Statutory board reforms continue

Over the past week, legislators passed four out of five bills designed to improve the governance of statutory bodies as the House of Assembly addressed its final reform recommendation from the 2022 Commission of Inquiry report.

Four days of meetings saw legislators greenlight amendments to the acts governing the National Parks Trust, the BVI Tourist Board, the BVI Ports Authority and the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College. The fifth bill — addressing the BVI Health Services Authority — was debated Tuesday before members entered a closed-door committee session.

The bills are part of broader reforms in the works for statutory bodies, which the COI alleged had been operating with minimal accountability under heavy political interference.

The proposed laws outline procedures for appointing and removing board members and require the boards to follow financial governance guidelines when keeping accounts and records, among other measures.

NPT bill passes

At the start of the HOA meeting last Thursday, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said the NPT bill had passed through closed-door committee with amendments following public debate earlier in the week where members discussed the pros and cons of standardising requirements for statutory bodies.

The bill was then read a third time and passed unanimously.

The final version, which now awaits assent from the governor, has not yet been Gazetted or otherwise made public.

Tourist Board

Next, the House tackled the Tourist Board (Amendment) Bill, 2024, with Dr. Wheatley kicking off the debate by explaining its objects and reasons.

“The amendments to the Tourist Board legislation will introduce provisions to enhance board governance, improve the criteria for board membership, and formalise the framework for board operations,” Dr. Wheatley said. “The bill will introduce several key provisions in line with the overarching reform goals, including board self-evaluation mechanisms, strengthening internal controls, introducing a complaints mechanism, formalising meeting procedures and decisionmaking processes, gender-neutral language, and new codes of conduct and disclosure requirements for conflicts of interest.”

Diversity provisions

Dr. Wheatley went on to highlight a provision that aims to bring greater diversity to the board.

“Under this provision, the 15-member board will be structured to ensure a broad representation from key sectors, including hotels and villas; the marine industry; the hospitality sector; cruise tourism; heritage, culture and entertainment; and the transportation sector,” Dr. Wheatley said, adding, “Furthermore, there will be provisions to ensure representation from each of our sister islands — Anegada, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda — as well as members from the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College and tourismrelated trade associations.”

After the bill was read a second time, opposition members Marlon Penn (R-D8), Julian Fraser (R-D3), Mitch Turnbull (R-D2) and Stacy Mather (R-at large) contributed to the debate. On the government side, Deputy Premier Lorna Smith and Health and Social Development Minister Vincent Wheatley also spoke.

Festival committee

Mr. Penn kicked off the discussion, claiming that needed amendments to the Tourist Board Ordinance and the VI Festivals and Fairs Committee Act were never made after the BVITB took over the VIFFC’s responsibilities pursuant to a December Cabinet decision. The Cabinet had called for the amendments at the time, but Mr. Penn noted that neither had gone through the HOA.

“I don’t know if it came when I was out, but I’ve haven’t seen or heard of any bill that came to the House to repeal the Festivals and Fairs Committee bill,” Mr. Penn said, adding that he also hadn’t seen any bill transferring the VIFFC’s functions to the Tourist Board. “Madam Speaker, we cannot tout good governance when it’s convenient and continue to ignore and flout disrespect for the laws of the land.”

Friday debate

The debate continued Friday with contributions from Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer, Culture and Tourism Junior Minister Luce Hodge-Smith, and Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton.

Mr. Skelton reiterated a point he made earlier in the week during the debate on the NPT bill, praising government-side legislators for agreeing to tweak the amendments in the committee stage.

“I am so proud that the members on the other side recognise that this can’t be one-size-fits-all, and they’re making, to me, the appropriate changes in the law so that these statutory boards can operate as they were intended to do more efficiently and effectively,” he said.

In his closing statement, Dr. Wheatley agreed with Mr. Skelton that the changes made to the NPT bill during the committee stage were “productive” and “positive.” He added, though, that there should be some standardisation across the statutory boards’ rules.

“The areas which should be standardised — I believe we should have an easier time with those areas because of some of what we did on the National Parks Trust bill,” he said. “But the areas that have to be specific to tourism, of course, we will put our collective intellects together and come up with the best amendments to the bill.”

The Tourist Board bill passed with amendments on Friday after House members returned from a closed-door committee session. The new version of the bill, which awaits assent from the governor, has yet to be Gazetted.

HLSCC bill

The HOA then moved on to the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (Amendment) Bill, 2024, with Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sharie de Castro explaining its objects and reasons.

The proposed law, she said, aims to “modernise and strengthen the governance framework of the college, ensuring that it continues to provide high-quality education and operates with transparency, accountability and integrity.”

No one debated the bill in public, and the HOA entered a closed-door committee session to discuss it further.

On Monday, the House returned from committee and passed the bill with amendments. The new version, which awaits the governor’s assent, has yet to be Gazetted.

BVI Ports Authority

Next came the BVI Ports Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2024. Mr. Rymer read the objects and reasons before Messrs. Skelton, Penn and Turnbull contributed to the debate. Like the other bills, the minister said, it is designed to “foster good governance and transparency.”

Mr. Rymer also listed various provisions in the proposed legislation, including establishing “additional requirements for maintaining accounts and records in alignment with the financial governance policy for statutory bodies and boards;” “granting the minister the authority to conduct special audits when deemed necessary and ensuring adherence to the Public Procurement Act, 2021, for the authority’s procurements;” and requiring the “authority to conduct an annual performance self-evaluation and provide guidance for the preparation of annual reports;” among others.

After the relatively short debate, House members entered a closed-door committee session to discuss the bill further.

They returned on Tuesday and passed the bill with amendments. The new version of the bill, which awaits the governor’s assent, has not yet been Gazetted.

Health Services

House members then turned to the BVI Health Services Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2024, with Mr. Wheatley explaining its objects and reasons.

“While the bill amends various sections of the BVI Health Services Authority Act of 2004, it also addresses significant areas, such as updating the definitions used throughout the legislation and removing outdated provisions where applicable,” Mr. Wheatley said, adding that the bill also aims to ensure “accountability through aligning the management structure with best practices in order to ensure that a hospital remains in a state of readiness to continuously achieve its accreditation status.”

The public segment of the debate also included opposition contributions from Messrs. Turnbull, Mather, Penn and Walwyn and government-side input from the premier, the deputy premier and Agriculture and Fisheries Junior Minister Dr. Karl Dawson.

The HOA then entered a closed-door committee session to discuss the bill further. The meeting was scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. yesterday.