Bills
Introduction of Bills
Form of Bills
- Bills shall be presented to the House by a Minister, a Chairperson of a Committee or by a member.
- All Bills shall bear at the head, a short title and a long title describing the leading provisions of the Bill.
- To each clause in the Bill, there shall be an annex in the margin, or at the top, a short indication of its contents for ease of reference.
- The provision of every Bill shall be prefaced by the words of enactment, which words shall extend to all the clauses of the Bill.
- Where a Bill contains more than one (1) enactment, it shall be divided into clauses and if a clause contains more than one (1) enactment, it shall be divided into sub-clauses numbered consecutively.
Subject matter of a Bill
- Matters with no proper relation to each other shall not be provided for in the same Bill.
- No Bill shall contain anything that is foreign to its long title.
Urgent Bills
Where the House determines that a Bill is of an urgent nature, the House, not withstanding anything contained in these regulations, may take the Bill through all or the remaining stages in one (1) day with a special resolution.
Bills to be distributed to members
- The Minister, Chairperson or a member in charge of a Bill shall deliver to the Clerk a sufficient number of copies for distribution to the members.
- On receipt of the copies under sub-Regulation (1), the Clerk shall immediately dispatch a copy to every member.
- Where a Bill seeks to amend an existing Act, the text of the relevant part to be amended shall be copied and supplied together with the Bill.
- In case of a Private Member’s Bill, the Clerk shall ensure that the Bill is printed and distributed to members.
Private Member’s Bill
- Every member has a right to move a Private Member’s Bill.
- Prior to a Private Member’s Bill being tabled before the House, a member seeking to move the Bill, with the assistance of the Clerk, shall ensure that the Bill is referred to the appropriate Committee for its opinion as to whether the Bill deals with an important issue of public interest.
- Should the Committee advise the House that the Bill deals with an important issue of public interest, the member may be allowed to table the Bill, which shall then follow the normal procedure in the House.
- Should the Committee reject the Bill, the member shall be informed in writing within two (2) weeks.
Bills from Committees
- Every Committee of the Assembly shall have a right to move a Bill in the House.
- Bills originating from Committees shall be treated as Private Members’ Bills and shall be subject to the requirements outlined in Regulation 98.
Financial Bills
- No member of the Assembly shall introduce any financial Bill or move an amendment to a Bill the object of which is to abolish, increase or impose any charge upon public revenue or reserve without the prior consent of the Council of Ministers.
- The Minister of Finance on the authority of the Council of Ministers shall issue a certificate that a proposed Bill or an amendment has such object or effect and such certification shall be conclusive.
Bills affecting private rights
- Wherever it appears to the Speaker that a Bill may create new duties or liabilities or may affect the private rights or interests of any particular person or group of persons, the Speaker shall, after the first reading, inform the person or group of persons of that fact, and indicate to which Committee the Bill has been referred, to enable the person or group of persons to present or defend his/her or their interests before the Committee.
- Whenever any person affected by a Bill desires to be heard before a Committee, he/she shall notify the Clerk of such desire and the Clerk shall inform the Committee and the Committee shall be obliged to hear such person.
Stages of Bills in the Assembly
Bills to be read in four stages
All Bills tabled before the Assembly shall be read in four (4) stages prior to being passed.
- First reading of a Bill
- Referring a Bill to a Committee
- Public hearings
- Second reading of a Bill
- Bill may be referred to a select Committee
- Select Committee reports and questions on second reading
- Committee of the whole House
- Third reading of a Bill
- Final reading of a Bill
Assenting to a Bill by the President
- When a Bill has been passed by the Assembly, the Clerk shall prepare an engrossed copy, which shall be endorsed by the Speaker, for submission to the President for his/her assent.
- When the President assents to a Bill, the assented copy shall be sent to the Clerk, who shall send it to the Minister of Justice to gazette and the President’s assenting shall be communicated to the Assembly by the Speaker.
Bills not assented to by the President
- Any Bill approved by the Assembly shall not become law unless the President assents to it and signs it into law. If the President withholds assent for thirty (30) days without giving reasons, the Bill shall be deemed to have been so signed.
- Should the President withhold assent to the Bill and give reasons within the aforementioned thirty (30) days, the Bill shall be re-introduced to the Assembly to consider the observations of the President.
- The Bill shall become law if the Assembly again passes it by a two thirds (2/3) majority of all its members, and the assent of the President shall not be required by that Bill to come into force.
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