Well, things are coming down to the bump and the Govt led by Dr Portia Simpson-Miller, is getting it done!! Insolvency Bill now passed in Senate BY BALFORD HENRY Observer senior reporter balfordh@jamaicaobserver Saturday, October 18, 2014 THE Insolvency Bill passed safely through the Senate ending up with 143 amendments since the original Bill was tabled there last December by Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding. Golding had the honour of piloting it through the Senate, although the original Bill he had tabled had been withdrawn and replaced with a new one, which was tabled in the House of Representatives last month by Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Anthony Hylton. Hylton is responsible for the Bill, but it was originally tabled in the Senate by Golding, in a desperate, but successful effort to meet an International Monetary Fund Extended Fund Facility benchmark target ,which required that it be tabled before December 31. The original Bill spent nine months with a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament, which drilled so many holes into the proposed provisions, that the Government eventually decided to withdraw it and having Hylton table a brand new Bill in the House with 100 amendments. However, the amendments did not end with the passage of the new bill by the House of Representatives on October 7. On Thursday, the Senate added 43 more amendments before passing it. At the end of the process, Senator Golding, after struggling through the session while showing signs of suffering from symptoms of chikungunya, whispered that it has been his most challenging task so far. It is the most challenging piece of legislation I have had to deal with since being in this position, he said. Both Golding and Leader of Government Business Senator AJ Nicholson, commended Opposition Senator Dr Nigel Clarke for another of his comprehensive Bill reviews, as he gave a very detailed estimation of its highs and lows, which highlighted the debate. This followed similar commendation from Senator KD Knight on his presentation on the General Consumption Tax amendment Bill as being extremely honest. I want to thank you for your usual close reading of the Bill and for picking up some additional points which we had overlooked, Golding told Clarke, who had also been a member of the joint select committee which reviewed the bill for nine months. The Bill will now return to the House of Representatives for approval of the new amendments, after which it is expected to be given the Governor Generals assent and gazetted.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 11:24:32 +0000
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