Big week!
The House went into urgency this week, which means that they sit extended hours, and keep going until whatever legislation is in the urgency motion gets done. Normally, the House sits Tues-Thurs. From 2pm to 10pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 2pm to 6pm on Thursday. During urgency, it sits from 9am until midnight. Usually, they still like to suspend sitting by 6pm on Thursday. (Although I have seen them go into urgency and sit through the weekend.)
So, naturally, since my role includes being a shepherd for legislation going through the House, it is an exhausting time. Emotionally and physically. The latter because, hello, long hours. The former because, first, you're always jockeying to get your Bill on the urgency motion. And second you're always jockeying to keep it high up enough on the list and then to make sure they're getting through whatever is ahead of you so that your legislation actually gets through.
For me this week, my Bill was number 11 on the motion, which is quite far down. Worse yet, it is the most agreeable and therefore least sexy piece of legislation anyone has ever encountered. It involves the cross border sharing of information. Literally, it's a great idea for everybody, but nobody cares. This Bill has been on the legislation programme for about 9 years and never gone anywhere. This was the third urgency motion my Bill has been in, and the first two we didn't make it high enough on the motion to get enacted.
So this week has been an emotional roller coaster! It's hard to explain the House to people who don't live and die by the House. But to sum up, we were doing well on Tuesday and then the opposition party filibustered on a Bill that was number 3 on the list, which meant that the consideration of my Bill became less and less likely. And then for the next two days I just watched the House and wrung my hands. On one debate, they would take less than expected because of shorter speeches. Huzzah! We have a chance! The very next debate, it would run long and I would be faced again with the prospect that, yet again, my Bill would not make it.
In the end, there was a lot of really creative maneuvering with the Standing Orders of the House and we got it done. In case you're wondering, which you're probably not, we found an obscure Standing Order that let us do away with the Committee of the Whole* stage, and then they severely truncated third reading. Bottom line, that bitch is enacted and I could not feel better. Now, on to the next thing.
You know, it's amazing how something that feels so exciting at the time can become so boring when you write it down.
*In case anyone actually cares about the Westminster system, as applied in New Zealand:
Once a Bill is introduced into the House, it receives a first reading. This is Parliament's opportunity to decide if the legislation is worthy enough to send to a select committee for further consideration.
If so, the Bill goes to select committee where a smaller group of members of Parliament scrutinise it and delve into every provision and see if they'll work. They often end up recommending amendments and then submit a report to the House.
Once reported back, a Bill receives a second reading, which is where Parliament decides whether or not to accept the recommended amendments of the select committee.
After second reading, a Bill goes to Committee of the Whole House, which is where members of Parliament who were not on the select committee can debate the bill and put forth their own amendments. (In our case, there were no amendments and there was cross-party agreement to the Bill, so we used a Standing Order to skip that stage.)
After Committee of the Whole House, the Bill is reported back to the Speaker (either with or without amendments, depending on what happened in Committee). Then a Bill receives a third and final reading where Parliament either accepts or does not accept the Bill as amended (if applicable) and agrees (or not) to passing the law.
If a Bill survives third reading, it is enacted. Once it receives the Royal assent (the equivalent to the President's signature in the US), it becomes law.
You know, I feel like there should be a cartoon to explain this...
So, naturally, since my role includes being a shepherd for legislation going through the House, it is an exhausting time. Emotionally and physically. The latter because, hello, long hours. The former because, first, you're always jockeying to get your Bill on the urgency motion. And second you're always jockeying to keep it high up enough on the list and then to make sure they're getting through whatever is ahead of you so that your legislation actually gets through.
For me this week, my Bill was number 11 on the motion, which is quite far down. Worse yet, it is the most agreeable and therefore least sexy piece of legislation anyone has ever encountered. It involves the cross border sharing of information. Literally, it's a great idea for everybody, but nobody cares. This Bill has been on the legislation programme for about 9 years and never gone anywhere. This was the third urgency motion my Bill has been in, and the first two we didn't make it high enough on the motion to get enacted.
So this week has been an emotional roller coaster! It's hard to explain the House to people who don't live and die by the House. But to sum up, we were doing well on Tuesday and then the opposition party filibustered on a Bill that was number 3 on the list, which meant that the consideration of my Bill became less and less likely. And then for the next two days I just watched the House and wrung my hands. On one debate, they would take less than expected because of shorter speeches. Huzzah! We have a chance! The very next debate, it would run long and I would be faced again with the prospect that, yet again, my Bill would not make it.
In the end, there was a lot of really creative maneuvering with the Standing Orders of the House and we got it done. In case you're wondering, which you're probably not, we found an obscure Standing Order that let us do away with the Committee of the Whole* stage, and then they severely truncated third reading. Bottom line, that bitch is enacted and I could not feel better. Now, on to the next thing.
You know, it's amazing how something that feels so exciting at the time can become so boring when you write it down.
*In case anyone actually cares about the Westminster system, as applied in New Zealand:
Once a Bill is introduced into the House, it receives a first reading. This is Parliament's opportunity to decide if the legislation is worthy enough to send to a select committee for further consideration.
If so, the Bill goes to select committee where a smaller group of members of Parliament scrutinise it and delve into every provision and see if they'll work. They often end up recommending amendments and then submit a report to the House.
Once reported back, a Bill receives a second reading, which is where Parliament decides whether or not to accept the recommended amendments of the select committee.
After second reading, a Bill goes to Committee of the Whole House, which is where members of Parliament who were not on the select committee can debate the bill and put forth their own amendments. (In our case, there were no amendments and there was cross-party agreement to the Bill, so we used a Standing Order to skip that stage.)
After Committee of the Whole House, the Bill is reported back to the Speaker (either with or without amendments, depending on what happened in Committee). Then a Bill receives a third and final reading where Parliament either accepts or does not accept the Bill as amended (if applicable) and agrees (or not) to passing the law.
If a Bill survives third reading, it is enacted. Once it receives the Royal assent (the equivalent to the President's signature in the US), it becomes law.
You know, I feel like there should be a cartoon to explain this...