Another batch of Member's Bills currently in the ballot. Previous batches are indexed here:
Financial Assistance For Live Organ Donors Bill (Michael Woodhouse): would increase the level of financial assistance available to live organ donors. Currently, voluntary donors are eligible for the sickness benefit and childcare allowances during their recovery time; this bill would increase it to the level paid by ACC (80% of lost earnings, for a period of convalescence after the surgery, for a maximum of 12 weeks). The idea is to make it easier to donate organs, without providing too much of a financial incentive to do so, and I think this gets the balance about right.
New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control (Entrenchment) Amendment Bill (Maryan Street): would do exactly what it says on the label: entrench key provisions of the anti-nuclear law to prevent their repeal without either a supermajority or a referendum. While entrenchment is rarely used in New Zealand (there's only one such clause, protecting key provisions of electoral law), the nuclear ship ban has become a key part of our national identity. This bill would protect that identity, and ensure that no future National government can backslide on it without a broad consensus.
Overseas Investment (Restriction on Foreign Ownership of Land) Amendment Bill (Russel Norman): Amends the Overseas Investment Act 2005 to bar foreigners from purchasing sensitive land. It won't stop people from buying a lifestyle block or holiday home, but it will bar them from buying farms, large areas of beachfront, or any land held for conservation purposes. If they want to own those things, they'd have to move here, rather than being an absentee landlord.
As usual, I'll have more bills as I acquire them.
