Parliament votes to carry over bills
Published:Thursday | April 7, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
THE HOUSE of Representatives on Tuesday voted to carry over several of its business which were destined to fall off the Order Paper when Parliament prorogues on Monday.
Among the business to be carried over is the Special Prosecutors Bill, which got stuck in committee stage when the House had its last sitting on Tuesday.
"As much as I would like to avoid it, this is going to fall off. I hope that the work that we have done and those areas that we have been able to agree on will not perish," Prime Minister Bruce Golding said Tuesday evening.
Opposition member Dr Peter Phillips then urged the Government to move a carry-over motion to preserve the work of the committee. The Government took his advice and moved the motion, which was agreed to, paving the way for the committee to resume its consideration of the bill next parliamentary year.
The work of all other committees have been preserved, thus allowing them to resume at the stage they were before prorogation.
The new parliamentary year starts April 14.
In the case of the Special Prosecutors Bill, Prime Minister Golding has asked the chief parliamentary counsel to take a note of those issues that have been debated and to redraft the clauses consistent with agreements of the House committee.
"We have only been through 17 of 87 clauses ... hopefully, the clauses that will come up will not be quite as problematic as we go along," Golding said.
He told the committee that the failure of the Parliament to pass the bill will cost Jamaica, as "there is an urgency that attaches to this".
"It is going to affect certain drawndown that we had hoped to secure," he said.
The Special Prosecutors Bill, an anti-corruption tool of the Government, was introduced and passed in the Senate with 49 amendments and was sent to the House of Representatives.
However, the parliamentary opposition, citing potential areas of conflict, suggested that the House resolved itself into a committee to consider each clause. Despite a marathon sitting Tuesday, members were only able to complete six additional clauses in the bill. Eleven were discussed and agreed on before Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the carry-over motion agreed to in the House allows for the National Parenting Support Policy and the National Parenting Policy to be considered by the House without having to be retabled.
retabled
The motion also allows for the House to consider an act to amend the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act, as well as An Act to amend the Financial Administra-tion and Audit Act.
The report of the joint select committee which was set up to consider and report on the operation of the Access to Information Act will also be considered without being retabled.
Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives Andrew Holness described the parliamentary year 2010-2011 as "a very active one". He pointed to the passage of 36 bills, inclusive off all legislation having to do with fiscal responsibility.
"This year was a momentous year in terms of legislation to manage the economy," Holness said to applause from both sides of the House.