From policy to draft legislation
Legislation gives effect to policies that come from various sources, including:
- departmental priority projects set out in the Government Plan
- propositions passed by the States Assembly
- Ministers’ decisions
- international obligations, such as sanctions
When we make or change a policy, policy officers check if it needs new legislation or if it can be implemented by amending existing legislation. Most of the time, we amend existing legislation.
The policy officers develop and refine the policy before they send detailed instructions to the Legislative Drafting Office (LDO). The instructions need to tell us:
- what the policy is
- how it should be implemented
- the intended effect of the policy
Our Principal Legislative Drafter assesses the instructions for quality, allocates the project to a drafter and estimates the time required to complete the project.
Drafters are responsible for deciding how to write and structure the legislation. It must implement the policy in a way that is legally effective and easy to understand. They also make sure that the legislation does not produce any unintended consequences.
We run regular training courses for policy officers on:
- how to prepare drafting instructions
- the legislation making process in Jersey
We also developed an app to help policy officers instruct us of fees or charges increase that are set out in legislation.
How draft legislation comes into force
Lodging
Once the draft legislation is submitted, it is finalised by agreement between:
- the drafter
- the policy officer
- the Law Officers’ Department (LOD)
A report and explanatory note are added to the draft to make a proposition, which is lodged. This means that it has been approved for debate by the States Greffe and the Bailiff. It is then sent to States Members for them to read before the debate.
Propositions must be lodged at least 6 weeks before they can be debated. Orders are signed by a Minister and don’t go through the proposition process.
States Members can lodge amendments to propositions. These amendments:
- must be lodged at least 2 weeks before the debate
- must be within the scope of the legislation and not raise unrelated matters
- are drafted by the LDO, often by the same drafter who drafted the original legislation
Debate
Legislation is debated in a process called first reading, second reading and third reading.
The first reading is a general debate on the principles behind the legislation.
The second reading gives States Members the opportunity to:
- debate individual aspects of the legislation
- seek an explanation about the effect of particular provisions
- speak about their amendments
In the third reading, the proposer of the legislation summarises why Members should support the legislation.
Members vote after each reading to move the proposition to the next reading. If Members vote in favour of the legislation following the third reading then the legislation has been adopted, but this doesn’t mean it’s in force.
Find more information on the rules for the debate in the standing orders.
Standing Orders of the States of Jersey
Latest assembly votes on the States Assembly website
Coming into force
Once signed or adopted, legislation comes into force in different ways. This depends on the legislation:
- Orders come into force on a specified commencement date. This is either a specific date, or 7 days after they are signed
- Regulations usually come into force on a specified commencement date. Sometimes they have a statement saying that they come into force “by Act of the States” or “by Order of the Minister”. This means further legislation must be developed to specify a commencement date
- Laws must be approved by the King at a meeting of the Privy Council and then registered in the Royal Court in Jersey. They then come into force in the same way as Regulations
You can find commencement information in legislation published on Jersey Legal Information Board (JLIB). It is usually at or near the end of each piece of legislation under the heading ‘citation and commencement’.
Current drafting practice
We follow the modern drafting practices of Commonwealth drafting offices. Many of our practices are specific to Jersey and are set out in our Current Drafting Practice.
This document is mainly written for drafters. It should also help you understand how to read legislation.
Current Drafting Practice
We aim to draft legislation in plain language in line with our style guidance, which includes:
- gender-silent drafting
- preferred spellings
- preferred expressions
You can find more information on how to read legislation in:
gov.je