When will Bill 22 pass...?

As a number of readers' have been searching for the topic 'When will Bill 22 pass'...

This past Tuesday - BC Education Minister George Abbott introduced Bill 22 (Education Improvement Act) and it received its' 1st Reading (no debate permitted) and a brief explanation of what the Bill will do, if adopted - read the details of the Bill for yourself here

This afternoon, George Abbott led off 2nd Reading debate of Bill 22 and spoke for over 1 hour on the merits of the bill and the NDP Education Robin Austin (Skeena) spoke for 1.5 hours against Bill 22.  Note - Minister Abbott/MLA Austin had up to 2 hours for debate as "designated speakers" with other MLA's getting 30 minutes.  Other MLA's who spoke at 2nd Reading on Bill 22 today include Dr. Moira Stilwell (Vancouver-Langara, BC Liberal) and Norm MacDonald (Columbia River-Revelstoke, BC NDP).   On 2nd Reading - MLA's debate the principles of Bill 22 and ask themselves - Is Bill 22 good public policy?

The BC Legislature will resume consideration of this Bill as early as Monday afternoon

Options available to BC Government to speed up adoption of Bill 22:

1) Motion of "That this question be now put" (Standing Order 46) - Chair (Speaker/Deputy Speaker) must be satisfied that the Motion is not contrary to the Standing Orders or infringes on the rights of the minority.  No notice of this motion is required to be given however this motion must be repeated for every stage of Bill 22

2) Motion of "That the House at its rising stand recessed for "xx" minutes and continue to sit thereafter until adjournment" - again, no notice is required and a majority vote is only required to adopt the motion and the motion is debatable/amendable.  The current BC Liberals' used this motion to speed up the adoption of Bill 12 (Teachers Collective Agreement Act) in 2005 which saw then Bill 12 introduced on Oct 3/2005 and the Bill receiving Royal Assent on Oct 7th after a overnight marathon session on debate of 2nd Reading of then Bill 12

3) Standing Order 81 (Advance bill twice or three times in one sitting) - BC Liberals may request the Speaker to permit the Government move a Bill through two or more legislative stages in one sitting.  This usually requires that a situation is 'most urgent' and the Speaker will hear from the government/opposition on the merits/mistake of invoking Standing Order 81 with the Speaker returning with his/her decision, after personal deliberation.  The last time I personally recall this option being used was in 2001 by the current BC Liberals to resolve the job action by health care professionals occurring at that time

4) Standing 81.1(2) (Time Allocation) - A Minister of the Crown (usually Gov't House Leader) rises in his/her place and advises that Government/Opposition can not agree on a schedule to deal with a Bill(s) and proposes to the House a schedule (motion) to allocate time for a certain Bill(s).  Notice of time allocation is not required and the motion is voted upon immediately without debate

At this point - the BC Liberals have not indicated that they intend to use the one of the four above options but the four options, as per above, could occur, especially if the NDP puts up all of the their remaining MLA's to speak on Bill 22 (32 NDP MLA's to go) plus the 2 Independents (Bob Simpson/Vicki Huntington).  Opposition MLA's or the 2 Independent MLA's may also offer either a "hoist motion" (That Bill 22 be not read a 2nd time now but in six months hence) or offer a "reasoned amendment"to 2nd Reading of Bill 22 (Bill 22 be not read a 2nd time because...).  If either of these "amendments" at 2nd Reading are accepted by the Chair - debate starts over on the amendment (84 MLA's speak to the amendment(s)), a vote occurs and if the amendment is defeated then debate on 2nd Reading resumes and the process moves to Committee Stage and then 3rd Reading/Adopt

If the NDP MLA's & the two Independent MLA's decide to "filibuster" Bill 22 by using all of its' parliamentary options at its' disposal and the BC Government does not use the previously outlined 4 Parliamentary tools it has at its' disposal to speed up adoption of Bill 22 - it potentially could takes weeks for the BC Legislature to adopt Bill 22 and become law

SBF