23 Bills

It is important to understand how legislation is made. This knowledge will assist you in research tasks, such as:

• tracking proposed legislation prior to enactment;
• locating parliamentary documents needed in statutory interpretation;
• finding the source of ideas and debate on specific topics.

A proposed Act is called a Bill. Each Bill is debated and voted on (or “read”) by MPs in the House of Representatives on three occasions. The process is sometimes shorter if it is done under urgency in Parliament.

Although they all follow the same process to become an Act, Bills are labelled as one of the following:

• Government Bill – proposed legislation that furthers the Government’s legislative agenda. Often this is what the political party in government has campaigned on during an election cycle.
• Member’s Bill – proposed legislation from any Member of Parliament (MP) who is not a Government minister. Members’ Bills are a way in which:
  • opposition parties can propose law changes while in opposition;
  • any MP (whether in Government or opposition) can propose changes to legislation (often on controversial topics, such as the legislation on same-sex marriage or on assisted dying).
• Local Bill – proposed legislation related to a specific geographical area.
• Private Bill – proposed legislation to benefit a specific person or group; these are rare.

After being introduced into Parliament, an individual Bill is read and voted on three times before it can become an Act. At the Committee Stage (ie, between 2nd and 3rd readings) any MP can propose to amend or divide a Bill by lodging an Amendment Paper (AP; previously called a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP)), which details the proposed changes.

Each Bill, once it is introduced in Parliament, is given an individual Bill number^[1] and if changes are made to the Bill, a new version may be printed.

The Bill number is printed on the footer of the front page of the Bill and consists of two parts. The second part of the number is the bar number; it is separated from the first number by a long dash or bar and tells you which version of the Bill you are engaging with. The bar number may be a  –1, –2 or –3 .^[2] Note that Bills may be divided into two or more Bills at any stage.^[3]

Changes to Bills are detailed in Amendment Papers (APs).

The legislative process for a Bill to become an Act is:^[4]

1. Introduction, First Reading, debate and vote in the House of Representatives

→ If the Bill passes the First Reading, it is sent to a select committee for examination, submissions and improvements.

2. Second Reading, debate and vote in the House of Representatives. This includes a vote on any amendments to the Bill recommended by the select committee.

→ If the Bill passes the Second Reading, it is sent to the Committee of the whole House for consideration and debate.

3. Third Reading and vote in the House of Representatives

→ If the Bill passes the Third Reading, the Bill is then signed by the Sovereign’s representative in New Zealand, the Governor-General, and receives Royal Assent (enacted) and becomes an Act and is law.

The diagram below shows this process in further detail.

For in-depth, authoritative information about the legislative process, see Chapters 34–40 in Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand.^[5]