Progress of the Natural and Built Environment Bills – Reform Series
Parliament will consider the Natural and Built Environment (NBE) Bill and Spatial Planning (SP) Bill in the Committee of the whole House beginning today.
After being read a second time last week the NBE Bill and SP Bill have progressed to the Committee of the whole House and will start being debated in Parliament today.
The function of the Committee is to make amendments to the Bill. During this time Members of Parliament have the opportunity to use speeches to ask questions of the Minister for the Environment (the Minister) and table any Supplementary Order Papers (SOPs) as amendments for consideration.
Members of both the Opposition and Government can propose SOPs. Currently the ACT Party, the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Minister have proposed amendments available to view here.
The Minister’s SOP on the NBE Bill proposes substantial amendments to be debated during the Committee. A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) has been prepared by the Ministry for the Environment outlining policy reasons for the proposed amendments. Once the Department has released the RIS you can view it here.
Once the final form of the Bill is agreed it is reprinted to show any amendments to report back to the House. The Third Reading is usually set down for the next sitting day after the conclusion of the Committee of the whole House.
Seven days after the Third Reading the Bills can be given Royal Assent.
For more updates on the NBE and SP Bills and Resource Management reform you can click here.
Want to know more?
If you have any questions about the Reform Series please contact our specialist Environment Planning and Natural Resources Team
PDF version: here.