The passage of a dozen bills before the Legislative Assembly will go down to the wire Monday when lawmakers meet for the final time in the House prior to the general election.
Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor will dissolve parliament on Tuesday, leaving Monday the last day legislative business can be finalised.
The five-member interim government had hoped to finish all business before the Legislative Assembly on Friday, but those plans proved overly ambitious when the majority of members voted to end the day’s legislative meeting at 4.30pm.
This means that the government has just one more day – Monday, 25 March – to pass the 12 bills that remain before the House.
“Anything that is not finished by 26 March falls away,” said Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin, after the meeting was adjourned Friday.
According to Standing Orders – the rules of the Legislative Assembly – members must vote on whether to continue business past 4.30pm. When the routine motion to continue business past that time came up Friday, eight opposition members voted against it.
Despite all the business on its order paper, Friday was a short day in the Legislative Assembly, notwithstanding its abrupt end. The meeting, which was scheduled to start at 10am, began after 12pm, broke for lunch after about an hour, and then resumed after 3pm.
Legislators were in the middle of debating the second reading of the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill when the House adjourned.
Two bills, amending the immigration and elections laws, still have not reached the second reading stage.
Debates on bills occur during the second reading stage. The next step for bills following the second reading – which nine others have completed – is the committee stage, in which any amendments to the relevant bills are made. This is followed by a formal and final third reading.
Asked if it was likely that all the remaining House business could be completed Monday, Mr. Anglin responded: “You might be surprised.”
He said he anticipated that the remaining debate on the Mental Health Bill would be short, but he expects some debate on the proposed amendments to the Immigration Law.
That bill seeks to amend the Immigration law to restrict employment of non-Caymanians to certain jobs. No copy of that bill had been published in the official government gazette nor had it been posted to the pending bills section of the Legislative Assembly website by Friday evening, despite a constitutional rule which stipulates that all bills should be published 21 days before the start of the Legislative Assembly meeting during which they were introduced. This rule can be suspended “in a case of emergency”, according to the constitution.
The last remaining bill that requires a second reading is the Elections (Amendment) Bill 2013. It deals with amending a schedule within the law to increase the number of candidates in Bodden Town and George Town to four and six, from the existing number of three and four, respectively, in accordance with the 2009 constitution, which states that the number of elected representatives in the Legislative Assembly will increase from 15 to 18. The principal law on this issue was passed in December and this bill deals with incidental and connected issues, such as forms related to the election.
The remaining bills before the House have already been given second readings but, along with the other three, will be required to go through committee stage and a third reading before being passed into law.
Although the Legislative Assembly will be dissolved Wednesday, the five former United Democratic Party members who make up the interim government will continue to serve as Cayman’s government and Cabinet for up to seven days following the general elections in May until the governor swears in a new Cabinet.
Related Videos
