Powers of the Lieutenant Governor

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  • (a) The Lieutenant Governor may act on his own initiative or in response to complaints and may receive complaints, take action to obtain voluntary compliance with this chapter, refer cases to the Attorney General, and seek or provide remedies as provided in this chapter.

  • (b) The Lieutenant Governor may investigate and examine, in the Virgin Islands or elsewhere, by subpoena or otherwise, the activities, books, accounts, and records of a person that provides or offers to provide debt-management services, or a person to which a provider has delegated its obligations under an agreement or this chapter, to determine compliance with this chapter. Information that identifies individuals who have agreements with the provider may not be disclosed to the public. In connection with the investigation, the Lieutenant Governor may:

    • (1) charge the person the reasonable expenses necessarily incurred to conduct the examination;

    • (2) require or permit a person to file a statement under oath as to all the facts and circumstances of a matter to be investigated; and

    • (3) seek a court order authorizing seizure from a bank at which the person maintains a trust account required by section 422, any or all money, books, records, accounts, and other property of the provider that is in the control of the bank and relates to individuals who reside in the Virgin Islands.

  • (c) The Lieutenant Governor may adopt rules to implement the provisions of this chapter pursuant to title 3 V.I.C. 3, chapter 35.

  • (d) The Lieutenant Governor may enter into cooperative arrangements with any other federal or state agency having authority over providers and may exchange with any of those agencies information about a provider, including information obtained during an examination of the provider.

  • (e) The Lieutenant Governor, by rule, shall establish reasonable fees to be paid by providers for the expense of administering this chapter.

  • (f) The Lieutenant Governor, by rule, shall adopt dollar amounts instead of those specified in sections 402, 405, 409, 413, 423, 433, and 435 to reflect inflation, as measured by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers or, if that index is not available, another index adopted by rule by the Lieutenant Governor. The Lieutenant Governor shall adopt a base year and adjust the dollar amounts, effective on July 1 of each year, if the change in the index from the base year, as of December 31 of the preceding year, is at least 10 percent. The dollar amount must be rounded to the nearest $100, except that the amounts in section 423 must be rounded to the nearest dollar.

  • (g) The Lieutenant Governor shall notify registered providers of any change in dollar amounts made pursuant to subsection (f) and make that information available to the public.


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