Senate (Bermuda)

Senate of Bermuda
Senate of Bermuda

Bermuda coat of arms	Senate building
Basic data
Seat:	Hamilton , Bermuda
First session:	August 1, 1620 (June 2, 1968 as a modern two-chamber system)
MPs:	11
Current legislative period
Chair:	Joan Dillas-Wright
Distribution of seats:	PLP 5 OBA 3 Independent 3
Website
parliament.bm

The Senate of Bermuda (Senate of Bermuda) is the upper house of the Parliament of Bermuda , which in the two-chamber system of modeled British Westminster system is based.

The Senate consists of eleven members, all of whom are appointed by the governor . Five of them on the proposal of the Prime Minister , three on the proposal of opposition leader (Leader of the Opposition) and three more due to an own law of the governor, which are thus quasi politically independent. The members of the lower house , the House of Assembly , are elected in general elections.

The current Senate President is Carol AM Bassett .

history

The framework of the administration of Bermuda was formed by the Somers Isles Company as early as 1620 and expanded under British control from 1684. This lasted until 1968, before it was changed due to the Constitutional Conference held in London in 1966 . The only significant change up to then was the replacement of the Governor's Council in 1888 by two newly created bodies: an Executive Council and a Legislative Council . The Cabinet emerged from the Executive Council in 1973, while the name of the Legislative Council was changed to Senate in 1980.

As a result of these 1888 changes, the executive branch consisted of the governor and the executive board, which was composed of senior administrators and five or six representatives from the House of Assembly. All members of the Executive Board were appointed by the governor. The amendment in 1888 made the legislature a bicameral system, so that from then on the parliament consisted of the House of Assembly as the lower house and the Legislative Council as the upper house. The Legislative Council at that time also consisted of administrators and other members, all of whom were also appointed by the governor.

After the necessary laws were passed, the Executive Council was renamed Cabinet in 1973, before the Legislative Council was renamed Senate after the second Bermuda Constitutional Conference in 1979 in Warwick Camp . In 1980 the House of Lords met for the first time under the new name. Jennifer M. Smith , who became the Progressive Labor Party's first female Prime Minister between November 1998 and July 2003 , was the first person to be appointed to the Senate in 1980. Marjorie Bean was the first and only woman to serve on the Legislative Council.

Presidents of the Legislative Council and Senate

Administration of the Senate

The President of the Senate chairs the Senate, making him President of the Upper House of Parliament. The President of the Senate chairs the meetings in the context of the agenda (Business Papers / Order Papers) and the debates on the legislative process. He also initiates the answering of the question time based on oral or written questions (Parliamentary Questions) . This also applies to inquiries about government statements (Ministerial Statements) . In doing so, he pays particular attention to compliance with the Senate Standing Orders .

The Senate President is supported in his work by the Head of the Senate Administration (Clerk to the Senate) , who is also the Deputy Head of the Parliament Administration (Deputy Clerk to the Legislature) . The current Clerk of the Senate is Clark Somner.

List of Presidents of the Legislative Council and Senate

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
President of the Legislative Council	1888	1980
Josiah Rees	1888	1899
S. Brownlow Gray	1900	1904
HC Gollan	1904	1911
PMC Sheriff	1912	1917
C. Rees-Davies	1917	1923
KJ Beatty	1924	1927
SO Rowan Hamilton	1927	1939
RC Hollis Hallett	1939	1941
CG Brooke Francis	1941	1952
J. Trounsell Gilbert	1952	1958
Newnhan A. Worley	1958	1960
Allen C. Smith	1960	1961
Myles John Abbott	1961	1968
George O. Ratteray	1969	1980
President of the Senate	1980	today
Hugh E. Richardson	1980	1987
Albert S. Jackson	1987	1998
Alfred T. Oughton	1998	2008
Carol AM Bassett	2008	officiating

Work of the senate

Legislative process

Most bills go through both houses of parliament, with bills first being presented to the House of Assembly. There are four types of bill in the House of Assembly. The public bills are presented to the government by the minister responsible. Furthermore, draft laws can be submitted by the opposition (opposition bills) as well as by a single MP as so-called private member's bills . Finally, there is the so-called Private Bills that come from an organization or group of individuals and a backbencher (Backbencher) be submitted to the House of Assembly. This backbencher is in most cases a member of the majority party, but not a minister.

The legal advice takes place in five parts:

• First Reading (First Reading) : Formal presentation of the bill
• Second reading (Second Reading) : General policy debate in the House
• Detailed discussion and additional applications in technical committees (Committee)
• Report on additional requests from the specialist committees and the possibility of introducing other additions
• Third reading (Third Reading) : Final debate on the entire bill with amendments

After the legislative consultation in the House of Assembly has been completed, the speaker signs a bill and then presents it to the Senate. There, the bill is discussed in the same way. After a bill has been debated in both Houses, it is submitted to the offices of the Prime Minister and Attorney General for consideration before finally being presented to the Governor for signature and approval.

Committees

The Senate has essentially no committees of its own, but only sends representatives to the following Joint Committees of the Legislature :

• Register of Members' Interest Committee : This committee also reviews the personal interests of the members of parliament, including with regard to possible influence on the legislative process. The area of ​​responsibility also includes the submission of the respective declaration of honor and interest of the members of the parliament. The chairman of the committee is Dennis P. Lister
• Joint Select Committee on Private Bills : Chair Suzzan Roberts-Holshouser

Expense allowance

Senators will receive an annual allowance of BD $ 30,367 . The Senate President is entitled to an increased allowance of BD $ 45,548, as is the Senate Vice President, who receives an annual allowance of BD $ 33,675.

Web links

• Homepage of the Parliament of Bermuda

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The President of the Legislative Council was between 1888 and 1968 in personal union President of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice)
2. ↑ Register of Members' Interest ( Memento of the original from January 29, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the homepage of the Parliament of Bermuda