Introduction and First Reading of Bills

(1) Subject to the provisions of Standing Order No. 24 (Public Money), any Member of the House may move for leave to introduce a Bill of which he has given notice. (2) Subject to the provisions of Standing Order No. 24 (Public Money), a Bill may be presented to the House on behalf of the Government after notice without an order of the House for its introduction. (3) A notice of the presentation of a Bill on behalf of the Government may be entered on the Order Paper for the day following the day on which it was received by the Clerk of the Belize Constitution 53 (4) A Bill, whether presented in pursuance of an order of the House after leave given or without such order, shall be handed to the Clerk by the Member who gave notice of the Bill. The Clerk shall read aloud the title of the Bill, which, without question put, shall be recorded in the Minutes of Proceedings as having been read a first time and ordered to be printed. (5) Copies of the Bill, as printed, shall be made available to every Member. (6) When a Bill has been read a first time, it shall stand committed to a Standing Committee. (7) The Standing Committee to whom a Bill has been referred shall report to the House whether or not they recommend that such a Bill ought to be read a second time or with such amendments as they may recommend; and they shall have power to state their reasons for recommending that a Bill ought not to be read a second time. If a Standing Committee does not report to the House within 30 days, the House may in its discretion proceed to read a Bill a second time. (8) When a Bill has been brought from the Senate and in the case of a Private Bill a Member of the House has signified to the Clerk of the House his willingness to take charge of the Bill, that Bill shall be recorded in the Minutes of Proceedings as having been read a first time and ordered to be printed, and shall stand committed to a Standing Committee.