Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/533

 68

STAT.]

501

PUBLIC LAW 5 1 7 - J U L Y 22, 1954

interest. All such bonds issued by the government of the Virgin Islands or by its authority shall be exempt as to principal and interest from taxation by the Government of the United States, or by the government of the Virgin Islands, or by any State, Territory, or possession or by any political subdivision of any State, Territory or possession, or by the District of Columbia. Sucn bonds shall under no circumstances constitute a general obligation of the Virgin Islands or of the United States. The legislature shall have no power to incur any indebtedness which may be a general obligation of said government. (c) The laws of the United States applicable to the Virgin Islands on the date of approval of this Act, including laws made applicable to the Virgin Islands by or pursuant to the provisions of the Act of June 22, 1936 (49 Stat. 1807), and all local laws and ordinances in force in the Virgin Islands, or any part thereof, on the date of approval of this Act shall, to the extent they are not inconsistent with this Act, continue in force and effect until otherwise provided by the Congress: Provided, That the legislature shall have power, when within its jurisdiction and not inconsistent with the other provisions of this Act, ito amend, alter, modify, or repeal any local law or ordinance, public or private, civil or criminal, continued in force and effect by this Act, except as herein otherwise provided, and to enact new laws not inconsistent with any law of the United States applicable to the Virgin Islands, subject to the power of Congress to annul any such Act of the legislature. (d) The President of the United States shall appoint a commission of seven persons, at least three of whom shall be residents of the Virgin Islands, to survey the field of P'ederal statutes and to make recommendations to the Congress within twelve months after the date of approval of this Act as to which statutes of the United States not applicable to the Virgin Islands on such date should be made applicable to the Virgin Islands, and as to which statutes of the United States applicable to the Virgin Islands on such date should be declared inapplicable. The members of the commission shall receive no salary for their service on the commission, but under regulations and in amounts prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, they may be paid, out of Federal funds, reasonable per diem fees, and allowances in lieu of subsistence expenses, for attendance at meetings of the commission, and for time spent on official business of the commission, and their necessary travel expenses to and from meetings or when upon such official business, without regard to the Travel Expense Act of 1949. (e) The Secretary of the Interior shall arrange for the preparation, at Federal expense, of a code of laws of the Virgin Islands, to be entitled the "Virgin Islands Code", which shall be a consolidation, codification and revision of the local laws and ordinances in force in the Virgin Islands. When prepared, the Governor shall submit it, together with his recommendations, to the legislature for enactment. Upon the enactment of the Virgin Islands Code it and any supplements to it shall be printed, at Federal expense, by the Government Printing Office as a public document. SEC. 9. (a) The quorum of the legislature shall consist of seven of its members. No bill shall become a law unless it shall have been passed at a meeting, 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. (b) The enacting clause of all acts shall be as follows: "Be it enacted by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands".

T a x exenption.

Applicability o f U. S. statutes.

48 USC 1406in.

1405-

Local laws, e t c.

Commission to survey statutes.

63 Stat. 166. 5 USC 835 note. V i r g i n Islands eode.

Legislative quo-' mm.

Enacting c l a u s e.

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