Legislation Advisory Committee
What is the Legislation Advisory Committee?
The Legislation Advisory Committee was established by the then Minister of Justice (the Rt Hon Geoffrey Palmer, now Sir Geoffrey) in February 1986. The Committee is serviced by the Ministry of Justice and generally meets every six weeks.
Terms of reference
The terms of reference of the Legislation Advisory Committee are as follows:
- to provide advice to departments on the development of legislative proposals and on drafting instructions to the Parliamentary Counsel Office;
- to report to the Attorney General on the public law aspects of legislative proposals that the Attorney General refers to it;
- to advise the Attorney General on any other topics and matters in the field of public law that the Attorney General from time to time refers to it;
- 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;
- 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.
LAC Guidelines
The Legislation Advisory Committee Guidelines on Process and Content of Legislation is a guide to making good legislation. They are designed to set out central aspects of the process and elements of the content of legislation that should always be addressed when creating legislation.
The Guidelines have been written by members of the LAC and experts from outside the committee. The Guidelines have been approved by Cabinet. Ministers and their officials are required to advise the Cabinet Legislation Committee of the steps they have taken to comply with the Guidelines.
Seminars
The Making of Quality Legislation, Wednesday 11 July 2012 »
More about the LAC
More information about the Legislation Advisory Committee is available on the Ministry of Justice website.
Contact information
The Legislation Advisory Committee can be contacted through the Secretary: Gina Smith
Address: Ministry of Justice, SX10088, Wellington 6140, New Zealand
Telephone: 04 978 7057
Facsimile: 04 494 9859
Email: Gina.Smith@justice.govt.nz
