Government

Superior Court Denies Bryan's TRO Request to Block Law Changing Composition of Hospital Boards; Status Conference Set for Thursday

Superior Court Judge Sigrid M. Tejo on Tuesday denied Governor Albert Bryan's temporary restraining order motion, through which the governor sought to block the implementation of a law changing the composition of the V.I. Government Hospital and Health Facilities Corporation, to include the corporation's governing hospital boards for the St. Croix and St. Thomas-St. John Districts. The judge has set a Feb. 12 date for a status conference on the matter via Zoom, "for the purpose of scheduling an evidentiary hearing on the government's motion for preliminary injunction." The law in question came through Bill No. 33-0343, which subsequently became Act No. 8438 after 33rd Legislature senators overrode the governor's veto of the measure.  The bill, sponsored by Senators Kurt Vialet and Stedmann Hodge, Jr., and co-sponsored by Senate President Donna Frett-Gregory, is an Act amending V.I. Code to establish "minimum criteria for members of the Virgin Islands Government and Health Facilities...