Legislation Act 2019

Drafting and publishing of legislation - Revision Bills - Preparation of revisions

96: Revision powers

You could also call this:

"Updating New Zealand's laws to make them clearer and work better"

When you look at the laws in New Zealand, you might see that they need to be updated or changed. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel is in charge of making these changes. They prepare revision Bills that can change or update the laws. You can think of a revision Bill like a big update for the laws. It can make lots of changes, such as fixing mistakes, making the language clearer, or adding new examples to help people understand the law. The revision Bill can also update the laws to reflect changes in technology or remove parts that are no longer needed. It's like giving the laws a refresh to make sure they are still working well. However, the revision Bill cannot change what the law means, unless it is specifically allowed to do so. The changes that can be made are listed, and they include things like correcting errors or making the language more modern. If you want to learn more about the specific rules for revision Bills, you can look at subpart 2.

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95: Three-yearly revision programme, or

"The Government makes a 3-year plan to update laws and shares it with the public."


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97: Format of revision Bill, or

"How to write a revision Bill to fix problems in a law"

Part 3Drafting and publishing of legislation
Revision Bills: Preparation of revisions

96Revision powers

  1. The Chief Parliamentary Counsel must prepare revision Bills in accordance with the current revision programme and this section.

  2. A revision Bill may—

  3. revise the whole or part of 1 or more Acts, and for that purpose combine or divide Acts or parts of Acts:
    1. adopt a Title that is different from the Title or Titles of the Acts or parts of Acts revised:
      1. omit redundant and spent provisions:
        1. renumber and rearrange provisions from the Acts or parts of Acts revised:
          1. make changes in language, format, and punctuation to achieve a clear, consistent, gender-neutral, and modern style of expression, to achieve consistency with current drafting style and format, and generally to express better the spirit and meaning of the law:
            1. include new or additional purpose provisions, outline or overview provisions, examples, diagrams, graphics, flowcharts, readers’ notes, lists of defined terms, and other similar devices to aid accessibility and readability:
              1. include new or additional provisions alerting users of the revision to legislation that is not incorporated in the revision but is relevant to the subject matter of the revision:
                1. correct typographical, punctuation, and grammatical errors, and other similar errors:
                  1. make consequential amendments to legislation that is not incorporated, or is incorporated only in part, in the revision:
                    1. include any necessary repeals, transitional, savings, and related provisions.
                      1. A revision Bill may also—

                      2. make minor amendments to clarify Parliament’s intent, to resolve ambiguity, or to reconcile inconsistencies between provisions (or to do all of those things):
                        1. update any monetary amount (other than an amount specified for the purpose of jurisdiction or an offence or penalty), having regard to movements in the Consumers Price Index over the relevant period, or provide for the amount to be prescribed by Order in Council:
                          1. make minor amendments to update how provisions can be complied with, or operate, in a way that takes account of changes in technology if those amendments are consistent with the spirit and meaning of the law:
                            1. for the purpose of enabling matters of general principle to be contained in Acts and matters of detail to be contained in secondary legislation,—
                              1. omit forms, schedules, or other matters of detail from the Acts or parts of Acts revised, and instead authorise those matters to be prescribed by or under secondary legislation:
                                1. include matters currently prescribed in secondary legislation made under the Acts or parts of Acts revised:
                                  1. make any other change that is necessary for the purpose of implementing subparagraph (i) or (ii) or that is consequential on doing so.
                                  2. In subsection (3)(b), Consumers Price Index means the Consumers Price Index (all groups) published by Statistics New Zealand or, if that index ceases to be published, any measure certified by the Government Statistician as being equivalent to that index.

                                  3. A revision Bill must not change the effect of the law, except as authorised by subsection (3).

                                  4. The changes that may be made in a revision Bill include (without limitation) any of the changes that may be made under subpart 2.

                                  Compare
                                  Notes
                                  • Section 96(3)(b): amended, on , by section 107(1) of the Data and Statistics Act 2022 (2022 No 39).
                                  • Section 96(3A): inserted, on , by section 107(1) of the Data and Statistics Act 2022 (2022 No 39).