Local legislators will be back in the parliamentary chamber on Wednesday, as the House gets set for the third meeting of the 2021-2022 session.
The meeting is set to begin at 10am.
The formal order paper for the meeting is yet to be released, however, an amendment to the Parliament Management Law has been gazetted and is expected to be among the bills considered at that meeting.
Through that amendment, government is seeking to introduce paid constituency assistants for Members of Parliament.
Under the proposed amendment, each elected Member of Parliament who is a minister will be entitled to two full-time constituency assistants and one part-time constituency assistant. Other elected Members of Parliament will be entitled to one full-time constituency assistant and one part-time constituency assistant.
The full-time constituency assistant, the amendment states, will be contracted to work between 37½ and 40 hours per week, while the part-time assistant will work for a proportion of those hours.
Constituency assistants will be contractors of the Parliament Commission.
Their salaries and benefits will be similar to those provided to public officers and will not be paid out of the constituency allowance that MPs receive, which covers the costs of utilities, supplies and general maintenance of a constituency office.
Currently, each elected MP receives a monthly constituency allowance of $5,000. In addition to this, the premier receives an executive allowance of $5,000, while the Leader of the Opposition receives an executive allowance of $3,500.
Financial Services Minister André Ebanks will also pilot an amendment to the Insurance Act and an amendment to Public Recorder (Amendment) Bill.
The Public Recorder (Amendment) Bill, 2022 aims to ease the financial burden on senior citizens. It proposes to allow persons 65 years and older to pay $50 to submit a deed poll to General Registry, rather than the $100 fee currently prescribed by law.
Deed polls, which are legal documents that formally request a change to a person’s name, are handled by General Registry.
Ebanks will also table the Auditors Oversight Authority’s annual report for 2021 and audited financial statements for the year end 31 Dec. 2021.
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How about they give Caymanians a break on stamp duty for homes ? That constituency allowance ( just an allowance) is more than most of us make working 40-50 hours a week. SMH.
The cost to the taxpayer of M.P’s salaries and allowances last year was $3.5 million – how much is it now?. Can we have a breakdown of their salary, allowances (apparently $60,000 pa.), plus the cost of a full time and a part time assistant?. Is there any control mechanism over the salary increases and perks they award themselves?. Do they really need two paid assistants?.