Bills and legislation Flashcards
Where do bills come from?
Government Parties Manifesto Cabinet Mp’s Government Departments Coalition Parties Law Commission Ministry of Justice - law reform division Commissions of Inquiry Individuals/companies/unions
How does a bill get into Parliament?
Get Government Support - Parliament controls the legislature, policy making advice, and drafting support.
Who controls the legislative agenda?
Parliament, (Lecturer said Government, not sure if same thing)
In theory, if you were an MP, what steps must be undertaken to get a bill into Parliament.
(Four Steps)
Firstly, you must convince your party that there is a problem, and that introducing legislature would help solve that problem.
Secondly, you would need to convince minority parties that your bill is a good idea, to get support for it to pass in the house.
Thirdly, you would have to convince the Cabinet Legislation Comittee to put your bill into its legislative program. This will allow the bill to be prioritised over the hundreds of other bills attempting to get into parliament. However, not everything the commitee puts on its agenda makes it into parliament.
Fourthly, the bill must be drafted. i.e; made into the form of law. The Parliamentary Councils office is usually responsible for drafting bills.
When drafting law, what must the drafters consider?
The drafters must consider if the law is consistent with other laws, they must consider obligations at international law, is it consistent with the treaty of waitangi, and finnaly is it consistent with the bill of rights act.
After the bill is drafted, who checks it, and why?
After the bill is drafted it is circulated through the executive. They will check the bill for glitches and oversights.
Who is the Legislation Advisory Commitee?
The commitee contains experts, lawyers, law experts, judges, senior practictioners.
What does the Leglsiation Advisory Commitee do?
They will check that the bill is well written, that it’s principled, that it complies with the relevant constitutional acts. (Bill of rights, the treaty.)
They will also check that it does what it is supposed to do, that there is a need for it, and anyones rights who are effected by the act are sufficently protected.
What happens during the first reading?
Debate of up to two hours, however, if the bill is not contentious then there may be no debate at all. There is then a vote deciding if the bill will move onto the second reading.
What is a select commitee?
There are 19 select commitees who consider the bill for their respective different specalities. However, if the bill is passed under urgency or is a government spending bill the select commitee stage can be skipped.
Select commitees receive submissions from the public and then report their findings back to the public.
Who makes up the select commitee?
The select committees are MPs, divided up with members from all political parties in rough proportion to their representation in the house.
Ministers do not sit on select commitees.
What happens during the second reading?
This is the main debate on the bill. The debate is about the principles and the policy of the bill, normally at a fairly high level and doesnt get into the nuts and bolts.
Committee of the whole house reads the bill clause by clause or part by part consideration of the bill.
They Look at the whole thing from the ground up, every part. Amendments can be moved, debated and voted on. Government can bypass acting under urgency.
What are some advantages of the select committees?
Often bipartisan, will get together with the aim of improving legislation. Public input Expert Input Can Improve Bills Limited Cabinet Influence Allows Specialization
What are some disadvantages of the select committees?
Select Committees can be skipped
Poorly Resourced - No large independent budget.
Time constraints
Can ignore public and expert input (foreshore and seabed act)
Usually meet in wellington, must have to travel to wellington.
Limited Ministerial expertise
Can only recommend , has no real power.
Ultimately Political
Occasional splits
Low Status Work - No real power.
When a bill is “Passed under urgency” how is it different to normal bills?
Bills that are passed under urgency can be passed as little as one day through Parliament. This is different to normal bills as typically they cannot go through more than one step of the legislative process in one day.
Bills under urgency do not have to go to select commitees.
Normally a bill has to wait for a number of days after it is introduced before it can have its first reading in the House. However, when a bill is dealt with under urgency, it can bypass this waiting period.
