The Governance and Administration Committee has reported back on the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Amendment Bill which proposes to improve the natural hazard information on LIMs and how this information is communicated.
Following submissions from Taituarā and a number of councils and other stakeholders they have proposed the following amendments:
- Push back the commencement date to 1 July 2025 in order to ensure councils have adequate time to prepare for the requirements the Bill proposes.
- Amending new section 44B to require “information identifying” natural hazards rather than “information about” natural hazards which will ensure councils are not required to create new information.
- Amending the responsibilities of regional councils so that they only have to provide information to a territorial authority that relates to the “territorial authorities district” instead of for the whole “region”.
- Amending the consultation requirements for making regulations to specify that territorial authorities and regional councils must be consulted before regulations are made.
These are positive changes and we welcome the good news. The Bill is now set for a Second Reading.
