The Select Committee has recommended a large number of drafting and technical amendments which are well described in its report. This Bills Digest describes a legal issue and a constitutional issue arising from the Select Committee's recommendations.
Roles of others acknowledged
The Select Committee has recommended that the acknowledgement section be amended to be made more explicit so that it is acknowledged that important and valuable roles in the performance of the functions of the Police are played by "public agencies", "Maori wardens" and the "private security industry" (Part 2, Clause 10).
Comment
This clause does not alter or create law.
Confirmation procedure for regulations creating, amending or omitting Police powers
The Bill enables the Commissioner to appoint "police employees" who may be appointed on an "acting, temporary or casual basis or for any period that the Commissioner and the employee agree". The Bill also empowers the Commissioner of Police, by warrant, to authorise a Police employee (i.e. " "an authorised officer") to exercise certain powers of a constable under other enactments or to authorise the employee to perform one or more particular policing roles set out in Schedule 1 of this Bill.
Schedule 1 of the Bill sets out the powers available to the performers of certain policing roles. These roles are: "Police jailer and escort"; "Police guard"; "Police specialist crime investigator"; and "Police transport enforcement officer".
The Bill provides for the making of regulations (made by the Governor-General by Order in Council) to amend the powers set out in Schedule 1 or to add new powers to Schedule 1 or to omit powers in Schedule 1. Such regulations are normal regulations published in the normal manner (i.e. they are regulations for the purposes of the Regulations (Disallowance) Act 1989 and the Acts and Regulations Publication Act 1989).
The Select Committee has recommended that such regulations must be confirmed by Act of Parliament within a year or eighteen months of their making (i.e. if the regulations are made before 30 June, they must be confirmed by Parliament in the same year; if they are made after 30 June, the regulations must be confirmed by Parliament before the end of the next year). If the regulations are not so confirmed they expire. However the validity of any act undertaken pursuant to or in accordance with such regulations before they expire (Part 2, Subpart 3, amending Clause 27 of the Bill by inserting New subsection (3)).
Comment
This confirmation procedure is used generally for such things as the imposition of producer levies or the levels of benefits and pensions, matters that Parliament wishes to have say on each year. The amendment, creation or omission of certain Police powers by regulation is also considered to be a serious matter on which Parliament wishes to keep close control of through the recommended confirmation procedure.
