The Opening of Parliament was held on Wednesday. Newly elected and appointed Senators and Members of Parliament took their respective oaths in both chambers of Parliament. Former Senate President, Sen. Hon. Lashell Adderley and former House Speaker, the Hon. Patricia Deveaux were both re-elected to serve in those positions.
The Speech from the Throne was read by Governor General, Her Excellency the Most Hon. Dame Cynthia Pratt. The speech laid out the governments legislative agenda for this session of Parliament. High on the list are energy reform, investments, national security, education, housing, healthcare and immigration.
The speech read, “my government intends to introduce the Employer Immigration Compliance Act imposing stronger penalties for abuse of the work permit system and other unlawful employment practices.” The Government also intends to establish a portal confirm work eligibility before employment, introduce overstaying fines, a national biometric immigration system, enhance fraud detection capabilities and mandatory sentencing for public officers facilitating immigration or passport fraud.
The government will continue its energy reform push, started in its last term, with the introduction of an electricity consumer protection code and empowering the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to enforce service standard, billing transparency and safeguards for consumers. “My government will also introduce energy equity legislation to ensure that family island residents are not penalized by higher electricity costs simply because of geography.”
On the economy, competition legislation will be devised to protect consumers from price fixing along with a national investment policy with transparent investor obligations. The government also committed to the continued implementation of the Land Adjudication and Registered Land Acts to create a land registry. Expansion is also expected in housing and the rent to own program. Her Excellency read, “my government intends to establish a national rental policy registration system with enforceable living standards and stronger protection for tenants.
Food security and reducing the nation’s food bill was high on the priority list in the last administration. This term the government has committed the introduction of tourism agriculture incentives to encourage hotels and tourism operators to increase local sourcing from Bahamian families and producers.
The Governor General also revealed the intended introduction of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Act. She said, “this will provide for the establishment of a national AI Commission and set out clear ethical safeguards governing artificial intelligence.”
The first order of business for the Parliament will be the national budget.
