Bills
Introducing a bill
Once the policy content of a Bill has been agreed and the Bill has been drafted, approval must be sought via the Cabinet Legislation Committee (LEG) for the introduction of the Bill into the House. LEG will examine the Bill to ensure that its policy content has been approved by the appropriate Cabinet committee and that the relevant requirements of the Cabinet Manual and the CabGuide have been satisfied.
The structure of papers seeking to introduce a bill
Bill of Rights vetting
Section 7 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 requires the Attorney-General to bring to the attention of the House any provision in a bill that appears to be inconsistent with any of the rights and freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. In the case of government bills, this must occur upon the introduction of the bill. To support this function, the Ministry of Justice provides advice to the Attorney-General in relation to non-Justice bills, with the Crown Law Office advising the Attorney-General on Justice bills.
Sufficient time needs to be built into the government bill preparation process for adequate consideration of Bill of Rights issues by officials, the Attorney-General, and other Ministers where appropriate. The following process and timing requirements for bills going to LEG are designed to address this need.
All final versions of government bills must be with the Ministry of Justice (or with the Crown Law Office in the case of bills in the name of the Minister of Justice or an Associate Minister of Justice) at least two weeks in advance of the LEG meeting on that bill.
This allows the Ministry of Justice (or the Crown Law Office) sufficient time to vet the bill for consistency with the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and advise the Attorney-General accordingly. This also allows the Attorney-General to receive this advice at least a week in advance of the LEG meeting where that bill is considered. Although the formal requirement in terms of section 7 is for a Bill of Rights report, in practice the vetting of bills at this stage also deals with Human Rights Act issues.
If the final version of a government bill is not with the Ministry of Justice (or the Crown Law Office) at least two weeks in advance of the LEG meeting, the Minister sponsoring the bill should defer submission of the bill to LEG.
In exceptional cases, a Minister who wishes to have a bill considered by LEG despite the fact that the bill is not with the Ministry of Justice (or the Crown Law Office) at least two weeks in advance of LEG's meeting, needs to seek the agreement of the Chair of LEG, via the Cabinet Office, to such a "late bill" being included on the Committee's agenda. The Cabinet Office, on behalf of the Chair of LEG, will seek the Attorney-General's advice on whether s/he has adequate time to consider the Bill of Rights advice on the bill for it to be included on the LEG agenda. Where the Attorney-General does not have adequate time, the Chair of LEG, in consultation with the Attorney-General and the Minister sponsoring the bill, will consider whether any special arrangements should be made to allow prompt consideration of the bill, or whether the bill should be deferred to the next LEG meeting.
These requirements also apply if for some reason a Cabinet committee other than LEG is considering the bill.
