Highlights of Short Legislative Session

Premier Christy Clark's Liberal government brought the province's legislative session to a close June 2nd, passing a handful of new laws before MLAs rose for the summer.
Among the laws passed was one enabling the creation of a civilian-led office to investigate police-related incidents, and legislation to support the review of the province's ferry system.

The government also passed a $40-billion budget and a package aimed at rescuing the harmonized sales tax. The changes to the HST, which stipulate an eventual two-percent reduction in the tax's rate, as well as an increase to corporate taxes, passed with support of government and the province's two independent MLAs. The government also voted to ratify a treaty with the Yale First Nation, something that Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom, supported, despite his own personal objections. Click herehere to view full story by Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun.

A Special Note About this Release:

A decision was made to release this Reporter prior to consolidating all of the recent amendments brought about by the recent Bills. This decision was made as a matter of priority so we can focus on consolidating these changes as quickly as possible. With many of our resources dedicated to the completion of the new site, coupled with staff holidays, we felt it important to prioritize our efforts in this way.

Tip: Log in to EnviroFor Online prior to clicking Reporter links

ENERGY AND MINES NEWS
Energy and Mines News: Amendments to Clean Energy Act Bill 13, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2011 achieved Royal Assent June 2nd and amends the Clean Energy Act. The Amendment extends the legislated deadline for the submission of BC Hydro’s first Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) by one year to 30 months. The panel reviewing BC Hydro and the impact of hydro rate increases on B.C. families will present its recommendations by June 30. The amendment ensures that BC Hydro has the time and flexibility to include any new direction from this review in their IRP. It will also give BC Hydro adequate time to consult with industry stakeholders, communities, First Nations and families across the province. Note that many of these changes have not yet come into law but are expected to come into force by regulation in the near future. Expect to see the details/amendments noted in the next Reporter.
Act or Regulation Affected ted	Effective Date	Amendment Information
Clean or Renewable Resource Regulation (291/2010)	May 6/11	by Reg 81/2011
Drilling and Production Regulation (282/2010)	May 20/11	by Reg 94/2011
FORESTRY AND ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Forest and Environment News: Amendments To Forest Act Bill 13, the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act (No. 2), 2011 achieved Royal Assent June 2^nd and amends the Forest Act. The intent of the amendment is to limit transfers of receiving licences, strengthen eligibility criteria for new woodlots and change named decision-maker references. The Forest Act will be amended so that a non-lumber producer can only transfer a “receiving licence” to another non-lumber producer. This will help support the bioenergy, pulp and paper and value-added industries by providing security of supply for lower quality fibre needed by the non-lumber sector. The Forest Act will be amended to make large tenure holders ineligible to apply for or hold a woodlot licence. Woodlot licence opportunities are intended for individuals, First Nations and small companies that want to participate in small-scale forestry. The amendment will help maintain the intent of the woodlot licence program as it is expanded. The Forest Act, Forest and Range Practices Act and the Ministry of Forests and Range Act will be amended so that minister replaces decision-maker references, such as regional manager or district manager. This will enable the minister to delegate powers and duties to officials in the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations as needed to optimize decision making and improve efficiency. Note that many of these changes have not yet come into law but are expected to come into force by regulation in the near future. Expect to see the details/amendments noted in the next Reporter.
Act or Regulation Affected ted	Effective Date	Amendment Information
BC Parks Recreation User Fees Regulation (136/2009)	May 10/11	by Reg 82/2011
Contaminated Sites Regulation (375/96)	May 31/11	by Reg 97/2011
Drinking Water Protection Regulation (200/2003)	May 19/11	by Reg 87/2011
Hunting Licensing Regulation (8/99)	May 31/11	by Reg 99/2011
Recycling Regulation (449/2004)	May 19/11	by Reg 88/2011
Wildfire Regulation (38/2005)	May 26/11	by Reg 96/2011
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Vol: IV – Issue: V – May 2011

ENVIROFOR NEWS: New Version of EnviroFor Unveiled! Quickscribe is pleased to announce that the new version of EnviroFor is now live. At first glance, the new platform may not look very different, but we’ve been working very hard over the last year to develop a number of new services/features all designed to make your legislative research a little easier. So what’s new? This latest project has focused on the development of 3 main components: 1. BC Legislative Digest: A fully customizable email alert service designed to keep you informed about both upcoming and recent legislative activity. You have full management control of these alerts and can specify exactly what legislation you would like us to monitor for you, and even how often you would like to receive these alerts. 2. Bills Site: A newly revamped Bills site designed to give you a better overall perspective on the progress of Bills introduced each session. A new consequential amendment feature has also been added. 3. Status Checker: A powerful yet user-friendly tool that will enable you to quickly and easily determine: • the last known status of any Bill introduced within 2 years; • what (if any) Acts are affected by a Bill; and • if there are any proposed or recent changes to specific Acts and the last known status of these changes. Other minor enhancements include: · the number of Recently Viewed documents on the left navigation has been increased · the Recent Changes section has been revamped · there is now a separation of New (in force) and Repealed Acts from Regulations · the Find Act/Regulation Query (left navigation) now can accept acronym-based entries – i.e. FRPA will find Forest and Range Practices Act. (If you have other suggestions for us to add please let us know) · page navigation on top menu bar is highlighted to improve point of reference Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments about the new features. Quickscribe is committed to further enhancing all of these tools/services and would also like to thank all of those clients who have contributed their suggestions and feedback on this project. Highlights of Short Legislative Session Premier Christy Clark's Liberal government brought the province's legislative session to a close June 2nd, passing a handful of new laws before MLAs rose for the summer. Among the laws passed was one enabling the creation of a civilian-led office to investigate police-related incidents, and legislation to support the review of the province's ferry system. The government also passed a $40-billion budget and a package aimed at rescuing the harmonized sales tax. The changes to the HST, which stipulate an eventual two-percent reduction in the tax's rate, as well as an increase to corporate taxes, passed with support of government and the province's two independent MLAs. The government also voted to ratify a treaty with the Yale First Nation, something that Transportation Minister Blair Lekstrom, supported, despite his own personal objections. Click herehere to view full story by Jonathan Fowlie, Vancouver Sun. A Special Note About this Release: A decision was made to release this Reporter prior to consolidating all of the recent amendments brought about by the recent Bills. This decision was made as a matter of priority so we can focus on consolidating these changes as quickly as possible. With many of our resources dedicated to the completion of the new site, coupled with staff holidays, we felt it important to prioritize our efforts in this way. Tip: Log in to EnviroFor Online prior to clicking Reporter links

FEDERAL LEGISLATION — For notification of federal amendments, we recommend you use our RSS feed.

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