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Constitution Act 1986

The Legislature - Parliament

20: Lapse or reinstatement of parliamentary business

You could also call this:

"What happens to Parliament's unfinished work when a session or Parliament ends"

Illustration for Constitution Act 1986

When a Parliament session ends, you might wonder what happens to the work they were doing. Any parliamentary business, like a Bill or petition, does not stop just because the session ends. You can pick up where you left off in the next session of the same Parliament. If the whole Parliament ends, the work stops, but you can start it again in the next Parliament if the House of Representatives agrees to it. You can restart the work in the next session if the House of Representatives decides to do so after the previous Parliament has ended, by using a resolution to reinstate the parliamentary business in that next session.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM94246.

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Part 3The Legislature
Parliament

20Lapse or reinstatement of parliamentary business

  1. Any Bill, petition, or other business before the House of Representatives or any of its committees during a session of a Parliament (any parliamentary business)—

  2. does not lapse on the prorogation of that Parliament and may be resumed in the next session of Parliament (a session of that Parliament):
    1. lapses on the dissolution or expiration of that Parliament, but may be reinstated in the next session of Parliament (a session of the next Parliament).

      1. Parliamentary business is reinstated in that next session if, after that dissolution or expiration, the House of Representatives resolves that the parliamentary business be reinstated in that next session.

      Notes
      • Section 20: substituted, on , by section 4 of the Constitution Amendment Act 2005 (2005 No 48).