OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
(The following is a Press Statement issued by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly to address opinions published by the Samoa Observer’s Editorial Board on Friday, January 08th 2021 under the heading, “The irony and flaws of defending the L.T.C. laws.)
In response to the statements made by Hon Fiame Naomi Mataafa regarding the 3 Bills on the Samoa Observer newspaper dated 8 January 2021 (p.4), the Office of the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly wishes to clarify the process after any bill has been passed by the Legislative Assembly as per Standing Orders 110 & 111:-
1. Once a Bill has been passed in Parliament and in preparing that Bill for assent by the Head of State, amendments proposed by a Parliamentary Committee and approved by the Assembly during the Consideration in Detail (CID) and the Third Reading Stage, it shall be incorporated as part of the original bill as introduced in Parliament;
2. Where a Bill has been finalized with all its amendments approved in Parliament, it is presented to the Head of State for Assent. Amendments of formal nature may be made and clerical or typographical errors may be corrected in any parts of a Bill by the Clerk;
3. Once the Bill has been assented to by the Head of State, it becomes an Act of Parliament and the Office of the Clerk is responsible for publishing, and for the sale of Acts to the public.
The 3 Bills in discussion were passed in Parliament on 15th December 2020, and Printed Copies of the 3 Bills were presented and already being assented to by the Head of State.
Copies of the 3 Acts have been distributed to its mandatory parties as per Standing Orders 112, (i.e. Secretary of the Head of State, Attorney General, Registrar of the Supreme Court and the Minister responsible for administering these Legislations).
The 3 Acts of Parliament shall be made available for sale to the public at our Office in Mulinu’u next week and will be on our website shortly.
