Heyliger’s Push to Block Raises, Redirect WICO PILOT to Hospitals Denied in First 36th Legislature Session
In what has become a familiar pattern, Senator Alma Francis Heyliger’s latest efforts to introduce legislation were rejected by a majority of her colleagues during Monday’s regular session—the first convened by the 36th Legislature.
2025-04-15 12:55:48 - VI News Staff
Francis Heyliger first attempted to bring forward BR 25-0392, a bill titled “An Act to prevent and rescind any automatic implementation of salary adjustments made pursuant to any recommendations of the Virgin Islands Public Officials Compensation Commission, to reclaim any authorized payments, to establish enforcement and penalty provisions.” The measure was immediately met with objection, receiving support only from Senators Dwayne DeGraff and Franklin Johnson. The proposal aimed to block salary increases of 21.9% for the governor—from $150,000 to $192,088—and 25.7% for the lieutenant governor, whose salary would rise to $168,231.
Majority Leader Senator Kurt Vialet, on a subsequent point of personal privilege, explained that the legislative body wanted the proposed bill to be fully vetted. “It’s not that we don’t want to hear the bill, but we want the bill to go through the committee process,” he clarified, recommending that the relevant parties “pro-forma it as soon as possible and send it to the committee of jurisdiction.”
After another of the Monday session’s several protracted breaks, Vialet moved that “no more special orders be considered in this session,” a proposal that received approval from the majority of the body. Francis Heyliger, who voted against the motion, sought the opinion of the Legislature’s legal counsel.
“Can the rights of a senator be taken away to cast a motion, if it’s a special order or any other type of motion. Can this body specifically restrict a senator from calling a motion?” she asked. According to the legal counsel representative, “Any senator may make a motion on this floor, and if a majority of this body agrees to that motion, that motion carries.”