BILL NO. 69

(as introduced)

3rd Session, 62nd General Assembly
Nova Scotia
65 Elizabeth II, 2016

Private Member's Bill

House of Assembly Act
(amended)

The Honourable Denise Peterson-Rafuse
Chester–St. Margaret's

First Reading: November 9, 2016

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading:

Third Reading:

This Bill

(a) requires the Government to provide a response to a petition filed with the Clerk of the House of Assembly or presented in the House; and

(b) provides for the use of electronic petitions.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Chapter 1 (1992 Supplement) of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the House of Assembly Act, is amended by adding immediately after Section 32A the following Sections:

32B (1) A petition may be filed with the Clerk of the House or presented in the House in accordance with this Section, Section 32C and any rules established under Section 32.

(2) A petition filed or presented under subsection (1) must forthwith be transmitted to the Executive Council Office and a member of the Executive Council shall respond to the petition within forty-five days of the petition being filed or presented.

(3) A response to a petition may be given orally in the House or in a written statement tabled in the House if the House is then sitting or, where the House is not then sitting, filed with the Clerk.

(4) Where a petition remains without a response at the expiration of the forty-five day period, the matter of the failure to respond is deemed to be referred to the Standing Committee on Assembly Matters or such other committee of the House as the House may determine.

(5) Within five sitting days of a deemed referral under subsection (3), the chair of the committee shall convene a meeting of the committee to consider the matter of the failure to respond.

32C (1) The House shall establish a means by which electronic petitions may be published and electronic signatures collected on the website of the House.

(2) An electronic petition must be submitted to the Clerk before being published on the website of the House and may not be published unless the Clerk has reviewed it and approved it as to form and content.

(3) In order to be published on the website of the House, an electronic petition must

(a) be addressed to the House, the Government of the Province, a member of the Executive Council or a member of the House;

(b) contain a clear, proper and respectful prayer, which may call for the expenditure of public funds;

(c) not exceed two hundred and fifty words;

(d) be sponsored by a member of the House;

(e) not concern a matter in which one or more of the heads of relief sought are currently the subject of litigation before a court in Canada;

(f) contain no web addresses (universal resource locators) or other links or web-based references;

(g) be submitted by a petitioner who has no other electronic petition open for signature on the website of the House; and

(h) not be so similar as to be substantially the same as an electronic petition already open for signature.

(4) Once published, an electronic petition remains open for signature for one hundred and twenty days.

(5) An electronic petition may not be filed with the Clerk or presented in the House unless the Clerk has certified that the electronic petition contains at least five hundred distinct electronic signatures.