Terms of Reference Members of the Legislation Advisory Committee Letter of Transmittal
Terms of Reference
- (a) To provide advice to departments on the development of legislative proposals and on drafting instructions to the Parliamentary Counsel Office;
- (b) To report to the Minister of Justice and the Legislation Committee of Cabinet on the public law aspects of legislative proposals that the Minister or that committee refers to it;
- (c)To advise the Minister of Justice on any other topics and matters in the field of public law that the Minister from time to time refers to it;
- (d) To scrutinise and make submissions to the appropriate body or person on aspects of Bills introduced into Parliament that affect public law or raise public law issues;
- (e)To help improve the quality of law-making by attempting to ensure that legislation gives clear effect to government policy, ensuring that legislative proposals conform with the LAC Guidelines, and discouraging the promotion of unnecessary legislation;
- (f)To monitor the content of new legislation for compliance with the Official Information Act 1982 and the purposes and principles of that Act; and
- (g)To advise the Clerk of the House on any question referred to it by the Clerk of the House under section 9 of the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993.
Members who were involved in the preparation of this edition of the Guidelines:
Mr Richard Clarke, Chairperson, Barrister, Wellington The Hon Justice Baragwanath, President, Law Commission Professor F M Brookfield, Law Faculty, University of Auckland Mr J G Fogarty QC, Barrister, Christchurch Ms Ellen France, Deputy Solicitor-General Ms Janet McLean, Law Faculty, University of Auckland Professor Matthew S R Palmer, Victoria University of Wellington The Hon Justice Robertson, Judge of the High Court, Auckland Judge D F G Sheppard, Principal Environment Court Judge, Auckland Mr Wendell Slatter, Barrister, Wellington Mr George Tanner, Chief Parliamentary Counsel
Contact details
The Legislation Advisory Committee may be contacted at PO Box 180, Wellington, New Zealand. Telephone 04 494 9700, Fax: 04 494 9859, Email: lacsec@justice.govt.nz, Website: www.justice.govt.nz/lac/index.html
Letter of Transmittal
Mr Richard Clarke, Chairperson Mr J G Fogarty, QC Ms Ellen France, Deputy Solicitor-General Ms Janet McLean Professor Matthew S R Palmer The Hon Justice Robertson Judge D F G Sheppard Mr Wendell Slatter Mr George Tanner, Chief Parliamentary Counsel Martin Taylor, Secretary
May 2001
Hon Margaret Wilson Attorney General and Associate Minister of Justice Parliament Buildings WELLINGTON
Dear Minister
I am pleased to attach the 2001 edition of the LAC Guidelines.
The original Guidelines were issued by the Legislation Advisory Committee in 1987 and revised in 1991. They have now been further revised to take account of developments in the law and in the legislative process since that time.
The Guidelines have also been reformatted to make them suitable for publication on the Internet.
A large number of people (both within and outside government) have contributed to the preparation of this edition, and we are grateful to them for their advice and assistance.
Yours sincerely
Richard Clarke Chairperson