In her biweekly column, “State of the Territory,” former Sen. Janelle K. Sarauw delves deeper into issues of concern for V.I. residents.
In every state and territory, the governor holds the top executive seat, but the lieutenant governor’s role varies widely. In some states, the office is largely ceremonial, waiting in the wings should the governor resign or pass away. In others, lieutenant governors preside over state senates or champion a few select policy issues. But nowhere in the nation does the office carry the weight and reach that it does in the Virgin Islands.
Here, the lieutenant governor is far more than the second in command. Under Section 11a of the Revised Organic Act of 1954 and Title 3 of the Virgin Islands Code, the lieutenant governor is not only the constitutional successor to the governor but also an active executive officer with a sweeping portfolio of responsibilities. His office contains an array of divisions that touch nearly every aspect of life in the Virgin Islands: the Office of the Tax Assessor, the Office of the Tax Collector, the Division of Corporations and Trademarks, the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program, the Office of Notaries Public, the Division of Banking, Insurance and Financial Regulation, the Recorder of Deeds, the Passport Division, and the Virgin Islands State Health Insurance Assistance Program (VI SHIP), which serves as the territory’s Medicare resource. No other lieutenant governor in the United States commands this breadth of authority.
To appreciate how unusual this is, consider that in most states, the responsibilities housed in the Virgin Islands Lieutenant Governor’s Office are scattered across multiple departments. Insurance regulation is typically run by a state commissioner with an entire agency at their disposal. Corporate and trademark filings are handled by secretaries of state. Deeds and land records are maintained by county governments. Property taxes are assessed and collected by local treasurers. Medicare counseling is delivered by separate state health agencies. Yet in the Virgin Islands, all of these vital services converge under the lieutenant governor, making the reach of the office extraordinary.
The financial impact of this concentration of power is profound. After the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Office of the Lieutenant Governor is the second-highest revenue generator for the Government of the Virgin Islands. Every corporate charter, every insurance policy, every recorded deed, every property tax bill, and every Medicare counseling service administered through VI SHIP flows through this office. Most critically, our bonds, the very credit of the Virgin Islands, are backed by property taxes administered here. The lieutenant governor is therefore not only a regulator but also a financial gatekeeper whose performance directly impacts the territory’s creditworthiness and fiscal security.
This role is made even more significant given the history of the Virgin Islands. In colonized territories across the Caribbean, land ownership, disputes over property rights, and questions of who controls the soil have long been sources of struggle. The Virgin Islands is no different. From the plantation era through transfer to the United States, issues of land ownership and use have carried enormous social, political, and economic weight. By controlling the recording of deeds, the assessment of property, and the collection of taxes, the lieutenant governor sits at the center of these long-running questions of power, security, and development.
The office has also grown into a public-facing anchor of identity and service. Through the Passport Division, residents secure mobility as United States citizens. Through VI SHIP, seniors and families receive free counseling and information on Medicare benefits, costs, and related insurance options. These responsibilities are more than ceremonial. They are essential to the daily well-being of Virgin Islanders.
This unusual concentration of authority has its roots in history. As the Revised Organic Act was being debated in the 1950s, federal administrators and local leaders concluded that the Virgin Islands did not have the size or population to sustain the array of separate offices and agencies that existed in the states. Rather than create multiple bureaucracies, they consolidated essential functions under the lieutenant governor. The decision was partly practical, reducing costs and streamlining governance, and partly political, ensuring that an elected official directly accountable to the people oversaw the most critical economic levers of the territory.
Because of this, the Virgin Islands lieutenant governor is arguably the most unique lieutenant governor in American government. No counterpart in any of the fifty states wields this combination of regulatory power, fiscal responsibility, and social service oversight. In truth, the office is less like a traditional lieutenant governorship and more like a fusion of lieutenant governor, secretary of state, commissioner of insurance, tax assessor, recorder of deeds, and state health administrator.
This uniqueness comes with both opportunity and challenge. The opportunity is that the office, if managed with vision, can generate revenue, stabilize markets, safeguard property rights, ensure access to healthcare, and make the Virgin Islands an attractive place for investment. The challenge is that so much responsibility rests in a single office that mismanagement can undermine public confidence, disrupt commerce, and jeopardize fiscal stability.
In the end, the lieutenant governor of the Virgin Islands is not simply “second in command.” He is a central figure in the daily workings of government and the financial health of the territory, with a hand on the levers of land, commerce, insurance, revenue, and health. It is a role unmatched anywhere else in the United States. To underestimate the office is to misunderstand the very structure of Virgin Islands governance.
Editor’s Note: Opinion articles do not represent the views of the Virgin Islands Source newsroom and are the sole expressed opinion of the writer. Submissions can be made to visource@gmail.com.
Related Links:
Op-Ed: State of the Territory | The Executive Branch: Governing at the Front Lines
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