five shall be elected from the District of 
Saint Thomas, five from the District of Saint Croix, and one 
from the District of Saint John, as those Districts were 
constituted on July 22, 1954.

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    Sec. 9. (a) [The quorum of the legislature shall consist of 
eight of its members.] The number of members of the legislature 
needed to constitute a quorum shall be determined by the laws 
of the Virgin Islands. No bill shall become a law unless it 
shall have been passed at a meting, at which a quorum was 
present, by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members 
present and voting, which vote shall be by yeas and nays.

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