British Columbia.

• Author: van Leeuwen, Alayna
• Position: Legislative Reports

The fourth session of the 40th Parliament of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia adjourned for the summer on May 28, 2015. While summer legislative sittings are not common in B.C., the House was recalled for July 13, 2015 and sat for an additional six days in order to consider legislation to enable project development agreements between the Province and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project proponents.

Legislation

Before adjourning on May 28, a total of 28 government bills received Royal Assent. In addition to bills summarized in the Canadian Parliamentary Review, Volume 38, Number 2, legislation this session included:

Information Management Act (Bill 5) modernizes information management practices across government with a legislative framework to specifically enable and facilitate electronic information storage. The Act also establishes a digital archive to provide greater online public access to government's archival information. The Act replaces the Document Disposal Act; although that act had been amended over time, it was still largely premised on maintaining paper records. Education Statutes Amendment Act, 2015 (Bill 11) amends several acts. The Teachers Act is amended to enable the Minister to establish a more detailed framework and standards for teachers' ongoing professional development. Amendments to the School Act provide B.C.'s 60 school boards with clear authority to enter into shared service or alternative service delivery agreements with other boards or public sector entities, as well as granting the Minister power to require school district participation in such arrangements. The amendments also establish powers for the Minister to issue administrative directives to boards on issues such as meeting boards' School Act obligations. Amendments also bring the School Act into closer alignment with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act to allow the Ministry of Education to disclose and use student data to improve the Kindergarten to Grade 12 education system (for example, by monitoring outcomes resulting from recent curriculum changes) while also protecting personal privacy. Election Amendment Act, 2015 (Bill 20) changes certain deadlines for voter registration and candidate nomination, and it increases the number of advance voting opportunities. Additionally, following an election, the Act requires the Chief Electoral Officer to provide upon request by registered political parties a list of all...