Government

Senate to Take Up Bryan's 60-Day State of Emergency Extension Request Today

The 33rd Legislature during a Committee of the Whole hearing today will take up Governor Albert Bryan's request for a 60-day state of emergency extension, which the governor said is needed as his administration continues to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. The current state of emergency declaration expires today. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported that as of August 3, 2020, the Coronavirus Disease, the sever acute respiratory illness that can spread among humans through respiratory transmission and presents itself with symptoms similar to those of influenza, has sickened more than 4,649,102 people and killed over 154,471 in the U.S. alone,” Mr. Bryan wrote in a transmittal letter to Senate President Novelle Francis last week. V.I. law allows only for a 30-day extension, but Mr. Bryan has asked the Senate to suspend the portion of the law that limits the extension to 30 days — Title 23 of the V.I. Code — contending that the virus is unpredictable and is exp...