Senators express concern over frequent validation bills

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

JUSTICE MINISTER Mark Golding says Parliament should prepare itself to consider more bills seeking to validate actions done in good faith by state agencies, but for which there is no legal framework allowing such actions.

The minister made the remarks yesterday while closing the debate on a bill to amend the Pension Superannuation Fund Act in the Senate.

Yesterday, senators expressed disquiet about the frequency with which they have been called upon to validate bills.

Opposition Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte wondered aloud whether there would come a time when the State would have to repay money because of the absence of legislation giving authority for certain actions.

"It appears to me that we come here week after week and sometimes we get caught up in the routine without taking the care that is required to make sure that we do right for the people who sent us here to pass laws for peace, order, and good governance," Malahoo Forte said.

Lambert Brown, a government senator, and Kavan Gayle, an opposition senator, also raised concerns about the frequency of validation bills being brought to the Parliament.

"I believe there must be some system of validating the advice of those who interpret the laws before Government has to come to Parliament to validate the errors that have been made," Gayle said.

The validation, which was given by the Parliament, comes after the Financial Services Commission (FSC) purported to, in good faith, collect licence fees from investment managers, even though it is unclear whether they have such power under the law. The actions of the FSC date back to March 2005.

CLEARING UP AMBIGUITIES

Golding noted that the pension amendment is being brought because certain provisions were thought to be ambiguous.

"Hopefully, we will avoid, in the future - by the greater care and attention that we are all trying to bring to this process of legislating - some of the errors of the past that we are trying to correct," Golding said.

"I can give you no assurance that there are no errors from the past that will surface. I am aware that there are some, so there is more to come. Hopefully, going forward, we are not creating more errors. … We are performing our duties as legislators at a higher standard for the benefit of the country as a whole," he added.