Thorough investigation needed for bills not given governor’s assent
Opposition legislator Julian Fraser wants an investigation into the number of bills that were not granted assent by BVI governors after being passed in the House of Assembly.
A governor must ratify all bills passed in the HOA before they can come into effect.
Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, Fraser said: “A thorough investigation needs to be had or carried out in order to determine all those bills that have not been assented to, that we passed in this House.”
According to Premier Andrew Fahie, there are three bills put forward by his administration that are still awaiting assent from the governor.
He said there may be other bills that were left without assent from previous governments but he could not say with any degree of certainty.
Premier Fahie said he would endeavour to do additional research to determine how many more Acts remain without assent.
Meanwhile, the three known bills awaiting assent are the Cannabis Licensing Act, the amended Drug Prevention & Misuse Act, and the Disaster Management Act. These three bills have not found favour with either the immediate past governor, Augustus Jaspert and current governor, John Rankin.
One of the bills — the Disaster Management Act — was denied assent because amendments to the bill infringed on the governor’s constitutional responsibility, the Premier said.
Premier Fahie related that the other two bills were sent to the UK’s Foreign Secretary – a first in the territory’s history – after they were flagged for various concerns. Discussions remain ongoing on these issues.
According to the Premier, all the necessary legwork – legal and otherwise – was done before the bills were sent to the HOA and the bills were thoroughly vetted when they came up for debate.
And noting that the bills in question spanned two different attorneys general, Premier Fahie said: “All the green lights were given that they were not violating any constitutional powers nor were they violating any international regulations or anything at all.”
The Premier said if the House of Assembly is operating within the necessary legal parameters when passing bills but concerns remain about the frequency with which governors withhold their assent, then the House will need to address the issue.
Speaking in the House of Assembly yesterday, Fraser said: “A thorough investigation needs to be had or carried out in order to determine all those bills that have not been assented to, that we passed in this House.”
According to Premier Andrew Fahie, there are three bills put forward by his administration that are still awaiting assent from the governor.
He said there may be other bills that were left without assent from previous governments but he could not say with any degree of certainty.
Premier Fahie said he would endeavour to do additional research to determine how many more Acts remain without assent.
Meanwhile, the three known bills awaiting assent are the Cannabis Licensing Act, the amended Drug Prevention & Misuse Act, and the Disaster Management Act. These three bills have not found favour with either the immediate past governor, Augustus Jaspert and current governor, John Rankin.
One of the bills — the Disaster Management Act — was denied assent because amendments to the bill infringed on the governor’s constitutional responsibility, the Premier said.
Premier Fahie related that the other two bills were sent to the UK’s Foreign Secretary – a first in the territory’s history – after they were flagged for various concerns. Discussions remain ongoing on these issues.
According to the Premier, all the necessary legwork – legal and otherwise – was done before the bills were sent to the HOA and the bills were thoroughly vetted when they came up for debate.
And noting that the bills in question spanned two different attorneys general, Premier Fahie said: “All the green lights were given that they were not violating any constitutional powers nor were they violating any international regulations or anything at all.”
The Premier said if the House of Assembly is operating within the necessary legal parameters when passing bills but concerns remain about the frequency with which governors withhold their assent, then the House will need to address the issue.
