September 26, 2025

Yes, I do, please.
So, I have a question that is specific to the application for the zip line facility in the park itself, which
the application says is a P ublic-Private Partnership. My
question is, considering that this is a PPP, what is the
public taxpayer's role in this Public-Private Partnership?
Thank you.
Hon. Jache Adams: Mr. Speaker, it sounds like a second question rather than a supplementary, but I will
take your guidance.

I am trying to remember your Statement,
your response, in that you did, yes—

[Laughter]


B ermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: All right . All right. Y ou got me, you got
me. I'm trying to remember your response.
You indicated that there would be different
pieces in it. You did no t specifically make reference to
the fact that it was a P ublic-Private entity that was taking place.
I am trying to see how that fit into the response,
because your supplementary questions are not supposed to be new questions. They are supposed to be
questions that are fed off the statement . . . off the response that was given to the first question.
I am just trying to tie the two in. If you word it a
little different, it may fit. But we're stretching it a bit
there.

Okay, thank you. You used your two
supplementaries.
Members, of all the questions that were dow n
this morning were written questions, it seems I omitted
one. We're moving along this morning.
I think I omitted a question from MP Dwayne
Robinson. He had a couple dow n. He had three dow n.
We had done two. We missed the third one. The question was to the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Culture and Sport.
And MP, would you like to put that question?
It's actually number four in your Order Paper there.
QUESTION 1: FAIRMONT SOUTHAMPTON HOTEL
Mr
. Dwayne Robinson: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Appreciate that.
Will the Honourable Minister please confirm to
this Honourable House that the progress of construc-tion and renovation of the F airmont Southampton Hotel
is on track for the stated S pring 2026 reopening?

Thank you. Any s upplementaries?
SUPPLEMENTARIES
Mr
. Dwayne Robinson: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister tell this Honourable House
how frequently he is in communicational meetings with
Genc om to get these updates?
Thank you.
Hon. Owen Darrell: Well, Mr. Speaker, as the Honourable Member is the MP for the area, I am sure he can
see, just as all of us can see, that there is considerable construction work happening at the F airmont Southampton. And as the [Shadow] Minister responsible for
Tourism, I am sure he will know that I speak to anyone
in the tourism industry as much as I possibly can.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

You're fine? Okay. All right.
Members, that brings us to the end of the written questions.
There are a couple of M embers who have
questions regarding the Statements this morning. And
the first is on the Statement, Premier, that you made in
reference to the bank s and deposits.
MP DeCouto would like to put a question?
QUESTION 1: BANKS AND DEPOSIT COMPANIES
(OVER -THE-LIMIT FEES AND UNAUTHORI ZED
OVERDRAFT FEES) REGULATIONS 2025

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Honourable Premier referred to consultation with the relevant members of industry in crafting these regulations. Could the [Honourable] Premier
briefly share with this House some of the top topics that
arose out of that consultation, or top concerns of the industry?
Thank you.
Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, those matters are in
the public domain and can be found on the Bermuda
Monetary Authority website.

Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: If the Honourable Member has a
specific question, that would probably be better to answer, rather than the hypotheticals of which he's posing, because I do not even know how to respond to that.
What I can say is that this regime was promised, it has been delivered, and we're going to move
forward to further banking fee reform, becaus e the reality is that the people of this country need to mak e sure
that they have fair access to banking services , and this
Government will deliver it.

Thank you, thank you.
My question is just about capacity. I may have
missed it in the Minister's Statement, but could the Minister confirm whether or not capacity will be shown for
the buses that are tracked? And ferries that are
tracked? Becaus e I know a lot of people during the tourism season, unfortunately . . . you k now, we're a tourist
place, but people are left sometimes standing on the
side of the road, even though the buses come, due to
capacity. So just wanted to k now if that is in the w orks.
Thank you.

Minister.
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As of right now, the [ShoreLink] app just simply
shows live locations. And as the Honourable Member
from the other side will k now, with technology there always can be additions and ways that, as I s aid in my
Statement, we can improve the app to better s erve the
public. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Speaker: Any supplementary?
SUPPLEMENTARY

Okay. All right. Thank you.
Members, the next Statement this morning that
has questions was the Statement from the Minister of
National Security.
Minister, you have two M embers who wish to
ask questions. I will go to the Opposition Leader first.
Opposition Leader, would you like to put your
question?
Hon. Robert King: Good morning, Honourable Members and the listening public.

Good morning.
QUESTION 1: POLICING OPERATIONS AND
COMMUNITY SAFETY UPDATE
Hon. Robert King: My question is in relation to the increased police numbers as a result of the consultation
and cooperation with the British Government. My ques-tion is, Will the increase in police numbers also include consideration for community police officers, dedicated
traffic division and school resource officers, knowing
that they played a key role in addressing gang vio-lence?
Thank you.

Okay.
Minister, the next M ember who has a question
for you is MP Tucker .
MP Tucker.
QUESTION 1: POLICING OPERATIONS AND
COMMUNITY SAFETY UPDATE


Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Robin Tucker: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good
morning. Good morning to you and to the listening audience and colleagues.
I would like to ask the Honourable Minister, in
his Statement he said that there were 400 camera views. I just wanted to know out of how many? So, 400
being operational, how many are not?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Can the Minister tell us when they expect to
have the other 56 cameras fully operational?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: For clarity, it is the views that
are in question. There are 456 total views once the system is all up and fully functioning. And it is an ongoing
project. So, as we speak, more and more of the views
are coming online. And hopefully in the next few
months, everything will be up and fully functional.

Minister .
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: They are using statistics, but
ultimately it is going to be a success. You know, it is . . .
I am trying to talk about how we are going to measure
it. It is the data that the police are using to be driven by,
and between that data and intelligence and com munity
involvement and the like . . . I do not know if I have answered that. I am not too certain what you are asking
me.

Would any Member wish to make a contribution?
Junior Minister, you have your three minutes.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my deepest
condolences to the Young and Burgess family on the
passing of Mr. Keith Winslow Young and his beautiful and beloved wife, Mrs. Charlotte Gwendolyn Young,
who left this world within just days of each other. Mr.
Speaker, to be married for 66 years is itself a testimony
of love, faith, and endurance. Together, they were a
great couple. Mr. Young, a brilliant carpenter, built
more than homes. He built trust, respect, and a reputation for excellence. Mrs. Young, thr ough Gwen's Wonderland [Nursery and Preschool] on Radnor Road, nurtured children and families with compassion and care.
As a young politician, Mr. Speaker, knocking
on their doors, I was always received with kindness,


Bermuda House of Assembly wisdom, and encouragement. Their words helped to
shape my own journey, and I know many others were
equally touched by their example. Mr. Speaker, theirs
was a life of service, of faith, and of love, a partnership
that stood as a beacon for all of us. Though they are gone, their legacy will live on in their family they raised
and the community they enriched. I extend heartfelt,
and I am sure Members of this Honourable House, condolences to Bishop Duncan, First Lady Shanda Duncan, and the entire family. May t hey be comforted in
knowing that Keith and Charlotte Young now rest together as they lived, side by side.
Mr. Speaker, I close with these words of scripture: They fought a good fight. They finished their
course. They kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up
for them a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give them this day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I wanted to rise today to recognise Habitat for
Humanity [of] Bermuda, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this week. And for the past 25 years, Hab-itat Bermuda has been transforming lives. It has completed over four small renovation projects that have improved the lives of approximately 1,600 Bermudians. The projects are benefiting mostly vulnerable people,
including single mothers with children and the elderly.
And beyond the renovations that Habitat Bermuda have done on their own, they have also be en involved
in several projects that have been more community -
based.
An example would be the Transformational Living Center, which is now HOME for families, that was built to accommodate up to 10 homeless women with
their children and offer a safe environment for them.
Habitat was also involved in the renovation of the St.
James Rectory, which is now Bridge House, and that was a collaboration with the Anglican Church of Ber-muda and the Bermuda Hospitals Board. It was derelict
and it has been transformed into a residential treatment
centre, which is benefiting eight individu als.
There is also Grace Place, an affordable housing initiative in Devonshire that's been made possible
by an anonymous donor to Habitat. And Habitat repur-posed that derelict property into four affordable apartments specifically for single mothers.
All of these things have been accomplished
through community fundraising and fundraising events that they have held over the years, as well as their ReStore store, which actually started on Pitts Bay Road in what was formerly Heritage House and has subsequently moved to King Street. They sell gently worn furniture and housewares, and all of that goes to the betterment of Bermuda. They do not receive, at the moment, any government funding, and they, like so many
other charities, are contributing so much to B ermuda
and to helping government and the community deal with some of these serious problems that we have.
So, I would like to extend a congratulations and
thank you to Habitat Bermuda. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker,
and good morning.
Firstly, I'd like to give condolences to the family
of Petrea Simons , from Cross Bay, Southampton. I
would like to associate MP Robinson. She was one of
my mom's best friends. She was one of the oldest people in Southampton at her passing. Specific condolences to her son, Wendell, and to her granddaughter,
Jasmine. I know that they are missing her now, and my
true condolences to the entire family.
I would also like to give condolences to the
family of Maisie Tucker, one of my mom's sisters who
recently passed after a battle with cancer. Both my
cousins, Roy and Kelly Tucker —I know that they are
both really torn up with the loss of their mother. Attending the service on Sunday at the Hamilton Seventh- day
Adventist Church, I would like to thank them for a really
great service, specifically to Pastor Manders, who really did an awesome job bringing it together. Although
my aunt asked for blue to be the c olour that everyone
wore because that was her favourite colour, he made
sure to remind everybody that she was a Somerset girl
from a Somerset family —

No, I do not.

[Laughter]


Bermuda House of Assembly Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo: Mr. Speaker, I am just standing
to my feet to give condolences for the loss of young
Miss [Janae] Minors. Her mom, sister, and many of her
relatives are constituents who live in St. David's. In fact,
the Minors family is a St. David's family. It is tragic how
we have come to lose her, and it says much to . . . I will
definitely associate. It says much to the efforts that we
as a community will and should be engaging in, but I
just think that this House, and I want to associate the
Prem ier and the Minister of National Security, in particular—

—Minister Vance Campbell. I
am going to associate the House, but I did want to point
them out in particular with these condolences, and we
do hope that the House does send a letter to the family,
which I think will go a long way during their time of bereavement. So, Mr. Speaker, please ensure that our House does send the family a letter.
Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just want to offer condolences to the family of
Mrs. Dorothy Furbert. She is a member of my church, and I have known her for quite a number of years. She
is an absolute lovely, lovely, lovely lady. So, I just want
to express condolences to Rusty and Anto inette
Furbert and the wider Furbert families, as well as the
Better Covenant Christian Fellowship family as well.
I also would like to express condolences to the
family of one of my constituents, and her name is Mrs.
Patricia DeCosta. She always had a story for me. She's
a proud granny and always had a story for me when I
canvassed her house about things that her grandchildren were doing. A very sort of vivacious lady. Did not
sort of leave anyone guessing as to what she was thinking. So just wanted to make mention and ask that con-dolences go to her family as well.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like for a suitable letter to
be sent to two couples just coincidentally visiting Ber-muda this week for different reasons. Bob and Barb
Lippmann are in Bermuda for the second time this year, celebrating their 30th anniversary. They are long-time
visitors to Bermuda, former owners of a timeshare at
St. George's Club. I declare my interest. I know them very well, as I did many of the owners and residents of
the St. George's Club. They made Bermuda their second home. After their timeshare expired, they did not
return to Bermuda, but Bermuda remained on their
hearts many times. So, for their 30th anniversary, they have chosen to come to Bermuda twice, and we have
been able to interact and show them a good time. And
Bermuda remains a special place in their hearts forever, as they do ours. And there are many Bob and
Barb Lippmann’s out there around the world.
And another couple in Bermuda, Joe and Caroline Hart, were the beneficiaries of a Bermuda- themed
auction that I helped to initiate last year when I was convalescing in hospital and helped to put on a charitable event . . . helped to support a charitable ev ent in
the UK, where the prize was a Bermuda vacation.
Thanks to Ms. Laura Purroy at St. George's
Club, we were able to put together a four -night Bermuda stay. And thanks to Dennie O'Connor down at
White Horse, and Alfred [Konrad] and Geza [Wolf] at
Wahoo’s, and Livio [Ferigo] at Bella Vista, Port Royal
Golf C ourse, Belmont Golf Course, Turtle Hill Golf
Course, and Oceanview Golf Course. We were able to
put together a nice package that they were able to
spend a couple of thousand p ounds to get a Bermuda
vacation , of which they extended it to seven days, and
even taking BermudAir to the US to experience the East Coast of the United States.
But the only way they could redeem that prize
was to come and fly to Bermuda, which they have done, and we are very appreciative of that.
[Inaudible interjection]

And I would like to associate my colleagues, Mr. Tyrrell and the entire House,
because this is the type of relationship- building tourism
that made Bermuda very successful. And I just want to
thank these persons, and many of them, like the ones
sitting in the Gallery today, who choose to visit Bermuda. I will provide the name of the couple that is here today at the invitation of the Opposition Leader. But
they write about Bermuda. They love Bermuda, and
they will spend a lot of time in Bermuda. Relationshipbuilding is the key, and I want to thank those couples
who I have mentioned today.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
good morning, colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, last evening at the St. Mary's
Church Hall, there was a town hall presentation put on
by the Warwick Parish Council. And let me declare my
interest first by saying that I am the chairman of the
Warwick Parish Council. And the presentation was


Bermuda House of Assembly actually on strokes and survival support. Our presenter
was actually a survivor herself, Mrs. Kathydell Hayward, who gave us her experience of having suffered a
stroke and her 18 years of experiencing it at this time.
She's well -improved in what she can do and what she
could not do previously.
And her husband also significantly had, during
that period, a stroke himself. So, they were able to sup-port each other. But he is her main support in terms of
her survival anyway. And I would certainly feel that the
House should send something of support t o her. She is
a very community -minded person who helps other people as well. And she is spreading her story. And when
she asked us at the Warwick Parish Council if we would
entertain her (I guess) at a Town Hall [meeting], we
quickly agreed. We did not thi nk that we were going to
get much attendance, but I can say that the attendance
was well above our expectation. And again, I would like
to give her thanks for coming and giving her experience
during . . . having had a stroke.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I would like for us to . . . I would personally like
to extend the best wishes to the people of the Azores
as they have endured Hurricane Gabrielle last night and this morning. We here in Bermuda know what it is
to go through a storm. And of course, many of us in
Bermuda have friends and family in those islands. And so, we wish them a speedy recovery from any damage
or things that have affected them.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Vernon was a studious person in school, never got in trouble. And started off pack-ing bags at MarketPlace and worked his way right up to
vice president. I think that's the title.
Mr. Derrick Bento lived on Devon Spring Lane
and he was one of those who helped to take care of the
compound unofficially. And he always had some, let's
just say, cats that he took care of in the neighbourhood.
Mr. Speaker, last week, the mother island of
many Bermudians celebrated 42 years of independence: St. Kitts and Nevis.

—can say that their grandparents or someone came from St. Kitts and Nevis.
Some have parents even from St. Kitts and Nevis. I say
that as an example when they say, Oh, our country's
too small or a small population. They can't go independent. St. Kitts is a population less than Bermuda.
They are independent. And since they have gone independent, their GDP has only grown, Mr. Speaker. The
people have flourished so that they help to demystify
the lies of independence.
Mr. Speaker, finally, I may be the first one to
say it, but I am not going to be the last one to say it, that
there is someone in here —two people in here—who
celebrate birthdays this week. One is standing up and
one is sitting down.

[Laughter]

Thank you.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time? MP Adams.

Hon. Jache Adams: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I will be brief, but I just wanted to
send congratulatory remarks to Mr. Shawn Simons , because he and his team just last weekend— and I will
associate the Deputy Premier in those remarks as well.
He and his team helped to organise a block party last weekend that I was fortunate enough to attend. And I
can certainly attest to the fact that it was heartwarming to know that in times like these, I was able to attend an
event where we had men and women from all ages,
men and women from all walks of life, all joining together in t he neighbourhood in fellowship.
And if we talk about these certain times that we
are in, I believe one of those elements is community
involvement. And so, it was appreciative to have him
put that together. I appreciate the participants that all joined and also the fundraising efforts that were made,
because I believe some funds went to the Parfitt family
in their times of need. And so, it was a great community event for me to be a part of. And I just wanted to send
those remarks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Shawn has started this several years ago and it's grown in popularity. And I can say nothing more than to give many hearty thanks to the efforts that he put in to pull this off.
I have to also agree with my colleague, [Minister] Jache Adams, in that . . . with the thoughts that
went out to the Parfitt family. We all know that they suffered a severe tragedy just a short time ago. So, it was
very nice. And she was there. I happen to know Ms.
Parfitt quite well. And I know she is very appreciative of
the donation that was given to her. Whilst I'm on my feet, Mr. Speaker, I would also
like this House to send condolences out to Eugene
“Shingaling” Tony Cabral, who passed away a couple
of weeks ago. And Shingaling was a bit of a character.
He has lived in Devonshire and was a friend of mine for many, many years. And of course, he was a very special individual indeed. And he will be sorely missed by
a group of people that used to take an annual trip wi th
Shingaling. So , he will be greatly missed.

At his ripe age of 75. Looks good
and is doing well for himself. And I am sure he could
still put a few of us on the ground.
But I really am on my feet today because I
would like to acknowledge a young Bermudian woman
that's doing things in big spaces. And I am sure I will associate the entire House with this. Shiona Turini —

—who won an Emmy Award for,
and I am going to read it, so I make sure I say it cor-rectly, Outstanding Costumes for Variety, Nonfiction, or
Reality Programming.
And if you follow her, you know that she would
design the outfit for Beyonc é in her Bowl concert. And
she's now won an Emmy. So, whilst it may be an Emmy
right now, I am thinking that we are looking at big things for this young lady as she designs. And we also appreciate that she includes Bermuda in her designing because Beyonc é wore a ring that had been designed by
Davidrose, which is a business that started in St.
George's. And Shiona is incorporating her Bermudian
heritage into her talent. And for that, we appreciate her.
And we want to make sure that we
acknowledge the work that she is doing and how she is
placing herself on a global stage but also bringing Bermuda with her. So, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Would any other Member like to make a
contribution at this time?
MP Robinson, you have your three minutes.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just really quickly, and I would like to associate
the Members from constituency 7 and constituency 31.
We had the privilege of Ms. Chardonaé Rawlins , who
is the founder of Simply Bloom, to lend her expertise to
connecting with youth and adolescents, which at a time
like this, where I believe we need to be doing a lot more
as individuals to try and connect with the young people
in our lives and in our surrounding bubble. I wanted to
thank her for giving some of her time to giving us tips
and tricks on how t o better support the youth and adolescents in our life and also to be a good support system for them during times where a lot of our young people are exposed to trauma early, loss of life and loss of
their friends and loved ones.
So, I want to just give a thank you and I commend her work in that space. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
Any other Member wish to make a contribution
at this time?
Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to be associated with the
condolences offered by the Honourable Deputy
Speaker on the passing of Ms. Janae Minors. And certainly, I know the Deputy Speaker associated the entire House, but I do hope that we can make sure that the
House does send a letter to Ms. Minors' family.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to be associated
with the condolences offered by the Honourable Member for constituency 11, MP Chris[topher] Famous, on
the passing of Mr. Vernon Hassell. I know that all Members were associated, but I did want to take the ti me to
make sure that I rose to my feet and express condo-lences to his family.
I would also like to be associated with the remarks given by the Junior Minister of Finance to the condolences to the family of Keith Young and Charlotte
Young as well, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the Honourable
House to send a letter of condolence to the family of
Mr. Norris Steede, who is a constituent of mine in con-stituency 18, someone whom I know well, and a fellow
suffering West Ham fan such as myself. However, Mr.
Speaker, I could always count on him to be there in the neighbourhood at that time, and it is unfortunate that he
has passed away. He certainly served as a caregiver to
his partner, and certainly there is going to be help and support that is going to be needed through this time.
Mr. Speaker, you know, I rarely do birthday
greetings during congrats and obits, but I would like to extend congratulations and a happy birthday to one of
my prized constituents, and that is none other than Ms.
Wilma Frith, who celebrated her 90th birthday last
week. She had a birthday party. Unfortunately, I was
travelling, so I was unable to be in attendance, but she
was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, church family, and I just want to make it known that I would like
to say Happy Birthday, Ms. Frith . Sorry I missed it, but
I am happy that my family was there to enjoy your 90th birthday celebration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
Does any other Member who wish to make a
contribution at this time? Any other?
There are none.
Before we move on, I would just like to add my
name to some that have been expressed already, particularly to the families of Mr. Hassell, to the Young family, I'll pass them both, Mr. and Mrs. Young, to Mr. Derrick Bento, who's a fellow church member of mine, and
to the birthday wishes to the Sergeant, of course, and
to the Minister.
But Sarge, everybody was a little shocked
when we heard the age. They didn’t realise that, Sarge.
[Crosstalk]

You're doing well, Sarge. How's that?
Congratulations to you.
And lastly, I would just like to add, many of this
community are affiliated with Oakwood University, and today, actually right now as we sit here, the inauguration is taking place of the 12th president of Oakwood.
But it's a first. It is the first female w ho will head the
institution, and I would just like to acknowledge that.
And that Dr. Gina Spivey -Brown will now be the new
president of Oakwood, who's replacing the former president who has retired earlier this year. So, with those
remarks, we can move on.

MATTERS OF PRIVILEGE

There are two Bills to be introduced by
Government and a third Bill by the Opposition.

GOVERNMENT BILLS



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: The Government Bill will be introduced
by the Minister of National Security.
Minister.

BILL

FIRST READING

REVENUE AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following Bill
for its first reading so that it may be placed on the Order Paper for the next day of meeting, the Revenue
Amendment Act 2025.

Thank you.
And there's a Bill in the name of Minister
[Tinee] Furbert, who is off Island, yes?
Minister Darrell, thank you.

BILL

FIRST READING

CHARITIES AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am introducing the following Bill
for its first reading so that it may be placed on the Order
Paper for the next day of meeting, the Charities Amend-ment Act 2025.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Any objections?
There are none.
Proceed.

BILL

SECOND READING

NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL
PENSIONS) AMENDMENT ACT 2025



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, the security of
retirement savings is one of the most important commitments that any government can make to its people.
Our National Pension Scheme represents not
only a safeguard for the future of Bermudians, but also a pillar of confidence in our financial system. Today, I
rise to present for the consideration of this Honourable
House, the National Pension Scheme (Occupat ional
Pensions) Amendment Act 2025, a Bill designed to strengthen oversight, protect plan members, and ensure fairness in the administration of pension funds.
Mr. Speaker, you and I . . . we are the only
Members [who were] in this Honourable House when
the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions)
Act 1998 passed. The Act established the foundational
framework for private sector occupational pension
plans in Bermuda. Since then, it has been amended to
address the changing requirements of both employees
and retirees.
The National Pension Scheme (Occupational
Pensions) Act authorises the Minister of Finance to enact regulation concerning, amongst other provisions,
the maximum fees that may be charged for services relating to pension plans, life annuities, or pension funds.
The Act became operational on 1 January 2000, and over the years, a number of amendments to the Act and
Regulations have been introduced to provide for various matters.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to provide the following statistics received from the Pension Commis-sion as of 31 December 2024, based on estimates and actual data received from plan administrators. The National Pension [Scheme] contained 53,741 plan members, former members. There was a total of 3,267 em-ployer plans, 3,253 defined contributions, and 14 defined benefits.
Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of the Honourable
Members, a “defined benefit plan” is a pension plan that
provides a benefit determined in advance based upon
various factors such as levels of earnings and length of
employment. A “defined contribution plan” i s a pension
plan that provides a benefit determined solely with reference to the value of invested, accumulated contributions. The total value of assets under the National Pen-sion Scheme was $4.29 billion, consisting of $2.81 billion in employer plans and $1.48 billion in approved local retirement products. There were 486 self -employed
plans.
Mr. Speaker, the National Pension Scheme
permits a number of refunds to be approved for plan
members during their employment years as well as
upon reaching retirement age. In particular, the following refunds are granted. Financial hardship refunds for
eligible mortgage arrears, rental arrears, uncovered
medical expenses, educational expenses, and funeral expenses. Small pension plans for those reaching the age of 65 (like my friend Mr. Weeks) with $50,000 and
under pension fund account balances. Lump- sum r efunds for those reaching normal retirement age up to 25 per cent of an applicant’s pension fund account balance, and the first -time homeowner refunds.
Mr. Speaker, these additional refunds have
provided timely and substantial financial support to Bermudians. And I am pleased to provide the following summary of currently available refund payments since
their inception up to 15 August 2025.
• financial hardship refunds: $43.8 million
• small pension re funds: $18.5 million
• 25 per cent lump- sum refunds: $97.05 million
• first-time homeowner refunds: $250,000
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will recall
that last year the Minister of Finance advised that the
government would, after consultation with domestic
pension plan administrators, introduce specific regulation to prescribe limitations on the amount of admi nistrative fees that can be charged to pension plan mem-bers.
Mr. Speaker, as part of the introduction, it is
necessary to ensure the commission has the power to
impose civil penalties should the Regulations not be
complied with. This is the purpose of the Bill before us.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
We support this Bill because the Bill per se is
about enabling the later Regulations, and we understand that the Government may wish to make new Reg-ulations from time to time that this Bill would support.
While we do have further remarks regarding
the administration's fees, we will keep those until we
discuss that particular legislation, and we are grateful
to the Minister for providing the information in the Statement that he did.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Members, we are now in Committee
[of the whole House] on the Bill entitled the National
Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment Act 2025 .
Minister . . . Junior Minister, sorry.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
This Bill seeks to amend the National . . . first
of all, I would like to move all clauses, sorry. Clauses 1
through 3.

It has been moved that clauses 1
through 3 be considered at this time.
Any objections?
None. Continue, [Junior] Minister.

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: This Bill seeks to amend the
National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Act
1998 to enable the Commission to impose civil penalties in the case of any contravention on a provision of the Regulations made under this Act. I would like to
move clause 1.
Clause 1 is self -explanatory.
Clauses 2 and 3, as I said, Madam Chairman.
Clause 2 amends section 68A(1)(c) of the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Act 1998 by
deleting the words “the National Pension Scheme
(General) Regulations 1999” and substituting the words
“of Regulations made under this Act.”
Clause 3 provides for the Minister to cause the
Act to come into operation by notice published in the
Gazette.
Thank you.

And it has been moved that the Bill be
reported to the House as written.
Any objections to that?
There are none. So moved.

[Motion carried: The National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed
without amendment.]

House resumed at 11:55 am
[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

Members, are there any objections to
the Bill entitled the National Pension Scheme (Occupa-tional Pensions) Amendment Act [2025] being reported to the House as printed?
There are none. It has been reported to the
House.
I am going to hold my breath for two seconds
and then we are moving on.
Your Minister asked for a change. He is not in
the House.

[Inaudible interjection]

Yes . . . oh, they told me one and two.
Two and four?
Okay. Well, your Whip just told me one and
two.
Junior Minister, you can continue on to the next
item.
Members, let me introduce the next item. The
next item is the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions) (Administration Fees) Regulations 2025 in the name of the Junior Minister.
Junior Minister.
Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I move that consideration be given to the draft
Regulations entitled the National Pension Scheme (Oc-cupational Pensions) (Administration Fees)


Bermuda House of Assembly Regulations 2025 proposed to be made by the Minister
of Finance in exercise of the power conferred by section 69(1)(jb) and (q) of the National Pension Scheme
(Occupational Pensions) Act 1998 and after consultation with the Pension Commission.

Are there any objections?
There are none. Continue.

DRAFT REGULATIONS

NATIONAL PENSIONS SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL
PENSIONS) (ADMINISTRATION FEES)
REGULATIONS 2025

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Mr. Speaker, I rise today with
great pride and responsibility, particularly under the
leadership of the Minister of Finance and the Premier,
to lay the National Pension Scheme (Occupational
Pensions ) (Administration Fees ) Regulations 2025.
These Regulations represent an important reform, one
that will protect workers, ensure fairness in the pension
system and safeguard the retirement security of Bermudians for generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, occupational pensions are the
foundations of retirement income for most Bermudians.
For this reason, every dollar saved must be preserved for the benefit of the worker, not lost to excessive fees.
High charges weaken confidence in the system, erode
savings and reduce the quality of life in retirement. It was in this context that the Pension Commission commissioned a detailed review of pension plan administration fees supported by an independent consultant.
On 23 February 2022, the Commission received the consultant's report and a summary of its
analysis and findings as follows: the deleterious impact
of costs on pension savings; the trend costs worldwide
over the past 20 years; an overview of legal caps in
OECD countries; a small increase in member -borne
fees had the effect of transferring material savings from
savers to the industry service providers; a high majority
of jurisdictions reported legal caps on member -borne
pension costs; the combined investment and administration fees by third- party plan administrators in Bermuda was an average of 2 per cent of assets held.
There was extreme variability around the average fees charged by third- party [plan] administrators in
Bermuda with the average high cost of administrators
examined at 3.3 per cent and an average low cost was
0.69 per cent. Costs were split roughly between administration and investment management.
In other words, approximately one half of the
member -borne fees were paid to administrators and
one half was paid to investment funds and their man-agers. And a comparable cost in Canada, the US, the UK and the EU was 0.99 per cent of assets held,
roughly h alf of the average cost charged to plan members in Bermuda. After the Commission's review and discussions
of the consultant's report, it was agreed that consulta-tion with industry stakeholders should be undertaken
and the Commission utilised a standing advisory committee which is made up of representatives of employer and union groups, plan administrators, other plan service providers and the international company sector.
The advisory committee was provided with an executive summary of the report and invited to discuss its
content and findings. The committee subsequ ently met
on a number of occasions to discuss the findings and
the committee's members were invited to make recommendations to the Commission on the propos al to introduce limitations on plan administration fees and any
related matters.
Not all committee members made submissions
to the Commission. However, the majority of those who did respond were, unsurprisingly, not in support of inducing limitations on administration fees. Not surprising.
Recognising that the Government was likely to
proceed with some form of limitation, a few members suggested a phasing in of any fee limitation, a sliding
scale of fees based on assets under management,
lower fees for individual [retirement] plans versus group
plans, amongst a number of other recommendations.
Members will recall that in July 2024, the Minister of Finance provided a Ministerial Statement advising that after consultation with the Pension Commission
and industry representatives it had been decided to introduce fee caps on pension plans administrat ion fees
with the Regulations introduced in 2025.
It should be noted that from the years 2000 to
2023 it is estimated that plan administrators collectively have earned gross administration fees from their group
and individual plans of over $500 million, based upon
the typical plan administration fee of 1. 5 per cent of a
plan member's pension fund balance.
Mr. Speaker, the proposed Regulations are primarily aimed at assisting those with smaller pension
plans by requiring lower administration fees to be
charged. However, those with large balances will also
benefit from the fee caps. Using the proposed fee lim itations in the Regulations and the average assets held
by plan members in defined contribution pension plans
and local retirement products at the end of 2023, it was
calculated that this would equate to an estimated annual savings on average for each plan member with
balances over $50,000 of $649, representing $73,000 in total savings over a 37- year employment cycle at an
average annual return of 5 per cent.
For those plan members with small pension
plans of up to $50,000, annual savings were estimated at between $153 to $18 3 per annum, representing over
$17,000 to $20,000 in total savings over a 37- year employment cycle.
Mr. Speaker, this is enormous. The reason for
using 37 years to retirement age 65 is that from age 23,
when employees are normally enrolled in a plan, it


Bermuda House of Assembly takes approximately five years to accumulate more
than $50,000 using an average annual return of 5 per
cent. After taking into consideration the findings of the report, industry discussions and advice from the Commission and recognising the long- term detri mental impact on retirement pension fund account balance from
high fees charged to pension plan members, the Government has decided that some limitations of the
amount of fees that administrators charge for [plan administration] should be introduced as specified in the
Regulations.
Mr. Speaker, during the review, it was also
identified that some administrators were receiving in-vestment advisory fees for which they were not providing such service directly. It has been decided to prohibit
such fees from being received as it fell outsid e of the
scope of plan administration services.
Mr. Speaker, the Government is not insensitive
to the financial implications that the proposed limita-tions will have on the plan administrators and will provide a transition period before such Regulations be-come operative. This will provide the Commission and
the industry with further time to effectively implement
the requirements under the Regulations. It is expected
that the Regulations will commence in early 2026.
Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, the Regulations will
introduce clear and enforceable caps on administration
fees, prohibit the receipt of investment advisory fees where no service is provided and establish penalties for
violations. Importantly, there will be a t ransition period
to allow administrators and industry to adjust. This ensures fairness to all parties while prioritising the need
of pension members. Mr. Speaker, this initiative reflects
this Government's wider commitment to financial fair-ness, transparency and the protection of workers.
There is also another promise outlined in the Throne Speech, fulfilled and now delivered through these Reg-ulations.
I would like to acknowledge the tireless effort
of the Minister of Finance, the Ministry of Finance, the
Attorney General's Chambers, the Pension Commission and all those who contributed to this process. Their
work has produced Regulations that are fair, balanced
and in the best interest of the people of Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, with these Regulations, Bermudians will be able to keep more of what they save, and
our pension system will be stronger, fairer and more
secure. I therefore comm end the National Pension
[Scheme] (Occupational Pensions) (Administration Fees) Regulations 2025 to this Honourable House.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the issues facing Bermudians today is that this regime that was put in place
in 1998 and in effect in 2000 as the Minister outlined,
has not really been around long enough for many older
Bermudians to properly build the balances that we need. And w e saw some of the statistics that he provided. And if I did my . . . if I got the statistics right and
I did my math right, I believe I found an average bal-ance of around $60,000. Or I heard through some other
avenue, I believe the CFA Breakfast said an average
pension balance was around $150,000.
You can imagine, Mr. Speaker, that when one
goes to retire, that will not go very far. You can also imagine that there are many high earners in Bermuda
that are skewing that balance up. And we are not so worried about them, but there must therefore be many
whose pension balances are lower.
So certainly, work needs to be done to help
people get the pensions that they need. And to be clear
for those listening, and we are talking about the occupational pensions, the private pensions, for people working in the private sector, where they have an employer provided pension, they put in 5 per cent. Their
employer puts in 5 per cent, and it is a defined contribution. That means what's defined is how much you put
in. What's not defined is how much you get out. That is
up to how the investments perform and the vagaries of
the markets, which is why it is essential that people
start investing early. They take advantage of the compounding impact of investments, and they avail themselves of low -cost investments, low fee investments.
And I am not a financial advisor, but I am pretty
sure this is what any financial advisor would be saying. So, we contrast this to the public pensions. And the only
reason I am saying this, Mr. Speaker, I am getting a
couple of looks, but we are talking about two different
things and we will talk about that later today.
The public pensions, which we will talk about
today, are a defined benefit. Yes, you put money in, but it is guaranteed what you get out and the risk of that
goes on to the government. What we are talking about
today is your private pension, for those in t he private
sector, and the risk of your retirement funds go on you. So, as I mentioned, we definitely agree that it is important to cap fees. So certainly, the aim of this Bill, we
are in support of.


Bermuda House of Assembly I will note, I believe there are only five providers. If I check the Pension Commission website, perhaps going down to four, because as we know that two
companies have merged. So, you can imagine that that
is going to reduce options and reduce competition in
this space.
I thank the [Junior] Minister for providing the information about the fees in Bermuda versus other juris-dictions. I think we understand that doing business in
Bermuda necessarily carries higher costs in jurisdictions, and my intent here is not to carry wat er for the
Bermuda pension fund industry, but it is also to admit
that anybody who has done business in Bermuda
knows that it is more expensive. So, we do have to take
some of those numbers with a grain of salt. I do not
think we can expect that companies in Bermuda dealing with the number of customers or members as they
say that they have, will be able to achieve the same low
cost operational that those companies overseas do.
So, I am just putting that out there.
One of the concerns that we have is that these
fee caps may cause a reduction in competition in the industry. We would have liked to have seen these as
part of a more holistic approach. We like to talk about
cutting red tape. Where do the costs for operati ng these
pension funds in Bermuda go to? Well, they have to pay
rent. They have to hire employees to deal with, for example, the exceptions that allow people to take money out of their pensions, and the more of those there are,
the more support that people will need. So, there's
costs there.
So, in fact, every time the Government allows
people to take money out, in fact, in a different way,
they are increasing costs on the pension fees. There is software that people have to get. Obviously, the rules
we have in Bermuda are specific to Bermuda. So, they
are not able to get the software off the shelf. So, one of the things we would have liked to have seen, perhaps,
is transparency.
So like, how could more transparency be given
to customers, members, so they know what those fees
are, and that they in turn can put pressure on their employers to shop around and reduce those fees. And I
understand that in some jurisdictions, they have cr eated legislation about that, and it has then resulted in a
reduction in fees. So, while this top- down imposition of
the fee caps is well -intentioned, and certainly directionally correct, we must understand that it would only be part, one part of a bigger picture.
We may see the loss of a pension provider in
Bermuda, thereby reducing competition. I know that some providers negotiate the packages with the employers who typically arrange that, and some are on
fixed fees. So not everything can get translated to a
percentage cost. So hopefully, employers can negotiate good packages.
By imposing this fee structure, probably most
providers will just go ahead and charge the maximum
fees available under this fee structure, even in situations where they may have charged lower fees.
That perhaps will be a knock -on effect.
You know, what is the reporting and compliance requirements on these companies that add cost,
Mr. Speaker? We like to hear about cutting red tape. You know that the One Bermuda Alliance in general is
looking to cut red tape. We know that the government
is looking to cut red tape. I would have liked to see
these Regulations come with some information about how things were being streamlined and made less expensive for the pension providers in Bermuda so that they could pass those cost savings on. And I see the
Premier is writing, so perhaps we will get some information about forthcoming stuff. I don't know. That
would be good to know.
But really, Mr. Speaker, I am going to go back
to where I started. The biggest problem is the low bal-ances that retirees have and the low contributions.
Now, we are going to talk later today about the
public pensions. And it is not defined contribution, it is defined benefit. But their contributions are on the order
of 20.0 per cent going up, actually, 10.0 per cent from
the employer and 10.0 per cent from the employee versus the private pensions [which] is 5.0 [per cent] and
5.0 [per cent]. We know that some other jurisdictions
have 7.5 per cent for each.
So, I think that this would be a good time for
the government to consider how it can help people save more by also looking at that variable of the equation.

I know in the past, when we
have discussed the pensions, for example, while the One Bermuda Alliance supported hardship withdrawals
for things like COVID -19, we didn't necessarily support
other withdrawals because we know the importance of compounding and building these investments up. And
some people on the Government benches said, oh, we were being paternalistic. Well, you must admit that the
whole creation of a legally required pension is paternal-istic. If that's your line of thinking.

[Inaudible interjection]

But to good impact. For example, is it paternalistic that we have to have third- party
insurance when we drive on the roads? No, it is a good
public benefit. So, I would urge this Government to look
further at this issue and look at things like how to promote transparency in law, how to promote competition
and how to promote helping Bermudians grow their pension balances faster.

Afternoon, yes.

Hon. Jache Adams: I wanted to rise and give voice to
my support for this Bill and thank the Junior Minister for
bringing this —Regulations, sorry —for bringing these
Regulations forward.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, prior to me taking
this current role, I sat as the Junior Minister of Finance.
And this was one of my focusses. And so, I am appreciative to see it has gotten to this stage.
Mr. Speaker, when Bermudians put their hardearned dollars into their pensions, they do so with the
expectations that the licensed pension administrators
will invest their money. And that over time, their contributions are combined with the interest from t hose investments. There will be enough savings for them to
maintain a certain standard of living, a sense of security, dignity, and a peace of mind throughout their retirement. But for too long, we believed that too much of those savings had been drained a way by what we believe are higher -than- normal fees.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell you first hand because I
have seen it for myself. Instances when pension administrators were charging more in fees than the interest
they were earning for individuals. So, their savings was depleting, not because of poor investment choices, not
because of lack of contributions, but because of these higher -than- normal fees. And so that leads us to today.
And so, I am proud to stand with a Government that
says clearly that those days are coming to an end.
Mr. Speaker, to further the point of the issue we
are addressing, is that in 2022 the Pension Commission requested an independent assessment from an internationally recognised institution to do an assessment on private pensions and the fees that are con-structed under the private pension . . . or the administrators. And that report came out and said what many
Bermudians already feel. And that is that these pension
fees are just far too high. The report found that these
fees in Bermuda, as the Junior Minister spoke about
earlier, on average were double the international average.

Hon. E. David Burt: Double.

Hon. Jache Adams: Yes, Mr. Speaker —

Double?
Hon. Jache Adams: —the average Bermudians were
paying twice as much in admin fees as internationally recognised . . . or international averages. Double, twice
as much.
[Crosstalk]

Hon. Jache Adams: Mr. Speaker, just in case there is
any doubt as to my position, and I believe the position of the Government, we will categorically say that we
were not here . . . we were not elected to defend the
profits of pension administrators. In 2017, we said that
we would put Bermudians first, and we are here today
doing just that.
And so now, how did we get here? Well, in
2019, Parliament amended the law that allowed or
gave the Minister of Finance power to cap these fees. It was a clear demonstration to me that this Government is not afraid to act.
The Pension Commission then completed their
initial review in 2021, and since which have urged the
pension administrators to lower their fees. We received
the independent report back in 2022, and after consulting with industry stakeholders in 2023 and 2024, we still
saw these fees higher than expected. And so therefore,
as far as we are concerned, the case was undeniable.
Bermudians deserved better. And today we are deliv-ering on that promise.
So, what does this Bill in practical terms mean?
Well, if I can try to simplify, and I appreciate the Junior Minister in his efforts as well, but if I can simplify, it
means simply that admin fees will be kept at 1.25 per
cent for larger accounts, and 0.5 per cent for smaller
accounts. As such, an average worker with more than $50,000 in their account will save approximately $750
a year. Over a career that adds up to more than
$75,000 in extra retirement funds. For smaller balancers, the annual savings is about $125, which adds up
to be more than $14,000 over a career. That is a real
difference. It is money in the hands of Bermudians and
not syphoned away in excess fees.
Mr. Speaker, I know there will be those who resist this reform. We accept that. Some administrators,
as the Honourable Member who just took his seat, will
say that the cost of business is too high. Some will say that service, perhaps, is likely to suffer. But I will say
this. I am reminded, in doing my research, of when the
UK capped their fees in 2015 to 0.75 per cent, I might
add. When the UK capped their fees, their pension industry did not collapse. It adapted. And so, I am here to
say that Bermudians d eserve no less.
Mr. Speaker, let me also emphasise that this
Government has not acted in isolation. The Pension
Commission established an advisory committee with
representatives from employers and unions, insurers,
international companies, and pension administrators
thems elves. Their voices were collectively heard, but
after careful consideration, the Government made the
decision to act in the best interest of the people. This is


Bermuda House of Assembly not arbitrary. This is responsible governance rooted in
evidence and consultation.
And so, Mr. Speaker, these Regulations are
about more than percentages and fee schedules. It is
about whether we believe Bermudians deserve the same protections as workers around the world. It is
about whether we will continue to allow companies to
syphon off retirement savings unchecked or whether
we will stand up and simply say enough is enough.
When a Bermudian worker looks at their pension statement, they should see savings that are truly
theirs. So, with these Regulations we are saying to
every Bermudian that your Government will not sit idle
while companies profit at your expense. We will figh t for
your future. We will fight for your families. We will fight for your dignity throughout your retirement.
Mr. Speaker, again, I say that we were not
elected to maintain the status quo. We were elected to
care. We were elected to protect. We were elected to
deliver. And today, again, I thank the Junior Minister for
bringing these Regulations forward because, ag ain,
this is exactly what we are doing.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
[Desk thumping]

Does any other Member wish to make a
contribution?
Any other Member?
Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the
current Junior Minister and the former Junior Minister for their support and their work on this particular matter.
I must however say, Mr. Speaker, I was disappointed to hear what comes to be support with condi-tions from the Opposition because it's either you are for something, or you are against it.

Thank you for the clarification.

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. E. David Burt: Again, Mr. Speaker, support with
conditions.
Now, Mr. Speaker — [Inaudible interjection and laughter ]
Hon. E. David Burt: Now, Mr. Speaker, I find it particularly interesting on this particular matter, especially as a result of the Honourable Member who said he is not there to carry water for the public —I mean, for the pension administrators, yet he did not declare his inter est
that he has inside of the holdings of a pension admin-istrator.

Any member of the public is
entitled to visit the parliamentary website where my interests are well declared.
Also, I have no specific interest in this that
many other members of the public do not also have as
highlighted in the Standing Orders on those parts. So,
I would appreciate if the Premier [does] not insinuate
poor intent on my part and I would ask him to retract
that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

He indicated he has no interest, Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Well, Mr. Speaker, it is clear in the
public domain that the Honourable Member has a declarable interest in a pension administrator in this country.
However, Mr. Speaker, the reality is that —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. E. David Burt: —he does.
But the reality is that what we find ourselves
getting from the Opposition is the defence of the status
quo mask ed—my opinion, mask ed—in, oh, yes, we
support , but.
Here is the reality, Mr. Speaker. This Bill today
is about fairness. And when we talk about the history of
this, Mr. Speaker, you and I both know what this is about. This was a United Bermuda Party on their way
out in 1998, putting in place a Bill that has limited
amounts of pension administrators. And the fact is that
$500 million of fees have gone to companies mostly owned by the persons who have declarable interests
on that side, Mr. Speaker.

[Inaudible interjections ]

Hon. E. David Burt: That is the reality. Whether it is
the former leaders of the UBP who had when these things were set up, $500 million of fees —$500 —

[Inaudible interjections ]


Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: That’s right.

Hon. E. David Burt: —$500 million.

Ah!
Hon. E. David Burt: Public policy, good. But let's be
clear. There are many things that are masked in public
policy to ensure. And so, when we are talking about
fairness and other types of items, the view would be, why not? Why not in any way, shape or form, open
those matters up?
But I digress, Mr. Speaker. It is an important
point to make. And people must understand and remember. And so, when this particular piece of legislation was changed in 2019, at that point in time, under the former Minister of Finance (the Honourable Member for constituency 21) . . . and it has been back and
forth with pension administrators. And my job as Minister of Finance was to say, put the foot down and say,
we are going to make these changes —$500 million dollars over 20 years is more than enough.

Yes.

Hon. E. David Burt: And make sure that money goes
to retirees.
The Honourable Member said, with these
changes the average person entering the workforce will
have $75,000 more in their retirement balance when
they retire—$75,000!
Look at the total workforce. You can add up the
numbers yourself. That is what we are doing, Mr. Speaker, today. That is fairness. And that deserves full
support, in my opinion, and not unqualified support.
But here's the thing, Mr. Speaker, these Regulations will pass and we will continue. We will tackle
matters related to banks and fees and the items that are being done there. We will tackle matters of financial
fairness because that is what the people of this country
voted for. And that, Mr. Speaker, is what this Government will deliver.
Thank you.

When w e broke this morning for lunch,
we had completed the first two items on the O rder


Bermuda House of Assembly Paper. With the agreement of both sides, we are going
to do [Item] No. 4 before we do [Item] No. 3. So, [Item]
No. 4 is in the name of the Minister of National Security.
It's the second reading of the Road Traffic Amendment
and Validation Act 2025.
Minister.
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you . Mr. Speaker, and
good afternoon to you.

[Are there] a ny objections?
There are none.
Continue.

BILL

SECOND READING

ROAD TRAFFIC AMENDMENT
AND VALIDATION ACT 2025

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to
present for the consideration of this Honourable House
the Road Traffic Amendment and Validation [Act] 2025.
This Bill seeks to clarify Bermuda's legislative framework for the use of speed detection devices in road traffic enforcement. Under the current provisions of the
Road Traffic Act 1947, enforcement of speed limits relies on the admissibility of evidence collected by speed detection devices. However, the existing legislation
does not have a provision that authorises the use of
speed detection devices which have been used and are
currently in use by the Bermuda Police Service.
Mr. Speaker, the Bill before this Honourable
House introduces amendments that will resolve legal
uncertainties. The Bill provides the definition for an “ approved speed detection device” and expands the definition of a “ qualified technician” to include officers designated by the Commission of Police as authorised to
operate speed detection devices.
It also inserts new section 7 A which authorises
the use of approved speed detection devices by qualified police officers and confirms the admissibility of evidence from such devices in court proceedings. Additionally, the Bill includes a validation clause to retroactively confirm that all speed detection devices previ-ously used by the Bermuda Police Service are deemed
to have been lawfully approved and that all tickets and
prosecutions relying on such devices are valid.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is critical to ensuring legal clarity and continuity in road traffic enforcement. By eliminating an existing ambiguity, it strength-ens the enforceability of speeding offences, supports the integrity of past and ongoing prosecutions, and al-lows our legal framework to keep pace with the evolution of traffic enforcement technologies.
Mr. Speaker, the amendments also empower
the Minister of Transport to approve new speed detec-tion devices by order, providing the flexibility needed to
respond to future advances in technology without requiring further amendments to the Road Traffic Act. Importantly, the Bill preserves the necessary checks and
balances by requiring that only designated officers may operate these devices.
These changes also reinforce the Government's broader commitment to improving road safety,
reducing instances of dangerous driving, and ensuring
that the enforcement of speed limits is carried out in a
fair, transparent, and legally sound manner. By validating the prior use of these devices and authorising their continued use, the Bill ensures that our traffic enforcement efforts remain effective and credible.
Mr. Speaker, I therefore commend the Road
Traffic Amendment Act 2025 to this Honourable House
and invite Honourable Members to support this im-portant and timely update to Bermuda's traffic laws.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of all, fundamentally, the One Bermuda
Alliance does support this Bill and efforts made by the
police to crack down and police our roads. We have a
few concerns, obviously, being . . . one question that
comes to mind is , When did these speed detection devices begin being used?
Because it begs the question that this legislation probably should have come either entrain along
with them being used or prior to, to avoid having to go
back and validate in the past . . . convictions and various things because that creates a bit of a bottleneck of
saying, Well, you're using speed detection devices and
have been using them, but they're unlegislated. So that
is kind of one of the concerns that we have.
Also, with the retroactive validations, I just
would like to know whether or not this is being properly
communicated to the public to avoid any potential blow-back from the courts or any cases that have been tried
previously.
So, I am really hoping to hear a bit from the
Minister on whether those cases and that knowledge is
being pushed out so that we do not have any potential
challenges or things that may be left up to interpretation.
The final thing I would like to know is what was
the delay of this legislation that it came after the speed detection devices came in?


Bermuda House of Assembly So, with that, though, we do support the Bill.
We hope that it does close up the loopholes necessary
to continue to police and to have our police armed with
the speed detection devices for the 21st century. And
hopefully that yields some good results.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Member .
Does any other Member . . . Minister Darrell.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And as the Minister with responsibility for
Transport, I think it is only right that I speak on this Bill
in support of my colleague who is bringing it, the Minis-ter of National Security. And everyone knows that enforcement of the roads does lie with the police.
And I want to say thank you to the Ministry of
National Security for bringing this legislation to make
sure that we are getting things right when it comes to
the enforcement of our roads and the sometimes lax
behaviours on our roads. Because what this all comes down to is a matter of safety. And although this Bill is
being brought by the Ministry of National Security, we
all would know that the Road Safety Council does sit
and lie with the M inistry of Tourism and T ransport , Culture and Sport.
And I just like to take this opportunity to thank
[them for] the work that they are doing, the chair man,
all of the public officers and the entire board of the R oad
Safety Council, because it is matters like this and others that they are often bringing to the attention of indi-viduals. They do great work in highlighting the important role that the police who are enforcing traffic
laws as well as us as road users must take to actually make sure that we are keeping each other safe. Because, as they say, if it is not you today, it could be your
family member tomorrow or anyone else, a close friend.
So while I am on my feet not to get into the
technicalities of who, what, where, why, I would like to support this legislation and support the work that has
been done through all technical officers, all road users
to make sure that we are getting the legis lation right for
the users so that your children, my children and every-one else's children are safe on our roads.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution? None other?
Minister .

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
thank you, colleagues.
If I could respond to the Honourable Member
on the other side as to his two questions. His first question was, Mr . Speaker, is this Bill being rushed to cover
up any illegal activity or whatever in the past ? Basically .
So, my answer to that is not at all, Mr. Speaker. This
Bill is a responsible and transparent legislative response to a long- standing legislative gap. It affirms
that devices by the Bermuda Police Service were employed in good faith and ensures that future enforcement is conducted under clear statutory authority.
And the second question, in a nutshell, was
what is the impact of the Bill on ongoing, past or current
court cases? The validation clause in the Bill ensures
that all tickets , all prosecutions relying on speech detection devices prior to the Bill's commencement are deemed valid. This avoids disruption in our courts and
protects the rights of both the state and the accused.
And with that, Mr. Speaker, if there's any other
questions or comments . . . Sorry, Mr. Speaker. I've got
a lot of speakers behind me.
Mr. Speaker, I now move that the Bill be committed.

It has been proposed that all four
clauses be considered at this time.
Any objections to that?
None. Continue, Minister.

Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 1 provides the title of the Bill.
Clause 2 amends the meaning of “ qualified
technician” to include persons designated by the Commission er of Police as qualified to operate approved
speed detection devices, ensuring that only authorised personnel may use these devices for enforcement purposes.
Clause 3 inserts section 7A to allow the police
officers who are qualified technicians to measure the speed of vehicles using devices approved by the Minister and that the readings from such devices are ad-missible as evidence in proceedings under the Act unless disproved.
Clause 4, Madam Chairman , retroactively validates the use of speed detection devices by the


Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda Police Service before the commencement of
the Bill. It ensures that any device used prior to the
coming into operation of the Act is deemed to have been an approved speed detection device.
Any summons or prosecution based on such a
device is deemed to have been lawfully issued or commenced and no conviction, penalty, or other legal consequence arising from the use of these devices is invalidated solely because the device was not formally
defined as approved at the time.

You're correct, [Madam Chairman. ] Thank you.
Just on clause 2, the word in there is a little bit
. . . because it says “ a person designated by the Commission er of Police as being qualified to operate —.”
And I wonder why not say “an officer?” Does
this mean that, for my clarity, does this mean that it
could be a non- police officer that is qualified and able
to be designated by the Commissioner to operate the
speed detection devices? Because when you go to
clause 3, it specifically says a police officer who is a
qualified technician.
So, I just wanted to highlight that it does get a
bit ambiguous . Right?

When you got one clause in
there that says “ police officer ” specifically and another
that says “ person designated. ”
And just along the lines of this retroactive validation in clause 4, I really hope that I can get a bit more
information as to why it was necessary for that to occur
and why the legislation wasn't applied when these
speed detection devices were brought into effect and
being used.
Just for clarity for the folks who are listening,
wouldn't the proper way be that if you bring in some-thing, you know that you are now utilising more updated
technology, that the legislation for that be entrain and
updated hopefully before convictions and things oc-curred utilising the unlegislated speed detection devices. So , I just want to know why this speed detection
device had to be utilised before and prior to the legislation being in effect. That's all from me.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Member s who wish to
speak to clauses 1 through 4?
There being no others, Minister, would you like
to answer?
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
The first question when it says “ qualified technician ” is simply meant to capture either police officers
or traffic enforcement officers should the need require
such. And in clause 3, you will see that we have inserted section 7A to allow police officers who are qualified technicians to measure the speed of vehicles [using devices] designed and approved by the Minister.
And clause 4 recognises that the speed retroactively validates the speed detection cameras. And in
answer to the question, I thought that I mentioned before we went into Committee, but I would reiterate it,
that this Bill is a responsible and transparent legislative
response to a long- standing legislative gap. It affirms
that devices used by the Bermuda Police Service were
employed in good faith and ensures that future enforcement is conducted under clear statutory authori ty.
Thank you.

[Crosstalk]

Before we do that, can you move that
clauses 1 through 4 be approved?
Hon. Michael A. Weeks: I would like to move, Madam
Chairman, that clause s 1 through 4 be approved.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: It has been moved that clauses 1
through 4 be approved.
Any objections to that? There are none.
So approved.

[Motion carried: Clauses 1 through 4 passed.]

It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Any objections to that? There are none.
So moved.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Road Traffic Amendment and Validation Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the
whole House and passed without amendment.]

Proceedings resumed at 2:20 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

ROAD TRAFFIC AMENDMENT
AND VALIDATION ACT 2025

Members, we sought your indulgence
just now to do [Item] No. 4 instead of [Item] No. 3, so
we will go back to [Item] No. 3.
[Item] No. 3 is the second reading of the Public
Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation ) Amendment Act 2025 in the name of the Premier and Minister
of Finance.
Minister, Premier.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the
Public Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation )
Amendment Act 2025 be now read a second time.

Are there any objections? There are none.
Continue.

BILL

SECOND READING

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION (PSSF
STABILISATION) AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it should go without saying that
this is a serious Bill for a serious moment in Bermuda's
history. And, Mr. Speaker, it rests on a very simple idea
with profound meaning. A pension promise to public officers must be a pension paid to public officers. That
promise honours the teacher in the classroom, the
community health nurse, the officer on patrol, the firefighter on call, the corrections officer on duty, and the
many women and men whose public service keeps
Bermuda running day in [and] day out, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. A pension promise is only as
strong as the fund that pays it. And if the fund is weak,
the promise is weak. If the fund is secure, the promise
is secure.
This afternoon, Mr. Speaker, it is my expectation that this Honourable House will pass this Bill to secure this promise by stabilising the Public Service Superannuation Fund for the long term. Mr. Speaker, we
did not arrive here overnight. In 2014, the then Government froze pension benefit increases, an early but difficult recognition that the system could not be sustained, and action needed to be taken. In 2019, a systemic and systematic review began in earnest.
Since then, there have been years of actuarial
analysis and scenario testing, repeated C abinet consideration, meetings with unions and staff across the public service, consultation with Member s of the legislature, with the goal of ensuring that whatever we bring
to this Honourable House is fair, phased, and workable.
As we know, Mr. Speaker, the Fiscal Responsibility
Panel has urged reform. Even the O pposition party has
urged reform. And public officers themselves, whether
they be their representatives from the unions or the
workers themselves, have asked, when will action be taken to ensure that this promise can be made secure?
Mr. Speaker, that time is now. And this is a
Government that has acted and will continue to act to
ensure that fiscal credibility of the Bermuda G overnment is restored.
Since returning to office, this progressive Labour Party Government has restored fiscal balance after years of deficits, delivering Bermuda's first budget
surplus in 23 years. This Bill is just one more step in
ensuring that the country's fiscal affairs are in order by securing the pension promise in a way that protects
workers, while also protecting the country's finances.
Mr. Speaker, the case for change. The most
recent valuation tells a stark story. The Public Service


Bermuda House of Assembly Superannuation Fund is roughly 37 per cent funded,
with an unfunded liability a little over $1 billion. On current course, if nothing changes, the Fund's assets are
projected to deplete in 2044, 19 years from now, Mr. Speaker. Let us be plain about that. For every dollar or
future pension benefit promise, there are about
37 cents in assets to meet that promise. On the present
trajectory, those assets would be exhausted within the
working lifetime of most Bermudians who are currently
in or about to enter the public service.
If we look away from that reality, Mr. Speaker,
the liability does not disappear. It only migrates onto the
Consolidated Fund and ultimately onto the taxpayer of
Bermuda. It would be unfair to retirees, reckless to public officers, and irresponsible for the country's finances
to do nothing. And that is why we must fix this and fix it
for good.
So, Mr. Speaker, the choice before this Honourable H ouse today is not change or no change. The
reality is it is managed reform today or crisis tomorrow.
This Bill is necessary to avoid that crisis which we have
seen befall many countries around the world where governments have not taken the required action.
Mr. Speaker, three principles have guided this
package from the outset. First is fairness, which should
be very familiar from our election campaigns. The
changes are shared and they are phased. We protect take- home pay as contributions increase. We retain
choice by still allowing early retirement and persons to
still withdraw their pensions at the same amount of time as they would have now.
But we make the Fund . . . we make it fair to
the Fund through actuarial reduction so that those who
want to draw earlier and therefore receive benefits longer receive a lower amount. We modernise the benefit formula so benefits reflect a career's earnings and contributions, not what in some cases may be a single year's anomaly .
Sustainability, the second principle. We move
the effective retirement age to reflect longer lives.
Measuring the benefits over that 10- year average, replace a fixed commutation factor that has led to a significant depletion of assets with an actuarially reviewed
factor that is done at every actuarial valuation. And we embed the requirement for consultation with the actuaries and the Public Service Superannuation Board after every actuarial report so that future changes ensure
the Fund is sustainable.
And finally, principle of responsibility. We act
with care for those who have served in our public service, those who are now serving, and those who are yet
to serve. Making changes at a pace that public officers
can plan around. And when it comes to the ultimate responsibility, we protect the C onsolidated Fund and Bermuda's taxpayers from the future shock of a pension
plan that has run out of assets to pay benefits.
What the Bill does, Mr. Speaker. Without going
into clause by clause, as I'm sure we'll have extensive debate in Committee, I will explain what the Stabilisation Bill does to the principal Act, and why.
The most consequential element to the increase is the earliest age at which a member may retire
with an unreduced pension. For most public officers, those persons who we call the non- special group, Mr.
Speaker, and that would be everyone from teachers to
regular public officers in the various buildings, persons who may be also BIU [Bermuda Industrial Union] members in various industrial rolls, et cetera. And special
groups, of course, are uniformed services, and that includes fire, prisons, and the police.
So, for most public officers, non- special group,
that age of the earliest time to receive an unreduced pension moves from 60 to 65. For uniformed services,
a special group, it moves from 50 to 55. The phasing
begins in 2027 and completes in 2035, increasing by one year every two years. This is the effective retirement age because at the point of which a person can
leave without any reduction, and it is the single strong-est lever for solvency for the F und.
It is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that even
with this reform, Bermuda's effective retirement age remains below the norms of many developed countries,
where 67 or beyond is increasingly standard. Aligning
with longevity while staying fair is principled and practical, and that is what we ar e delivering. However, Mr.
Speaker, we also have kept choice, and this is why consultation is important, because we have had multiple
rounds of consultation and one of the final rounds of
consultation that we had with all public officers on
July 4, there were some questions that were posed.
And what we did is that we made sure that we kept
choice while making it equitable. And so, if a member
retires before the unreduced age, their pension will be
actuarially reduced.
So, the lifetime of value of benefits remains fair
between those who elect to receive their benefits earlier and those who work to the unreduced age. This protects the Fund and respects individual circumstances,
Mr. Speaker. Contributions then rise modestly and in
stages.
For non- special group member s, contributions
move from 8 .0 per cent to 10.0 per cent. For special
group member s, from 9.5 per cent to 11.5 per cent.
These steps are spread over three years. Crucially, as
we know, Mr. Speaker, the Government has structured
salary offsets, so public officers do not see their takehome pay reduced as these changes phase in.
And now, Mr. Speaker, I remember Opposition
criticism of this pay deal with the public officers that was concluded before the last election. But here's the reality, Mr. Speaker. If it were not for that pay deal , that
protected take- home pay for workers, this Bill would not
be here today. That, Mr. Speaker, is how you build consensus. That is how you advance items that are critical
to the country's well -being.
And I think it's also important at this stage to
note, Mr. Speaker, because I think it is important when


Bermuda House of Assembly we talk about the long- term change of which we're making. Because this is not the first attempt at pension reform. In 2005, their contributions went from 5.0 per cent
to 8.0 per cent . And also, similarly went up for special
group member s from 6.5 per cent to [the] 9.5 per cent
it is now. But other changes were not made. And so, if
you make some adjustments, while not making the necessary adjustments , recognising that people are living
longer, you are only kicking the can down the road having to come back and back and back and make the
problem more difficult to fix. With this right now, we are
certain that we will be able to make this change and
make this fund sustainable into the future.
Mr. Speaker, the Bill also modernises the benefits formula of which we have spoken about. We know
that pension benefits currently are calculated on a final
salary basis. But in the future, they will move to a
blended average of the final 10 years of salary. Measuring over a decade is fair to all and more reflective of
the contributions that public officers make to the F und.
This change also guards against the outside effect of a
late grade jump on pension benefits, which would be
unfair given the [number] of contributions that someone
would have made over their time in office.
The Bill also updates the maximum ages of
service, the mandatory retirement ceilings. For most public officers, that cap ultimately rises to 70 from 68 ,
where it is now. And for the uniform services, it goes up
to 60 from the 55 where it is now. Mr. Speaker, I stress
the distinction because it is important to note there is a difference between the unreduced age, which is the ef-fective retirement age, the main thing that helps us to
make sure that the F und remains solvent, and the mandatory ceiling is the latest that a person must retire. And
so, I do not want persons to believe that because we
raised the maximum ceiling to 70, someone has to work to 70 in order to receive their pension. That is not cor-rect. And so , I want to make sure that is clear.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, we are also closing a
long-standing leak in the F und. At present, member s
may commute up to a quarter of their pension to a lump sum calculated by a fixed 11.5 conversion factor that
has not been revised since the principal Act was
brought into force 44 years ago. In an underfunded plan
like ours, a generous fixed factor overpays lump sum
and has been a significant contributor to draining the
assets in the F und. This Bill ends that practi ce and instead the commutation factor will be set on an actuarial
advice after each valuation and published by the Minister following consultation with the P ublic Service Superannuation B oard.
When the Fund strengthens, the factor that is
used will reflect that strength. When conditions are
tighter, where they are now, the factor will protect the
Fund. This change will ensure that commutations or
lump sum withdrawals no longer impact the health of
the Fund ensuring fairness. And quite plainly and
simply, Mr. Speaker, if the Fund is 37 per cent funded
where it is now, the withdrawals and lump sums should reflect that. As it continues to go up, the lump sum withdrawals reflect what that is, which m eans that a lump
sum withdrawal will not deplete the F und and it will be
in line with the F und's funding status. That is a very,
very important change, as I described, Mr. Speaker.
That change in and of itself, when looking at 2055, basically took the funding level from 77 per cent to
118 per cent , a significant difference, just by making
sure that the lump sum conversion factor, which it is
commonly known by, is set in line with the health of the
Fund.
So, Mr. Speaker, taken together, the stabilisation measures, increasing the unreduced pension retirement age in stages, increasing contributions, moving to that 10- year average, and replacing the fixed
commutation factor with one that matches the status of the Fund will move the F und from the path of depletion,
where we know it currently is on right now, to the path
of sustainability.
Mr. Speaker, during this work, which took a significant amount of time, as you can understand, and
energy, the actuaries modelled many scenarios. On the
do-nothing path, as we know, assets deplete in 2044.
On the stabilisation path in this Bill, the F und moves
away from depletion toward long- run full funding. The
precise funded ratio in a given year depends on invest-ment returns, inflation, retirement behaviour, and com-mutation take- up. But the direction is what matters, and
the direction certainly wil l be in a positive space from
now.
On investment return inflation, the modelling
assumes sensible long- run numbers. If markets underperform, inflation spikes. Improvement is slower. If they
outperform, it is faster. The critical point is that the basis
of public sector pensions has been corrected. And because commutation early retirement factors will be set
after each actuarial evaluation, the Fund can respond
to reality rather than remain fixed with assumptions
which may not be relevant for that time.
Now, Mr. Speaker, to our current retirees . As
we know, there are many persons who are wondering,
when will pension benefits increase? The freeze on
benefit increases since 2014 has been hard. Costs
have risen while benefits have not. This Bill, Mr.
Speaker, in itself does not grant an increase. But precisely because this Bill puts the F und on a sustainable
path, it creates the capacity for the government to re-sponsibly consider increases during this fiscal year after consultation with the actuaries and the Public Ser-vice Superannuation Board.
And Mr. Speaker, we intend to deal with those
particular matters prior to the end of the fiscal year so
they can be in place for the next fiscal year. And all
those matters will be handled during the budget session. But we will move forward with consultation with
union re presentatives, et cetera, to figure out what is
the level of pension benefit increases that we will be able to give, which is not going to negatively impact the
Fund.


Bermuda House of Assembly I must state that public officers are looking for,
or retired public officers are looking for direct cost -ofliving matches. I do not believe that that will be possible
because we need to make sure that we are keeping a
mind on the F und. But we will have those conversations
and discussions with the member s of the Public Service Superannuation Board.
Mr. Speaker, speaking to matters related to
consultation, we know that reforms of this scale cannot
be designed in a vacuum. Since 2019, in earnest, but
the work has started before because the Pension and Benefits Working Group has been working since 2014,
so [when] we came into office those things were going
forward. I remember the former financial secretary, the
late Anthony Manders, when I was first in the Ministry
of Finance, was working and progressed these particular matters. I know [that] the Bermuda Public Services
Union, under the leadership of the now Minister of
Economy and Labour, but when he was president, also
published a paper speaking about these matters and
the outcomes of the things related to the Pension and Benefits Working Group, so work has been taking place
for a long time.
But in 2019, we started the final work to make
sure that we can get all the understanding and actuarial
assumptions done so we can do the models to figure
out what will be the changes that we only have to make
once, not to kick the can down the road, so these mat-ters can move forward. And since 2019, the Government has engaged repeatedly with the Bermuda Public
Services Union, Bermuda Industrial Union, Bermuda Union of Teachers, Fire Service Association, Prison Officers’ Association, Bermuda Police Associat ion, other
stakeholders, including members of the Royal Bermuda Regiment. We shared options, we listened, and
there were many adjustments and changes that were
made during that time. That is how you try to get to a place where you build consensus. From that process
came a longer phasing of the changes.
The initial projections that had come back were
just to move the amounts in one year and to do those
things, and it was said, N o, you can't do that, let's phase
in the increases in contribution. The other matters were
set to be phased, some of the phasing was extended to
a longer period rather than a certain amount, so there
were a number of changes that were made. And this
robust process of consultation means a better final
package because many voices were heard and that
feedback was taken on boar d.
Now, Mr. Speaker, you have heard me say on
a number of occasions that Bermuda is not alone in this dilemma. Across the world, public pension systems
have had to move with the times. Countries have raised
retirement ages as life expectancy increases, they
have adjusted contribution rates, they have shifted
away from single- year final salary formulas, and they
have brought commutation and early retirement rules
back in line with actuarial reality. The details may differ
from all the reforms, but the direction is the same. So, in this, Mr. Speaker, we are the G overnment of Bermuda acting responsibly. It would be unu-sual and irresponsible to do nothing. But, Mr. Speaker,
we have seen from the history that this is not the record
of this G overnment. We are not afraid to take on the
difficult challenges and try to get to a point where we
can actually solve these things that have been talked
about for many years.
Mr. Speaker, there is another dimension to
this, and that is credibility. Investors and rating agencies look through to long- term obligations. A credible
stabilisation path for the PSSF [Public Service Superannuation Fund] supports confidence in Bermuda's finances, which in turn supports the various services on which Bermudians depend. Declining ratings, if the
country were to be downgraded due to this running out
of money because the fact that the pension fund does not have the funds to pay the benefits so taxpayers
must now pay these benefits, which is what we see in
some jurisdictions, that can lead to ratings down-grades, which will lead to higher interest rates and less
business in Bermuda. That is a fact.
And so, what is important to note is, Mr.
Speaker, when [I] or any future Minister of Finance
meets with rating agencies in the future, they will be able to demonstrate that we have removed a large liability from our balance sheet, which makes it more likely
that Bermuda's credit ratings can be upgraded.
Now what does this mean for people, Mr.
Speaker ? For a mid- career public officer who is planning around, you know, age 60, which has been the age
that it has been that you were able to retire, this Bill
says you still have time. We are moving the unreduced
age one year every two years. If you still wish to retire early, you can, but you will at least be allowed to plan
over what this will look like. Contributions will step up
modestly, but as we know, there is not going to be any
impact on take- home pay.
For uniformed officers or those in the special
groups, this Bill recognised the demand of service by
keeping the effective retirement age below general ser-vice and still below many international norms, while
moving it in stages that align with longer lives and the
modern realities in policing, fire, corrections, and defence. For [the] near retiree, the message is certainty.
The schedule is published, the path is clear, there is no
cliff edge, and there is time to plan. And for the current
retiree, as I said before, the message is that the Government is putting the F und on a sustainable footing so
that we can return to a place of pension benefit increases.
But the best policy, Mr. Speaker, must also be
met by implementation, and to implement this scale of
change is significant. And I want to thank the public officers who have been working overtime in compensation and benefits, dealing with all the various adjustments and changes of which have been made. We are
going to continue to work with the compensation and


Bermuda House of Assembly benefits section of government to continue to produce
materials to share with public officers.
It is difficult, Mr. Speaker, for these things to be
done on the exact basis because every circumstance
is different, but we will be able to put tools out for esti-mates. And what is important is the government is investing in a new pension system which will allow all persons to be abl e to access and see what their benefits
are, how they are accumulating, and those types of
things, so there would not need to be the emails right
now and persons having to look up the individual cir-cumstances. So, it is importa nt that we get the implementation right.
So, Mr. Speaker, politics, as we know, is about
choices. This Government has chosen, once again, to
do the right thing, even when it is hard. And I do not
want anyone, Mr. Speaker, to underestimate how difficult this process has been, and how many times governments have tried to get to the point of fixing the public sector pension system for good.
But once we do this, Mr. Speaker, Bermuda will
be in a place where we have removed this unfunded liability from our balance sheets, be in a place where
we have delivered balanced budgets and budget surpluses before a dime of corporate income tax has been
collected, and we are going to be in a place where we
can keep that promise to our public officers.
That is what this Bill does, Mr. Speaker. It protects the pensions of those serving today, the dignity of
those ready to retire, it protects the public finance to
support everything we do, and it protects the future by making sure the promise we make today is the promise
that will be kept tomorrow.
So, Mr. Speaker, as I close out my remarks, I
must remind H onourable Member s that this Bill has
been years in the making. It reflects all of the lessons
that have been taken on board from previous changes to freezes, to work of the Pension and Benefits Working
Group, and now to the work of the Pension Reform
Group. It reflects consultation with unions and staff association, advice of the actuaries, scrutiny of Cabinet,
legal advice, and the lived reality of public office rs. It is
fair, it is phased, it is c onstitutional, it is responsible,
and it is necessary.
To our public servants, I say, this is not about
taking something from you. It is about protecting what
is yours. To the people of Bermuda, I say, this is how
we keep faith, by securing the pension promise, which
will safeguard the public finances, so you no longer
have to worry about whether or not your taxes will go up to pay for pension benefits.
Mr. Speaker, this Government does not shy
away from hard problems. We face them, we consult, and we act, and we do so for care for people and respect for the facts, and that is what this Bill represents.
Before I take my seat, Mr. Speaker, I must
thank all the persons who made this progress possible. First, the Financial Secretary, Chidozie Of oego; Acting
Deputy Financial Secretary and Budget Director, Ms. Tina Tucker ; the Accountant General, Ms. Dionne Morrison -Shakir ; the Compensation and Benefits Teams,
Mr. Barclay Simmons ; the government actuaries ;
BTUC [Bermuda Trade Union Congress ] leadership; all
public officers who participated in the consultation to
ensure this Bill would pass, and of course, the w onderful lawyers at the Attorney General's section, drafting
section, who have been working with the Ministry of Finance to make sure we get this Bill right, as it has not
been easy at all, but we are there.
Mr. Speaker, unparliamentary language, but
this is a big deal. This is a major step forward, and I am
honoured on behalf of this Government to commend
the Public Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation) Amendment Act 2025 to this Honourable House
and move that it now be read a second time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Premier, for the presentation. And I
would also like to say thank you to the staff at the Ministry who provided us a very detailed briefing, and we
are grateful for that information, which helped us develop our understanding of the situation.
Quite a lot was covered by the Premier, and I
am going to maybe come at some of the items from a
different direction, Mr. Speaker. The first thing is to
note, of course, that we in the Opposition have been
calling for this change for a very, very long time. We
have been calling for reform both for the public sector
pensions, and we have also been calling for reform for
the Contributory Pension Fund, CPF, otherwise known
as social insurance. And earlier today, we were talking
about changes to fees that affected people with their private employer pensions.
So, I know a lot of people are listening, and I
just want to take a few minutes to highlight the differences between those things. So, if you work in the private sector and you have a private pension, the stuff we did in the morning applies to you. What we are talking about now does not apply to you. If you work in the
public sector, this is your pension.

And if you rely on social insurance, that is not what this is about. Social insurance, as
we have heard in the past, also has significant issues
that need to be addressed by this Government. We
hope that they will address those things like they have
addressed the public sector pensions.
Two key differences, and the Premier has actually talked about that , between the public sector pension and social insurance, is the public sector pension


Bermuda House of Assembly is a direct liability upon the government. It is a debt.
Those massive gaps in the public sector pension funding that the Premier recapped are liabilities for the government and impact our country's ability to borrow
money and to get ratings.
And as he mentioned, if there were to be a
shortfall, the taxpayer would be on the hook. Social insurance does not have that same connection. Cer-tainly , some people might have some question about
the timings. I know the Premier is very proud of this ac-complishment, and it is a great accomplishment. It is
what we were looking for. But I would put to you, Mr.
Speaker, six years, that is a long time. We would suggest it could have been done sooner, but we are glad
to see it now.
The Premier has talked about his Government's financial performance. We would characterise it differently. What he is calling a surplus for last year , we
call a $54 million deficit when you take into account the
off-balance sheet spending. Just like this pension fund
is a liability for the government. Now imagine if after the
decades of PLP G overnment, Bermuda's finances had
been in a stronger position. That would have given the
Government the flexibility to perhaps have a little bit
more of a glide path into these changes.
Imagine that this Government was not
strapped for borrowing and had more flexibility in bor-rowing again. It would have more flexibility in the changes that impact people. But we are where we are,
and six years later, we finally have the reforms that people need.

[Crosstalk]

Now, Mr. Speaker, the Premier also talked about how complicated this is, because
we know we have the various types of employees, they all have different benefits, and he mentioned about the
work that they will be doing to make sure people can
get the information. So, I urge the Government to invest
heavily to make sure every individual, because we
have heard in the past that the pensions are very personal, and people will need to do their planning and changes. So , we look forward to the Government doing
that, and I urge them to continue on that.
Now some timing on this. Again, I mentioned it
has taken six years. Now someone from the outside
might question, Was the timing based around an election, or maybe it was an issue with a credit ratings
agency? I don't know . But again, I am glad we finally
got here.

[Crosstalk]

The Premier mentioned the
lump sum conversion factor and the actuarial review,
and I think it is important to note that the review means
it could probably go up as well as down, with the health
of the pension in mind. And finally, Mr. Speaker, he talked about looking ahead. Again, that is not in this Bill, but it was in the
Statement . [The Premier] talked about wanting to be
able to increase pensions with the cost of living. Because I know myself, my colleagues, especially those
in the uniformed services, come with a lot of questions.
What happened to my cost -of-living increases? So , we
do look forward to seeing what happens there.
Now I do know that some of the information
that I was shown, show ed that if those cost -of-living increases are not put in place or delayed, the pension
fund will get a lot healthier a lot sooner. Once those cost-of-living increases are put on, obviously it is going
to slow down the increase in the health of the pension
fund. And I do not admire the Government having to
strike that balance, but I hope that they will do it care-fully.
And going back to things like the social insurance, actually going back to private pensions, it's worth
noting that private pensions are defined contribution.
You put your money in, and you get what comes out.
You are not guaranteed these outcomes versus this
pension, those in the public sector, luckily, are getting
this defined benefit. And thankfully, the Government
has finally, at least six years later, sorted it out so that
it will work and people can count on it for their retirement.
So, with that, Mr. Speaker, we do support this
Bill. We wish it had happened a lot sooner, and we urge
the government in the strongest terms possible to bring
a similar reform to social insurance or the Contributory
Pension Fund, which has a much larger unfunded liability than the $1 billion for the Public Service Superan-nuation Fund.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good afternoon.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I thank the Minister of Finance for bringing amendments to the Public
Service Superannuation Fund.
This Government has determined that we will
no longer kick the can down the road and ensure that we take the bull by the horns. This, to me, is not about mathematics, calculations, [and] actuarial reports. This
is about ensuring that for the public service workers that we provide them with adequate social protections after
retirement, ensuring that they have income security after retirement, ensuring that they can age in dignity, ensuring they have funds for their health, well -being, and
quality of life aft er retirement.
It has been a long journey as it pertains to us
identifying that we had a problem with our Public Service Superannuation Fund and ensuring that we take


Bermuda House of Assembly the necessary steps to make the adjustments that are
required. This Bill is a game changer for the PSSF.
Personally, I would have preferred gradual
changes over a period of time, which leads to greater
levels of sustainability of the Fund. But, Mr. Speaker,
we no longer have that luxury. It is a problem that we
were faced with and a problem we are now seeking to
address. The efforts should be applauded and it's commendable that we are finally ensuring that the social protection for our public service workers after retirement is put in a sustainable position.
I had the opportunity to be the President of the
Bermuda Public Service Union for some time. And in 2014, after I received the 2013 Actuarial R eport on the
state of the PSSF, I led a delegation of union leaders
from the Bermuda Trade Union Congress to British Columbia. We went to British Columbia because they also
had a defined benefit pension plan, but they were able
to turn around their pension plan from unfunded to a
funded position. And so, we said we wanted to get a
better understanding of what levers they utilised and
what framework they put in place to turn around their
pensions.
We also got an opportunity to meet with representatives from Air Canada, who is a private sector
company who had a defined benefit pension plan, and
have a better understanding of what they did to turn
around their pensions to where now their pensions went from being underfunded to overfunded, and they
have additional money in which they can invest.
And so , it was a matter of concern for me personally since 2014. At that point in time, my concern
was based off me being a representative for workers
and ensuring that we were part of a solution to ensure
that the workers who I represent had the social protection after retirement. And I think it was a role for all of us to collectively play.
And so, we did provide a set of recommendations at the time to the Government of the day. We iden-tified what worked in British Columbia, and we made
recommendations of how we believe those things could
be implemented in Bermuda. The recommendations
were very consistent with the recommendations that we
see now : adjust contributions, adjust how the benefit is
paid out, make adjustments to calculations, look to see
if we can get better investment returns on our funds.
And so, we took a reasonable approach mov ing forward. That was in February of 2014.
Mr. Speaker, in June of 2014, I was then appointed to the Pension and Benefits Working Group.
On that working group was the former F inancial Secretary, Anthony Manders; the CEO of the Pension Commission, Peter Sousa; the then Director of the Health
Insurance Committee, which was Col lin Anderson; the
Benefits Supervisor from the Accountant General ’s Department, which was Marilyn Cameron; the Director of
Social Insurance, Karen Daniels ; [and] a representative
from Cabinet, Travis Gilbert. And then we also had the ability to include ex officio member s when we needed
additional technical resources.
We were tasked to look at [ GEHI, Government
Employee Health Insurance]. W e were tasked to look
at the Social Insurance Fund and the PSSF. The rec-ommendations that emanated from that report that we
were asked to, or that committee, that we were asked
to consider, was considering changing the final average earnings, determining whether we should increase
the age at which an unrestricted pension is payable,
apply actuarial reductions on early retirements, remove the COLA [Cost -of-Living Adjustment] for current and
future pensioners, decrease the lump sum contribution
factor, and apply a 10 per cent reduction to the amount
of pensions payable to someone’s retirement with a
spouse who lacks the joint and survivor options.
We were asked to look at increased contributions, decrease the pension actuarial rate, have benefits be contingent on the funding status of the plan, con-vert to a DC [Defined Contribution] plan, and consider
operational structures. This was in 2014, underneath
the One Bermuda Alliance Government. You can see
that the factors we were asked to consider are very
much in line with the recommendations and the
changes to the legislation that we are putting in place
today.
So, when one says it took us six years , the journey began much more than six years ago. The One
Bermuda Alliance was looking at changes. They were
unable to use the recommendations from the committee to bring the changes into effect. The PLP did not
just adopt the recommendations of the committee but then sought to do another analysis of the plan. Recom-mendations have been provided, consultation has been
had, and we are here today.
This Government has taken reasonable and
measured steps to ensure that we safeguard the pen-sion plan for public service employees. So, when one
says it's tak en you long enough , well, the wait is now
over.
With these changes, we will put the plan on a
more sustainable glide path. Putting the plan on a more
sustainable glide path means we are reducing the unfunded liability over the years , and we are ensuring
post-retirement security for thousands of workers.
Thousands of current workers and thousands of former
workers.
I am glad that the Opposition supports this Bill
wholeheartedly. There has to be some admittance that
they were unable to execute what is actually being
done today, but we are here. It is in the best interest of
the workers of Bermuda, and I am pleased to be a
Member of the G overnment who has taken the bull by
the horns to ensure that we create sustainability in our
pension fund.
This has been a long 11- year journey for [me]
and it is personally satisfying to be on one side advocating for change and then 11 years later be in a


Bermuda House of Assembly position where you can implement the same change
you were advocating for over a decade ago.
So, Mr. Speaker, with those words, I thank the
Minister of Finance for his wisdom, his courage. I thank
the Ministry of Finance team. I thank all the stakeholders who have provided adequate feedback, and I thank
the workers for their patience in this matter.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Minister.
Does any other Member want to make a contribution at this time?
Any other Member ?
No?
Premier .

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I'm not going . . . I
thank the Honourable Minister of Economy and Labour
for his support and his work on this.
I can't say I was expecting anything different
from the O pposition today, but at least I note that they
are somewhat supportive of this particular change.
Though t he questions, of course, Mr. Speaker —

Thank you.
[Crosstalk]
Hon. E. David Burt: Hey, well, you know, wonders
never cease, Mr. Speaker. Wonders never cease. It's
hard for them, you know, to just, you know, give credit
where credit is due sometimes.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. E. David Burt: But what I will say is, Mr. Speaker,
is that —

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. E. David Burt: Pardon? Are you all getting excited?
[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. E. David Burt: You are getting excited.
What I would say is, Mr. Speaker, some of the
questions, I am not going to dignify them with a response because I do not think they befit the actual
gravity of this particular debate.
But on particular matters of which were stated,
I recognise the Honourable Shadow Minister did have
a brief. I was a little bit confused about his comments
when asking about whether or not the Government was
in a position to borrow money. I am not sure if he is
suggesting that the Government borrow money to put
into the pension fund. I have no idea what the relevance
around flexibility for borrowing was, but we do have a
balanced budget, a budget surplus, and there is no need to continue to increase government borrowing on
matters related to cost -of-living increases.
I think that my statements that I made earlier
stand firm, and we will examine those matters, and the
House of Assembly will have plenty of time to debate
those matters when they are brought during the Budget
Session.
But what I would say is, Mr. Speaker, the lack
of substantive questions means that the consultative
process, not only in the public sphere, not only with all
of our unions and stakeholders, but also with the Opposition, has yielded a space where there is great understanding, and therefore, Mr. Speaker, I move that
the Bill be committed.

Good afternoon, Member s. We are
now in Committee of the w hole [House] for further consideration of the Bill entitled Public Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation) Amendment Act 2025 .
I call on the Minister.

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I am going to take this slowly because we have
got a few clauses and a lot of meat. All right, Madam
Chairman, I would ask that the Committee of the whole
[House] take under consideration clause s 1 and 2.

It has been moved that we consider
clauses 1 and 2.
Are there any objections to that?
There are none.
Premier, please continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: No problem, Madam Chairman.
Clause 1 provides for a citation of the Bill and
gives the interpretation for the term “ the Fund.”


Bermuda House of Assembly Clause 2 states the objects of the Bill, which
are to stabilise the Public Service Superannuation
Fund and to prevent any deficiency in the F und from
having to be made out of a Consolidated Fund pursuant
to section 7(6) of the principal Act. Stabilisation of the
Fund means implementation of changes to address
current forecasted depletion date of 2044 so the assets
in place are sufficient to meet fund liabilities.

It has been moved that clauses 3 and
4 be considered.
Are there any objections to that?
There are none.
Continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 3 amends section 12 [entitled] “Contributions to be deducted from salary ” by increasing the
current monthly deductions from the salary of all con-tributors to the Fund. The increase in contributions of
2.0 per cent is spread over a three- year period, with increases of 0.7 per cent in October 2025, 0.6 per cent in
April 2026, and 0.7 per cent in 2027. The increase in
contributions will be offset by an increase in public officer pay per the pay framework agreed with the Bermuda Trade Union Congress.
In addition, c lause 3 repeals and replaces s ubsections (3) and (3A). Subsection ( 3) currently provides
that a teacher whose first employment with the government commences after the age of 57 years shall not
contribute to the F und unless he elects to do so.
This clause recognises that the eight -year
vesting agreement can be completed by teachers employed from the age of 60 due to an increase in the re-tirement age for teachers to 68 from 1 October 2025.
Just an important point, I'll get to it later inside of the
clauses, but we do know that all non- special group public officers outside of teachers are currently set at
68, and so this Bill will set teachers to be in line with all
the other non- special group public officers at 68 immediately, and therefore all t hese other adjustments are
being made.
Moving on, Madam Chairman, subsection (3A)
is similar to s ubsection (3) but applies to all other contributors except police officers, fire officers, prison officers, and member s of the staff of the Bermuda Regiment
whose first employment with the government com-mences after the age of 60 years.
This change is consistent with the change to
subsection (3), and with respect to both teachers and
all other contributors, the age will gradually increase to 62 years by 1 April 2035, allowing the eight -year vesting period. And this is something that had come up in
consultation, and people are asking the question as to the reason why this is something that was overlooked,
but this change is being made to ensure that we align
with those particular matters.
Clause 4, Madam Chairman , corrects an omission by inserting a reference to section 12(1B) into section 13 [entitled] “G overnment's contribution, ” to ensure
the government contribution is consistently applied to
all PSSF contributors.

Yes, thank you, Madam [Chairman] .
My remarks are with respect to this a mendment Bill , clause 4, which amends section 13 of the
principal Act, adding in the [subsection] ( 1B) to the section 12, which the Premier alluded to. My interpretation
of that is that ensures that going forward, member s of
the Bermuda Regiment, when they take a deduction
from their salary, it will be matched by the government
also making a payment into the F und on their behalf.
My question is, Is it the case that to date or until
this Bill passes, no such government payments were made, or have they been made in practi ce, but perhaps
just not in law?
Thank you.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Member s who wish to
speak to clauses 3 and 4?
There being no others, Premier . Okay.
I would like to remind the listening public that
we are in Committee of the whole [House] on the Public


Bermuda House of Assembly Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation ) Amendment [Act] 2025.
And I am sure those member s of our public
who are listening, they are listening keenly to see how
this will impact them. So . . . Okay. I hope you were able
to have a drink of water and clear your throat.

[Laughter]
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you. You are too funny,
Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, the question that was asked
is whether or not the government has made those con-tributions. The government does.

Okay. It has been moved that we now
consider clause 5. Are there any objections?
There are none.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Clause 5 repeals and replaces s ubsection
(1)(a), subsection (1)(b), subsection (1)(c), and s ubsection (1)(d), as well as the p roviso into section 19 entitled
“Circumstances entitling a c ontributor to p ayment .”
Subsection (1)(a) relates to police officers and
fire officers and currently provides, in part, that officers
below a certain rank are entitled to a pension upon retiring at the age of 55 years or upon completion of 25
years of service, whichever first occurs. Under clause
5, the age is reduced from 55 years to 50 years, then
gradually increases to 55 years by 1 April 2035. The
gradual increase in age reflects the change to the earliest age that pension member s can draw an unreduced
pension. Subsection (1)(b) relates to prison officers and
currently provides, in part, that officers below a certain rank are entitled to a pension up to the retirement age
of 55 years or upon completion of 21 years of service,
whichever first occurs. Under clause 5, the age is reduced from 55 years to 50 years, then gradually increases to 55 years by 1 April 2035. The gradual increase in age reflects the change to the earliest age
that member s can draw an unreduced pension.
Subsection (1)(c) relates to member s of the
staff of the Royal Bermuda Regiment and currently pro-vides that such member s are entitled to receive a pension upon their retirement at the age of 55 years or
upon completion of 25 years of service, whichever first occurs. Just as with the others, under clause 5, the age
gradually increases to 60 years by 1 April 2035, and the gradual increase in age reflects the change to the ear-liest age that pension member s can draw an unreduced
pension.
Subsection (1)(d) relates to all other contributors who are currently entitled to a pension upon retiring
at the age of 60 years. Under clause 5, the age gradually increases to 65 years by 1 April 2035. The gradual
increase in age reflects the change to the earliest age
that pension member s can draw an unreduced pension.
The proviso currently applies only to police officers, fire officers, and prison officers below a certain
rank and to member s or staff of the Royal Bermuda
Regiment, where such contributors retire upon completion of the prescribed 25 years or 21 years of service.
Their pensions are deferred until they reach the age of
50 years . Under clause 5, such contributors who retire
before reaching the age stated within the proviso may
elect to take a pension but with reduced monthly payments.
The proviso is further amended to include all
other contributors who retire at the age of 60 years pursuant to section 19(1)[(d)]. The monthly pension payments of such contributors will now be deferred, but
they may elect to take a pension with reduced monthly
payments.

It has been moved that we now consider clause s 6 through 8.
Are there any objections?
There being none . . . Continue.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, clause 6 inserts a new section 19A, [entitled] “ Reduced pension payments upon
early retirement .” Section 19A sets out the procedure
by which contributors referred to in paragraphs (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) of the proviso to section 19 who retire before reaching the ages stated therein and whose pensions are to be deferred may elect to take their pension
at reduced monthly payments. The amount of the reduced payments will be determined in accordance with
prevailing actuarial review and prescr ibed by notice issued by the Minister after consultation with the Board.
Clause 7 repeals and replaces subsections ( 1),
(1A), and (2) of section 22, [entitled] “A ge of compulsory retirement. ”
Subsection (1) applies to police officers, fire officers, and prison officers below a certain rank and to member s of staff of the Bermuda Regiment . Currently,
such contributors are required to retire at the age of 55 years. Clause 7 gradually increases the age at which
such police officers and fire officers are to retire in accordance with section 19(1)(a)(i) to (iv). The age at
which prison officers are to retire is in accordance with
section 19(1)(b)(i) to (vi). There is also no change . . .
was it (vi) before as well?
[Crosstalk]
Hon. E. David Burt: Got it. [Section 19(1)(b) ](i) to (vi).
There is no change with respect to member s of
staff of the Royal Bermuda Regiment who retire at the
age prescribed by the Royal Bermuda Regiment Governor's Orders 1993.
Similar gradual increases in age are made with
respect to teachers under subsection ( 1A) and with respect to all other contributors under subsection ( 2).
Under subsection ( 1A), the age at which teachers must retire gradually increases from 68 years to 70
years by the 1 April 2035. It is important to note that
teachers are currently required to leave at age 65, and
this change mirrors other non- special groups where the
mandatory retirement age has already been set at the
age of 68.
Under subsection (2) (still in clause 7), under
subsection (2), the age at which all other contributors
are to retire ( except police officers, fire officers, prison
officers, and member s of staff of the Royal Bermuda Regiment ) gradually increases from the current 68
years to 70 years by the 1 April 2035.
However, Madam Chairman, having noted that
all other public officers were increased by three years, the increases for this group of persons do not kick in until 2033. Because they were already moved from 65
to 68.

Thank you. Right. Okay. You said from
[clauses] 6 through 8.
[Laughter]

Hon. E. David Burt: Clause 8 amends section 24, [entitled] “ Deferred pensions ,” by gradually increasing the
age at which a contributor to whom that section applies
is entitled to a deferred pension payment from the cur-rent 60 years to 65 years by the 1 April 2035.
This change is consistent with the incremental
increase in age that staff are eligible to receive an un-reduced pension.

Yes, they are.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much.
Madam Chairman, clause 9 amends section
24A, [entitled] “ Special provision for c ertain contributors.” Currently, payment of a deferred pension to a
contributor to whom that section applies commences at the age of 60 years. Clause 9 gradually increases the
age to 65 years by 1 April 2035 by reference to the
dates and ages set out in section 19(1)(d).
Clause 10 amends subsection (3) of section 32
[entitled] “ Payment of pensions, ” by gradually increasing the age at which a teacher's pension accrues to him, if he continues in the public service beyond the
age specified in section 22(1A) and he does not elect
to defer his pension.


Bermuda House of Assembly Clause 11 repeals and replaces section 33,
[entitled] “ Rate of pension. ” Currently, a contributor is
paid a pension based on the average salary payable to
him immediately preceding the date of his retirement.
Clause 11 amends section 33 to provide that by 1 April
2035, a contributor will be paid a pension based on the
average salary payable to him in the 120 months immediately preceding the date of his retirement.
Clause 12 amends the proviso to section 34,
[entitled] “ Service qualifying for p ension, ” which relates
to police officers, fire officers, prison officers, and members of staff of the Royal Barbuda Regiment. The
amendment to section 34 is a result of the earlier
amendments to section 19(1)(a), (b) and (c) and deletes the reference to the age of 55 years and instead
refers to the age set out in section 19(1)(d).
Clause 13 amends section 40 [entitled] “ Commutation of p ension and reduced pension” by providing
for the Minister to amend by order the conversion factor under subsection (1) in relation to the lump sum in accordance with the prevailing actuarial r eview following
consultation with the Public Service Superannuation
Board.
And finally, clause 14 provides this Act to come
into operation on 1 October 2025, which is next week.

Yes, thank you, Madam [Chairman] .
My question is respect to clause 13, which outlines how the lump sum conversion factor can be adjusted with the actuarial inputs, a ctuarial review. I have
two parts to my question.
My first part is I presume that means that factor
could go both up and down from time to time. And my
second question is, are there any other structures anticipated towards the changes? For example, might
they say that there would be caps on the amount that it
could change in any given period, things like that?
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
Are there any other Member s who wish to
speak to clauses 8 [sic] through 14?
There are none.
I call on the Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
It is correct that it could either go up or down
depending on the funding status of the Fund. I'm not
expecting that there are going to be significant
changes. We did set it to come into place on 1 April 2027,
as we did not want any changes to affect persons who
may have been planning on retirement within the next 18 months, but the changes will happen after then. It is
my expectation that the reduction will be significant, but it will be determined by the actuaries and will go in consultation with the Public Service Superannuation Fund
Board.
So I do not want to state what it is, what it may
be, but I think it is important to note that if your F und is
not in a funded position and you are allowing people to withdraw as though your F und is in a fully funded position, it has a significant negative impact because that's
cash that is being taken out now, which does not enjoy
the compounding of interest over time, which means that the Fund is demonstrably weaker. So , the reality is
that, yes, it can be up; yes, it can be down, but it will be
set, and this is a transparent matter.
[It is] very important that we are embedding inside of this particular Bill consultation with the Public
Service Superannuation Board on these particular matters, which before was something that was voluntary. Now it is going to be required by legislation to ensure
that the representatives of unions, of whom are the
ones who represent the people who benefit from these
funds, are able to be involved in those decision- making
processes.

Okay. Thank you.
Are there any other Member s who wish to
speak to clauses 1 through 2 . . . I'm sorry, [clauses]
8 [sic] through 14?
The others have already been approved, so
you can't speak to them.
There are none.
Premier.
Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I move that clauses 9
through 14 be approved and stand part of the Bill.

It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Are there any objections to that?
There are none.
So approved.
[Motion carried: The Public Service Superannuation
(PSSF Stabilisation) Amendment Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed
without amendments.]
[Gavel]

[Crosstalk]

Proceedings resumed at 3:28 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION (PSSF
STABILISATION) AMENDMENT ACT 2025

All right.
Members, are there any objections to the Public Service Superannuation [(PSSF Stabilisation)]
Amendment Act 2025 being reported to the House as
printed?
There are none.
Thank you.
Back to the O rder [Paper] now, right? Okay.
Members, we'll now move on to Order No. 5.
Order No. 5 is the second reading of the Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2025 in the name of the Minister of Tourism and Transport, Culture and Sport.
Minister.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled the
Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2025 be now read
a second time.

[Are there any] objections?
Continue.

BILL

SECOND READING
TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Hon. Owen Darrell: Mr. Speaker, the Bill before this
Honourable House is the Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2025, which proposes to permit the Minister responsible for Tourism with the written agreement of
the Minister of Finance to amend, vary, or revoke a
tourism investment order by negative resolution procedure.
Mr. Speaker, in the 2025 Speech from the
Throne, the G overnment set out the goal which is supported by the amendments before this Honourable
House today. At that time, Mr. Speaker, the Speech
said as follows : “Bermuda's tourism industry continues
to rebound, but the G overnment is determined to do
more to support investment in Bermuda and during this session the Government will advance amendments to
the Tourism Investment Act 2017 to include smaller
guest houses as well as health and medical tourism
sites, m aking these developments eligible for the suite
of concessions [available] under the Act. ”
Mr. Speaker, before amending the Act in this
specific way, the Government has determined to lay the
foundation for a much- needed flexible approach to
amend the variation of orders made under the principal
Act. This need has been identified owing to the unique
prospect of The Loren hotel operating as one hotel in
two locations following their acquisition of the former Elbow Beach hotel.
There exists no power to vary their current tourism investment order to extend or otherwise account for
the incentives that are needed to enable the development of this unrivalled South Shore property. This development is most certainly in the national economic interest, and the amendments before this Honourable
House are driven by the need to firstly facilitate this critical development.
Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in this Honourable
House at our last sitting, the restrictive criteria by which
a tourism investment order might be varied will be a thing of the past. Mr. Speaker, the existing power of the
Minister to amend an order is set out in section 6 of the
principal Act, and it is a provision aimed at addressing
breaches of an order's condition. This approach, whilst necessary, does not match the need for flexibility in
tourism investment or the potential for change in the
fortunes of a tourism property , restaurant or attraction.
To continue the growth in tourism economy and to foster the necessary flexibility required, these amendments are necessary.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will note
that the applicant must make their request in writing,
and the Minister of Finance must evidence his support
also in writing. The consideration of any application under the proposed new section 6A requires that the application be in the national economic interest, or that
there are such other circumstances that make amending, varying, or revoking the order necessary.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Speaker, it has taken some time to generate the level of understanding in various sectors of the
tourism economy that orders under the principal Act are
available to more than just large hotel developers. The
Government has engaged in a deliberate information campaign targeting owners of attractions and restaurants. This has been successful, and Honourable Members will be aware of those orders which have been
made and that form part of today's business later on in
this Honourable House.
Mr. Speaker, as I commend this Bill for consideration of Honourable Members, these amendments
represent another move by this G overnment to respect
investment in Bermuda and [the] sacrifice of entrepreneurs whose risk often represent s employment opportunities, enhanced tourism product offerings, and additions to the locally supported suite of attractions also.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to commend this Bill
to the House for consideration and the support of the
Honourable Members.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For us, we understand on this
side that there requires a bit of flexibility from the Minister when it comes to things of national importance.
Where we have a bit of a sticking point is the
lack of oversight when it comes to negative resolution.
Right? That's always been somet hing that we have
consistently mentioned, as this is not the first time that
amendments like this have come across my colleagues
who have made this point over and over. I'd like to be
consistent to the fact that we do have a lot of issues with negative resolution because of the fact that there
is no built -in reporting mechanism to the House of Parliament.

Point of order.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. E. David Burt: The Honourable Member is completely misleading the House.
Everyone knows what the Statutory Instruments Act 1977 says. Negative resolution matters are brought here to the House, just like matters are brought
here to the House, and any Honourable Member under
the Statutory Instruments Act can table a motion to
bring those things up, to debate those matters, and all
the rest. It is not correct to say that they do not have
parliamentary scrutiny.

[Crosstalk]

The process is anything that is tabled in
the House and taken up, that is part of the process of
scrutiny. So , you can go back and forth on the points in
the House. You may not get to C ommittee exercises in
some matters, but other matters can be done on the
floor, given the similar scrutiny that is allowed in the
House process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
I recognise that and I misspoke. I will take that point -oforder on board. I will say that the clarity of what I was
trying to get across is the lack of being able to kind of
dig into it with that Committee approach again, clause
by clause.

But I should have said slightly less oversight to
round it off. But yes, the Premier is absolutely correct.
So validating that the requirements of the
amended part that really kind of concerns me is that it could be a case where a tourism investment order
comes across Parliament and is approved one way,
and then going forward could be amended, varied, or
revoked, and we would have to call upon these tourism
orders in order to know whether they have been
amended, varied, or revoked.
So, for me, I would feel more comfortable if
there was an amendment done, varied or revoked, done to the tourism order that the Minister could commit to notifying this House without us having to track
every single tourism investment order that has gone
through, only to find that some have been amended or varied going forward.
So, with that, just basically highlighting the
need of reporting being built in and, you know, us not having to go through the negative resolution situation
because I think that it is key that these tourism orders
appear to be as impartial as possible. And as it goes


Bermuda House of Assembly through a process of civil servants, I think that we don't
want to inhibit or give anyone the idea that there are
winners and losers being picked through these amendments.
So, that is just our concern, but with that, obviously, we support and we do not intend to object.
Thank you.

Yes. I guess . . . thank you,
Mr. Speaker.
I guess something has to be said, and I thank
the Minister particularly for bringing this investment order to the floor of the House so that we can have the
opportunity to discuss it here today. The interesting part that I find is that we have great movement going in this
category. We have . . . not only today, we have the Elbow Beach under consideration, along with T he Loren
that was under consideration years ago.
But for many months, persons were coming
forward and saying, W hat's going to happen with Elbow
Beach? What's going to happen with the Southampton
Princess? What's going to happen? Well, something is
happening. And thank you to the Minister who has been
very forthcoming with regard to the need to get things
moving in this space. And I am sure, without a doubt,
you are going to see more investment A cts that go beyond just the traditional hotels like the Elbow Beach, in
this particular case, as it is tied into T he Loren.
I believe, if memory serves me correctly, we
had Swan pyrotechnics that came forward at a time and
people were saying, How come I can't have my fire-works on New Year's Eve? And now you are seeing
Bermuda enjoying all types of activities connected. And I think the one thing that we need to get out there is that the spirit of entrepreneurship is what is being encouraged to be embraced in Bermuda, not only by the larger
organisations that might be in a position to own or build
a hotel, but also businesses that can service this country and service them.
And I would encourage, I certainly would encourage any entrepreneur -thinking person who wants
to see an opportunity for themselves to get beyond
working for somebody else to do some research and
look around at other jurisdictions that might have had,
in recent years, a hotel developed. We have got a few
coming on now with the Princess up there being sched-uled for 2026. And I would say this, I am going to go out
on a limb and because transport comes on . . . is connected with tourism like it was some 20 years ago when
Bermuda introduced fast ferries and introduced greater
cruise ports.
I might say under great criticism, but they serve
Bermuda well today. Young entrepreneurs or minded people looking for an opportunity to get beyond the nine
to five, look at other jurisdictions and do what people used to come to Bermuda and do. Look at where the opportunity lies.
And I am here to say the opportunity lies in the
ocean, right around us. Opportunities to service those
cruise ships that are up there in great numbers, thanks to this Progressive Labour Party G overnment, and opportunities that are going to grow with regard to hotels
that are going to be at the Princess, that are going to
be at Elbow Beach, that are people who are coming to
The Loren , who are coming to places like the AZURA ,
all of which that I speak of those hotels are the benefit of hotel investment orders and the like and legislation
that's come to this H ouse.
And might I remind folks that because sometimes folks are trying to figure out how to differentiate
themselves from us, in some instances has come with
great criticism, both in this place and outside, and a lot of tickling up, more than a lot of tickling u p, to try to trip
up, to make sure that that didn't happen in some respects.

[Inaudible interjections]

I know that ; I have seen
that. But I am here to say that we, you know, we offer ed
condolences to the family of the . . . the Young family,
but my bishop, when I used to go around to Greater
Smith Hill, used to . . . that one song, press on, you
gotta keep pressing, press on. And we pressed on with
regard to tourism, and we are starting to see some initiatives that is going to benefit this country, but we want
to also [have] it benefit our people.
So those young persons out there who love the
water, and our young people do love the water. I see
them. I see them with motorboats and the like, and the
Minister participates with the Bermuda Powerboat Association that does that. Those are the young folks who
love boating, those who love sailing, and I am . . . I declare my interest . I come from a family of fishermen and
also sailors. That is where the mind- set of what needs
to be done on and around the oceans to encourage persons to enjoy Bermuda from the waters looking
back to our I sland, and also to transport people across
the Island more quickly. Maybe even a little, you know,
a little helicopter service taking you from St. George's
up to Dockyard or up to the south beaches and the like.
It's not far -fetched. You get big superyachts coming into
Bermuda with heliports on the top. A nd that's not something for this government to do, that's something for en-trepreneurs to figure out how it happens because people need those types of things . And so the opportun ity
to provide greater amenities .
And also with Bermuda being a discerning jurisdiction, it's no secret that . . . and [to] coin a phrase
from late Jim Woolridge, we always must provide value
for money . And that's what is going to separate us from
the rest of the world, providing value for money and providing quality service. The opportunity to provide
that quality service will exist now that you're going to


Bermuda House of Assembly see movement at Elbow Beach. You are seeing movement at T he Loren in more recent years. You are seeing movement at the AZURA, and people are excited
about that.
Just two weeks ago, I was with some visitors
who came to Bermuda because . . . this morning I
spoke about the couple that are here right now because
of that charity auction. The people who did not win the
bid from the charity auction also came to Bermuda. You
know what they did? They picked five days at the AZURA and five days at T he Loren and came to Bermuda
and enjoyed. And that's what I'm here to say.
This investment order to get these properties
upgraded, to get the type of investment in this country
is really what is going to set this country apart in a huge
way, in a huge way from other jurisdictions . And it is not
like we need millions of people to come to Bermuda to
make it work.
We need maybe 10,000 a month in certain
times of the year between November and March, but we need folks who can afford and appreciate a Bermuda experience, and that creates the discern ing visitor, value for money, and us providing quality service to
go along with that.
So yes, Minister, thank you ever so much, and
I really appreciate the fact that you are encouraging
other young entrepreneurs to come forward and avail
themselves to these investment orders.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, you would know that you and I
and the assistant clerk were part of the Bermuda contingent that just came back from The Bahamas, and I
had to endure the contingent from The Bahamas constantly reminding us, or telling us, sorry, that it was better in The Bahamas . So, I had to pull them aside and
say, It may be better in The Bahamas, but it's best in
Bermuda.

And the way that it's best in Bermuda, or continues to be best, or returns to being the best in Bermuda, is if we can offer value as was just mentioned by the previous speaker. And how do we offer value? It's not the overall cost reduction, it is what
do we give. What do we provide our visitors for the
amount of money that they spend to facilitate their Ber-muda vacations?
So, I think the idea, or one of the concepts embedded in the Tourism Investment Act was to provide and to encourage more activities for our visitors to enjoy . And more activities, more varied activities , will
add value to their vacation.
So, Mr. Speaker, this will be something that is
ever-evolving, as new ideas, as new business concepts
come up that will assist, we will be constantly presented
with amendments and possible tourism investment orders arising out of this A ct.
So, I do support it, and I support it for one other
reason, in that the tourism, or the hospitality industry
supports a number of jobs here in Bermuda, and also
with the innovations that come as a result of the support under this Act, will bring even more jobs.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Go ahead. You can have the floor back,
Minister.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you very much.
And, Mr. Speaker, I would just like to speak to
comments that were made by the Shadow Minister
from the other side, and I just wanted to reiterate for the
listening public that the TIOs [tourism investment orders] which come to this House regularly will continue
to come here for affirmative resolution, so there's no
change on that. And this amendment Act will only come
into play for existing orders that for whatever reason
need to be changed.
But as the regular process is, it is important to
note out that they will still have the scrutiny of which the
Shadow Minister was seeking. They have to go through
Cabinet, and they will still come here. They will just be
under negative resolution.
And I would just like to point out a comment
that also was made about something about winners or
losers. And I would like to say, as my grandmother used
to say, You always have to stay positive. And I would
like to say that when we talk about these tourism investment orders, when we talk about amending A cts
that have to do with tourism, the only winners that come
from this, Mr. Speaker, are those individuals who we'll
be highlighting on Saturday during World Tourism Day,
the individuals who work in the tour ism industry, those
individuals who are ambassadors for this country. And
as an extension, Mr. Speaker, the winners are the people of this country. As tourism goes, so goes the econ-omy as well, Mr. Speaker.
So, with those added comments, I would just
like to thank all in this H ouse who have spoken on this
Bill, and thank them for their support. And I now move,
Mr. Speaker, that the Bill be committed.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Thank you, Minister.
Deputy Speaker.

House in Committee at 3 :51 pm

[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

COMMITTEE ON BILL

TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2025

It has been moved that we consider
clauses 1 and 2 of this [Bill] .
Any objections?
There are none.
Minister, continue.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
This Bill seeks to amend the Tourism Investment Act 2017 to empower the Minister responsible for
Tourism with written agreement of the Minister of Finance to amend, vary, or revoke a tourism investment order by negative resolution procedure or written appli-cation by the holder, and to provide that such amendment, variation, or revocation may be made where the
Minister determines that it is in the national economic
interest to do so, or in any other circumstances that, in
the opinion of the Minister , make it necessary.
Clause 1 provides the title of the Bill.
Clause 2 empowers the Minister with the
agreement of the Minister of Finance to amend, vary,
or revoke a tourism investment order in written application of a developer where it is determined to be in the
national economic interest. It sets out the procedure for
making an application an d requires that any notice
made is subject to the negative resolution procedure. It
also clarifies that revocation or variation does not affect
rights or obligations that have already accrued under
the tourism investment orde r unless expressly provided
otherwise in the notice.

So, you know, I just felt like a
more affirmative word in there would be better so that,
you know, it is asserted by the law that the Minister
shall on notice of written application.
And I understand that, you know, you have a
discretionary period, but I mean, I don't think you need
to have the discretion in the wording of the Bill. I mean,
it is obviously discretionary by name of the Bill, so you
should have an affirmative action of notifying in legisla-tion. That is just my humble opinion.
And also, is there an appeal process considered by the Minister for someone who does receive a
revoking of their tourism order that a person may pursue if they feel as though it's not accurate or just?
That's just something for people who may be wondering if they ever should find themselves in that issue.
Would that be something that they could pursue?
Also, just for clarity for the listening audience,
national importance, I have an idea of it, most of us have an idea of it, but what is the metric, the official
metric used by the Ministry to determine [whether] a
project is of national importance, not just what we might
all think it is?
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Okay. Okay.
Are there any other Member s who wish to
speak to clauses 1 and 2?
There being no others at this point, I call on the
Minister to consider your questions.
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I am made to understand that “may” is a consistent language that is usually used in parliamentary
procedures, and I am at this point satisfied and happy
that it remains as “ may. ”

Okay.

Hon. Owen Darrell: With that said, on to the second
point made by the Shadow Minister , is that when we


Bermuda House of Assembly bring these tourism investment orders and based off of
the Tourism Investment Act, you will see that there
were very specific benchmarks which lay out that it is
of national importance.
If we are requiring in these orders, especially
when we do the ones for hotels, that you have to have
70 per cent Bermudians working, that is definitely in the
national interest. When you lay out that you have to
have a management trainee programme on board,
that's definitely the benchmark of something that is in
the national interest. When you are increasing the bed
count at a hotel based on their renovations, that is definitely in the national interest.
And I can tell you that everywhere we go in the
Ministry of Tourism, when we are overseas and we are
speaking even with the Air Service Development Committee, based on the investment that this government has put in to get new wings of hotels open, you see
what's going on down at the Grotto Bay with their extensions. If you look at what's happening on S outh
Shore at AZURA, if you look at the Fairmount Southampton and what we talked about earlier in Statements
that have been made, 2026 is looking like a bumper
year for tourism in this country.
And I would say that those indicators clearly
defined what something is and is not a national interest.
So, thank you, Madam Chairman .

Continue.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I move that the Bill be reported to the House as
printed. The Chairman: It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Are there any objections to that?
There are no objections.
So moved.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Tourism Investment Amendment
Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the whole
House and passed without amendments.]

Proceedings resumed at 3:59 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

TOURISM INVESTMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Members, are there any objections to
the Bill entitled Tourism Investment Amendment Act 2025 being reported to the House as printed?
No objections. The Bill has been reported as
printed.
We will now move on to Item No. 6. Item No. 6
is the second reading of T he Loren ( Pink Beach and
Elbow Beach) Act 2025. And again, in the name of the
Minister of Tourism.
Minister .
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled The
Loren ( Pink Beach and Elbow Beach) Act 2025 be now
read a second time.

Are there any objections?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

BILL

SECOND READING

THE LOREN ( PINK BEACH AND ELBOW BEACH)
ACT 2025

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the Bill before this Honourable
House is The Loren ( Pink Beach and Elbow Beach ) Act
2025.
Mr. Speaker, as the Bill's preamble suggests,
this Bill is necessary to facilitate the development of
The Loren hotel at Elbow Beach by providing, subject
to conditions, certain tax and customs duty relief in respect of the development.
Mr. Speaker, the iconic Elbow Beach opened
in 1908 as just a few cottages and was the first hotel


Bermuda House of Assembly built on the beach in Bermuda. Since that time, the hotel has played an integral part in the development of
tourism. From college weeks to honeymoons and family vacations, the Elbow Beach has seen it all. With the
advent of the pandemic, the hotel closed and was not
reopened. It had been on the market for some time, and
it was only in April of this year, Mr. Speaker, that The
Loren Group acquired this site and announced its exciting plans.
Mr. Speaker, hospitality and lodging development the world over is a challenging proposition. In Bermuda, we struggle with cost of materials, we struggle
with the cost of labour, and we struggle with the cost of
construction. To compete, jurisdictions have attempted
to mitigate the cost of hotel development by providing
developers with incentives that achieve a balance be-tween the national economic interest and the revenues that might otherwise accrue to the public purse.
The amendments to the p rincipal Act, which
extended to 15 years for a period of which relief would be available, marked a clear signal of Bermuda's deter-mination to attract that investment into our economy
and to compete in the marketplace for renewed inventory that will support local employment, increased airlift,
and all aspects of the tourism economy.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will now be
familiar with the concept to which I have referred to in
Statements in this Honourable House and in previous
debates. That concept is the proposal of the developers
to run one hotel in two locations. Honourable Members
will be familiar with competitor jurisdictions where this is done with great success. The Loren hotel at Pink
Beach is elegant in its appointments and has become a niche success story in Bermuda. The developers' in-tention to replicate that success at the Elbow Beach
speaks volumes about the confidence that investors have in Bermuda's tourism.
Mr. Speaker, The Loren hotel and [The] Residence is subject of a tourism investment order made in January of 2022. That order grants five years of relief
to the owners and developers of the hotel and would,
in the ordinary course, expire in January of 2027. With
the owner's purchase of Elbow Beach and the proposal
to expand the existing Loren footprint to now include
this newly purchased site, operating one hotel product
in two locations, this unique formulation is not contemplated by the existing Tourism Investment Act 2017
and, as such, to facilitate the redevelopment of the Elbow Beach property, these specific legislative provisions are required.
Mr. Speaker, using the provisions considered
by this Honourable House in the previous debate, it is
proposed to repeal the existing TIO [tourism investment order] for Pink Beach and, by this A ct, grant similar relief to the full resort property which includes both the
Pink Beach location and the Elbow Beach location on terms similar to those set out in the Tourism Investment
Act. Mr. Speaker, I would invite the Honourable
Members to take note that the current plan for the proposed redevelopment is set to comprise of the following. The inventory, a new hotel block, approximately 80
new dedicated Loren hotel keys ; cottage inventory,
which is approximately 10 cottage keys ; villa inventory,
approximately 30 villa keys, structured like the villas
which are currently at T he Loren at Pink Beach; estate
home inventory, which is approximately 15 keys. Mr.
Speaker, this equates to a total of 135 new keys.
The amenities. The new hotel will have a restaurant and a gastropub. The reopening of Mickey's. A
food truck established to help service in the eastern end of Elbow Beach. A 10,000 square foot five- star spa facility. A member’ s lounge and event space. And, Mr.
Speaker, how could we forget tennis and pickleball
courts.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the protections in the principal A ct are mirrored in this Bill.
[Clause] 5 confirms the terms and conditions
on which the relief is granted, requiring Bermudian em-ployment, management trainee programme for Bermudians, and the cessation of any relief under the Act
where the construction of the new Elbow Beach hotel
is not completed by the fifth anniversary of this A ct's
commencement .
Mr. Speaker, the Bill before this Honourable
House represents a transformational opportunity in
Bermuda's tourism. The history of the Elbow Beach h otel evokes images of a golden era when the likes of the late Shirley Hunt and Mickey Caines dominated the
front of the h ouse. Quiet men like William Stowe
worked for over 60 years in the engineering depart-ment, keeping the back of the house running seamlessly. And Ms. Delores Thomas masterfully led the Elbow Beach cycle livery, becoming known to generations of hotel guests. Touri sm was built on their shoulders, Mr. Speaker, and it is exciting to know that the
site to which they devoted decades of their labour
stands on the cusp of renewal.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to commend this Bill
to the H ouse for consideration and for the support of
the Honourable Member s.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister is correct to exalt
the good history of this property and how important it
will be to our tourism product, and it is certainly in the


Bermuda House of Assembly national interest to see this property supported and the
jobs and the growth of our industry to be supported in
this Bill.
I would also like to highlight that it has a special
connection, obviously being one of the projects that was nurtured under the One Bermuda Alliance's tenure
in Government. So naturally, we are happy to see continued reinvestment in this property and that it continues to yield results for our economy.
The Minister is also right to say that this is a
show of confidence by investors to invest this large amount into the property, and I look forward to seeing
it come to fruition and what opportunities it will provide
for Bermudians. So , this Act has the One Bermuda Alliance’s full support, and the Minister is correct in his
packaging of the impact that this will have on our tourism industry.
Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I just have to offer a few remarks
on this [Bill] that has come before us and the reasoning
why. Where did this confidence that the Shadow Minister mentioned and touted come from?
I remember the days when the negative
Nancy’s were running around Bermuda talking about
the Fairmont P rincess's closure and the like, and [asking] where's the development in this country, and
where's Elbow Beach, and what's going on here and
what's going on there? And then I remember when the
development order was coming forward and the A ct
was coming forward and all that we had to go through
to get the P rincess.
And I remember a speech. I must go back in
the Hansard and recall that speech where I said, confidence breeds more confidence in other developments.
And you will see others take a page out of the P rincess
and the Gencom book as it comes to investing in Bermuda.
I remember that. That's a quote. I'm quoting
Kim Swan.

[Inaudible interjections]

I ain't got him verbatim, but
I know I' ve got him. And look what's happening. Look
what's happening.
Now, one thing that I am old enough to know is
that this will not be the first hotel in Bermuda that has
owned two and three properties. I often, on my radio
programme, exalt the work of hoteliers, those great
chambermaids , and those great waitresses at the Belmont. But the Belmont was owned by Trust House Forte. And Trust House Forte, in the 1970s when I
worked there, and before, had three hotel properties in
this country. And they had three separate general man-agers at Bermudiana right there, in the C ity of Hamilton,
where the iconic reinsurance companies exist today.
And they had the lovely boutique Harmony Hall
there that had tennis courts and the like. And they had dine-arounds between the properties. Because back in
those days, it was an MAP [Modified American Plan].
So, you could, you know, guests could come and stay
at, I guess now they would come and stay at the Elbow
Beach. And then they can go down a night or two and
have a meal down at whatever amenities are available
at another property, I'm sure. I do remember the Princess being the Southampton Princess and the Hamilton Princess joined at the hip before they became
somewhat separated through branding and the like.
And so those are just two examples.
I remember in the . . . 40 years ago, boy, time
certainly flies when you're having fun being a young 20year-old running a government department and running
golf events with the Ariel Sands and knowing the Bermuda Collection, where the small boutique properties
in Bermuda used to have their own dine-arounds . You
can go stay at Cambridge and maybe go to Pompano.
And you could go and enjoy a meal down at Glencoe.
Oh, that's at Salt Kettle, but that is . . . some condominiums now, as there are many of the private investors in
this country went away from hotels and took their properties and made them housing. And people live in those
houses today. They were hotel beds then, but now we
are reversing that trend. We are getting more hotel
beds coming on stream.
And the Minister was right to exalt my good
friend , the late Shirley Hunt , and those boys [for] their
good work in the hospitality industry. I just can not let
the opportunity pass without exalting a young man [who] passed on. May he rest in peace. Eldon “Smutley” Swan, who worked at Elbow Beach before he went
to the Fairmount Southampton. He didn't go alone. He
was at the Elbow Beach with Kim Tucker, that great
Kimmy Tucker out of Spanish Point there, who now is
also at the Elbow Beach.
And, oh boy, my good cousin, David DeSilva ,
was one of those in the dining room there. And I remember a young man coming to Bermuda as an assistant manager, who went to Elbow Beach and made a name for himself. His name was John Jeff eris. I remember when he came to Bermuda as an assistant manager at Belmont there in the early 19 70s. And the general manager at the Newstead Resort, Mr. Bushara
Bushara was one of those young people that was there
at the Elbow Beach. As well as Miss Harney. I remember back in m aybe in the early 2000s when she would
have been up there as well. And many others. George Jones, my good friend. You see George running in the
races.
But the Elbow Beach, internationally, particularly in New York . . . in New England rather, probably


Bermuda House of Assembly New York as well, but New England particularly, were
tied to the hip with the Bermuda Strollers. Oh my, my,
my, my, my, my, my. T he Bermuda Strollers used to do
what? Romance people with their music. And it was the
honeymoon capital in Bermuda, in the world, Bermuda,
Elbow Beach, and many other properties. Because
that's what we specialised in. And that's what we are
going to continue to get even better at again. Because
we are not only stopping with these concession A cts
and Acts to be able to make the legislation fit the modern model, but we are going to find a way to encourage
more Bermudians in the industry.
And where are you going to see that? Right up
in your constituency, Mr. Speaker, or maybe that's a
neighbour in your constituency where Bermuda's signature hospitality school is located. Sandy s Middle
School is going to be a school for hospitality, partnered
with Cambridge Beaches —

—partnering with Cambridge Beaches . And also, Willowbank is doing a wonderful space. And may Dr. Bassett rest in peace for the
work that he laid down in that space. And may I encour-age others . . . and I was excited to hear the Minister
talk about the five- star spa and the tennis and the pickleball.
And I put a plea out there for entrepreneurs.
Let me tell you this. Those five- star persons next door
down there is Coral Beach, but up on the hillside right next to Elbow Beach was probably one of the most
iconic little , short game facilities for golf that is sitting
there dormant that could be made into a five- star,
seven- star short game facility at Horizons. An opportunity not for a government, but for an entrepreneur with
some venture capital. If they want somebody wit h a vision to tell them to make the next Harry Colt, little, short
game facility, they have got the space right there.
And persons would come there just to learn
how to navigate those very lucrative country clubs in New England and New Jersey and Pennsylvania and
in England and in Canada and the stuff like that. Because people, that there, they want to be able to be
competent , and they have to be taught. They have to
come to this country to get prettied up and convalesced
so that they can get some medical tourism and some
facials and all that type of stuff.
And we are moving in that space with these
types of things that we are talking about today. If you
don't think for one minute that I'm not excited about
what the Minister has been able to bring to you, because you know, when you have to come here and defend a vision and you hear all the negative Nancy’s, it's
certainly nice to be able to hang around to be able to say this is what's taking place. And just like we have
Elbow Beach and The Loren coming forth now. Just like
we have AZURA. And listen, let me just say this about the rippling
effect of success. You are going to see others coming
forward. And let me just put it out there. I look forward
to looking down from up there above Henry VIII and seeing the next development taking place at S onesta.
Yes, I'm going put that out there. I look forward to that
because it would be in the national interest to have a
nice development down there once again at the
Sonesta, of high quality , so that we can get our bed
count up, s o that we don't have to be totally dependent
upon cruise ship visitors in the 500,000 and 600,000 so we can go back to balancing it out so that we can have
on Island activities and people not stepping over each
other. But right now, where would we be without it?
So, until such time . . . but we're moving in a
place, when as my good friend Cromwell Shak ir would
say, balance matters , to be able to be in a space where
we can start looking at balancing that act to make sure
that we have services and amenities that can facilitate
there.
And it comes down to this. Everything that we
are doing here is going to have people coming to Bermuda who can afford a Bermuda experience. Discerning guest s require top- class quality service and we do
not need to settle for anything else. And from our part, and as we are going to be encouraging more people
and training more people of our people to get into it, we
need to make no excuses but expecting from our people nothing but the best.
And I am only saying . . . I am only repeating
what I was told in th e early 1970s. Recalling some of
these great people I know who were in the industry.
They encouraged us to expect nothing and to learn ourselves up about the people who were coming to our
country. And know their language too. And know what
to say, when to say it, how to say it, and where to say
it. And how to make people feel at home.
Our people in the hospitality industry were the
greatest therapists the world had to offer. They could
not believe that they could come and sit next to a waitress who had a photogenic memory. But she had to
work that job while she trained her daughter how to be an accountant. That's the type of country I grew up in.
Those are the types of people who made our country. I
know them. I learned from them. And I have every confidence that we can teach our young people to be equal
to that. Starting right now and going forward with all
these investment A cts, we are going to have to.
Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Member.
Minister.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And I want to thank all of those that spoke in
support of this Bill. Especially the Member who just took
his seat from constituency 2.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to move
that the Bill be committed.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: Thank you, Minister.
Deputy [Speaker].

House in Committee at 4:20 pm

[Ms. Lovitta F. Foggo, Chairman]

COMMITTEE ON BILL

THE LOREN (PINK BEACH AND ELBOW BEACH)
ACT 2025

Yes. Are there any objections?
There are none.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
This Bill seeks to create a special A ct of the
Legislature, to provide, subject to terms and conditions,
certain tax and customs duty relief for the redevelopment of The Loren at Pink Beach and to facilitate the
development of T he Loren Hotel at Elbow Beach by
providing, subject to terms and conditions, certain tax
and customs duty relief in respect of the development.
Clause 1, Madam Chairman, provides the title
of the Bill.
Clause 2 provides the definition of words used
in the Bill.
Clause 3 sets out the customs duty and tax relief granted in respect [ of] the redevelopment of T he
Loren at Pink Beach, as follows: (a) full relief from customs duty in respect of
any building materials, furnishings, fixtures and equipment necessary for the building, furnishing and equipping of the hotel, for a period of 15 years after the coming into operation of the Act;
(b) full relief in relation to hotel occupancy tax
for a period of 15 years after the coming into operation
of the Act;
(c) full relief in relation to land tax for a period
commencing six years after the opening date of the Elbow Beach hotel and ending on the fifteenth anniver-sary of that opening date;
(d) full relief in relation to the employer’s share
of the payroll tax paid in respect of persons employed by the hotel for a period of 15 years after the coming
into the operation of the Act.
Clause 4, Madam Chairman, sets out the customs duty and tax relief granted in respect of the development of T he Loren at Elbow Beach, as follows:
(a) full relief from customs duty in respect of
any building materials, furnishings, fixtures and equipment necessary for the building, furnishing and equipping the hotel, for a period of 15 years after the coming
into operation of the Act;
(b) full relief in relation to hotel occupancy tax
for a period of 15 years after the coming into operation
of the Act;
(c) full relief in relation to land tax for a period
commencing six years after the opening date of the Elbow Beach hotel and ending on the fifteenth anniversary of that opening date; and
(d) full relief in relation to the employer’s share
of the payroll tax paid in respect of persons employed by the hotel for a period of 15 years after the coming
into operation of the Act.

Now, are there any other Member s
who wish to speak to clauses 1 through 4?
There are none.
Minister .

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Acting . . . I'm
sorry, Madam [Chairman] .
I would like to now move that . . . move clauses
5—


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: No, no, you'd like to move. Do you
want to do all the clauses at the end for approval, or do
you want them approved at each stage?
Hon. Owen Darrell: All right. Can I move clauses 1
through 4 to be approved at this point?

Right. Okay.
It has been moved that clauses 5 through 8 be
considered.
Are there any objections?
There are none.
Minister .

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 5 sets out the terms and conditions
subject to which the rebates are granted. The land tax
exemption is subject to confirmation that in years 6
through 15, at least 70 per cent of the hotel staff are
Bermudian. The payroll tax exemption is subject to the
operation of a management training programme at the hotel for Bermudians.
Clause 6, Madam Chairman , relates to the relief from customs duty and provides for the giving of certain information to the collector of customs in relation to goods necessary for the building, furnishings ,
and equipping the hotel's redevelopment.
Clause 7 relates to the payment of the customs
duty on the use or disposal of goods which were imported duty free.
And clause 8 creates a criminal offence subject
to the penalties provided . . . Thank you, Madam
[Chairman] .

It has been moved that we consider
clauses 9 through 12.
Are there any objections?
There are none.
Minister, continue.
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 9 provides the penalties and forfeitures.
Clause 10 makes provision for the offences
committed by officers of corporations.
Clause 11 gives the Minister the power to
amend or repeal provisions of sections 4, 5, or 6 of the Act where there has been a breach of any of the given
circumstances.
And clause 12 gives the Minister the power to
issue guidance.

It has been moved that clauses 9
through 12 be approved.
Are there any objections?
There are none, Minister . So approved.

[Motion carried: Clauses 9 through 12 passed.]

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to now move clauses 13 through
16.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: It has been moved that clauses 13
through 16 be considered.
Any objections?
There are none.
Minister .

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 12 [sic] gives the Minister the power
to—

[Clause] 13, [clause] 13.

Hon. Owen Darrell: Sorry. Clause 13 gives the Minister the power to make regulations.
Clause 14 clarifies that this Bill does not modify
the requirements of the Development and Planning Act
1974 as regards to obtaining any planning permission
necessary for the hotel's redevelopment.
Clause 15 provides consequential amendments to the Revenue Act 1898 in furtherance of clause 7.
And clause 16 provides the commencement of
the Bill.

Yes. Okay. Ye s, that's fine.
No, you're fine. It's okay. You can do them both
together because those are the last four clauses. We
have no other clauses to be approved.
Okay. It has been moved that clauses 13
through 16 be approved and the Bill be [reported] to the
House as written.
Are there any objections to that?
There are no objections to that. [Motion carried: Clauses 13 through 16 passed.]

Yes.
There are no objections to that.
Thank you. It's not your fault. Yes. Thank you,
Minister. You're fine.

[Motion carried: The Schedule passed.]

[Motion carried: The Loren (Pink Beach and Elbow
Beach) Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the
whole House and passed without amendment.]

[Pause]

Proceedings resumed at 4:32 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE



Bermuda House of Assembly THE LOREN (PINK BEACH AND ELBOW BEACH)
ACT 2025

Members, are there any objections to
the Bill entitled The Loren (Pink Beach and Elbow
Beach) Act 2025 being reported to the House as
printed?
No objections . The Bill has been reported as
printed.
Thank you, Member s.
We will now move on to Item No. 7 which is the
second reading of the Proceeds of Crime (Miscellaneous) Act 2025, and Minister Wilson will be presenting
this on behalf of the Junior Minister .
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good
afternoon.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill entitled Proceeds of Crime ( Miscellaneous ) Act 2025 be now read
the second time.

[Are there] a ny objections?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

BILL

SECOND READING

PROCEEDS OF CRIME ( MISCELLANEOUS) ACT
2025
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present to this Honourable House the Bill entitled the Proceeds of Crime ( Miscellaneous ) Act 2025.
Mr. Speaker, Member s may be aware that Bermuda's anti -money laundering, anti -terrorist financing,
and counter -proliferation financing, and herein after,
Mr. Speaker, with your leave, I'll refer to that as
AML/ATF/CPF.

Whoa!

[Laughter]

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: It’s a tongue- twister.
This regime is of vital importance to our country's economy and to the health of its robust financial and international business sectors.
Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, policies have been
pursued with the intent of providing strategic direction
to the government and other specified stakeholders for
the enhancement and effectiveness of Bermuda's
AML/ATF/CPF regime.
To that end, Mr. Speaker, Member s of the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee, or NAMLC,
continue to work collaboratively with the Ministry of Justice and other governmental partners to implement
actions that will ensure Bermuda's framework remains
effective and adheres to international standards.
Mr. Speaker, as part of the ongoing enhancement of Bermuda's AML/ ATF/CPF framework, the Ministry of Justice and NAMLC have considered the recent
changes made to the Financial Action Task Force's 40
Recommendations and 11 immediate outcomes, or the
FATF standards, Mr. Speaker, and they have identified
provisions within various pieces of legislation that re-quire strengthening through amendments.
Members will also be aware that Bermuda is
preparing for the next mutual evaluation of its
AML/ATF/CPF regime, which will commence in October 2026 with the on- site visit by the Caribbean Financial Task Force, or CFATF, and those assessments are
scheduled for April of 2027.
Mr. Speaker, this evaluation will be based on
the revised FATF standards. In addition to new FATF
requirements, legislative amendments are required to
address any issues previously identified in our last mutual evaluation, as well as other enhancements to our legislat ion. This also affords the opportunity to address
technical and administrative matters.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill seeks to amend the Proceeds of Crime Act 1997, the Proceeds of Crime ( AntiMoney Laundering and Anti -Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement ) Act 2008, and the Proceeds of
Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and Anti -Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008. It will allow the Minister of
Finance to make provisions for the enhancements and effectiveness of Bermuda's a nti-money laundering,
anti-terrorist financing and counter proliferation financing regime in adherence to international standards, and in particular the FATF standards, Mr. Speaker.
Accordingly, particular policy objectives are as
follows :
1. Proliferation Financing (or PF ) Risk Assessment Amendment. The revised FATF Recommendation 1 requires competent
authorities and supervisory authorities to coordinate activities to identify, assess,
and understand Bermuda's proliferation financing risk, and to take commensurate action ai med at ensuring that these risks
are mitigated effectively. The amendments
to section 49( 1) of the POCA [Proceeds of
Crime Act] provide the legislative basis for
this PF Risk Assessment.
2. NAMLC Statutory Member's Amendment.
The proposed amendment to section 49( 2)
of the POCA reflects the inclusion of the
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of National Security as a statutory m ember of
NAMLC. This measure is in furtherance of
the collaboration and oversight necessary towards comprehensive outcomes.
3. Procedure for Cancelling Registration
Amendment. Mr. Speaker, the proposed


Bermuda House of Assembly amendment to section 13 of the [Proceeds
of Crime (Anti -Money Laundering and Anti -
Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2008], POCA SEA Act, is to
require the publication in the Gazette of a
notice of every cancellation of a registration of a non- licenced AML/ATF regulated
financial institution or regulated non- financial business or profession. This amendment is aimed at ensuring consistency wi th
the requirements in respect of licenced financial institutions.
4. Civil Penalties Amendment. The current
provision of POCA SEA limits the power to
impose civil penalties so as not to provide sufficient deterrence for violations. Mr.
Speaker, as such, the Bill amends section 20(1)(a) to remove the reference to subsection (3), and repeals section 20(3) ,
thereby enabling civil penalties to be im-posed for all breaches of the POCA regu-lations.
5. Supervisory Guidance Tools Amendment.
The Bill inserts [after section 5(2) new]
subsection (2A) in the POCA Supervision
and Enforcement Act to clarify that a supervisory authority may issue rules, codes
of conduct, or statements of principle on
compliance. This, in turn, ensures that
those guidelines are up to date and consistent with what they are intended to address.
6. Technical Correction Amendment. Mr. Speaker, the technical amendment to sec-tion 42A (1)(e) of POCA corrects the reference so that it clearly points to the Fund Administration Provider Business Act 2019.
7. Financial Group Advisory Input Amend-ment. Section 42B (1) of POCA is amended
to add the term “ supervisory authorities, ”
which expands who may advise on a designation of financial groups.
Mr. Speaker, finally, I draw attention to clause
4 for the weight it adds to these enactments. It amends regulations 11 and 13 of the Proceeds of Crime (Anti -
Money Laundering and Anti -Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008.
Regulation 11, Mr. Speaker, broadens the
scope from a banking institution to an AML/ ATF regulated financial institution, as well as inserts a definition of “correspondent relationship, ” which addresses one
of the essential pillars of the AML/ ATF regime.
Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, regulation 13 is
amended to extend the prohibition of entering into a
correspondent relationship with a shell bank on all AML/ATF regulated financial institutions.
Mr. Speaker, once again, I feel compelled to
acknowledge the tireless effort of those who contribute to this succinct but consequential legislation. And it is
an important milestone in maintaining the health of our
financial institutions and, by extension, the overall
health of our economy and to safeguard the reputation
of Bermuda as one of the world's outstanding interna-tional business jurisdictions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honourable Minister
for bringing this legislation to Bermuda, to the Honourable House, and I agree that it is vital to the economy and to the best interests of Bermuda going forward. It
is, however, further legislation and regulatory constraints on business and so is therefore worthy of an
effective and thorough evaluation.
To that end, I would like to start by saying that
as the international bodies are adding more requirements to Bermuda, we have to be responsive, thus the addition of the countering the proliferation of financing
of weapons of mass destruction. It is rare for this House
to consider weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons and chemi cal agents and the like, but
nonetheless, Bermuda has a role to play in the international community to make sure that parties that we typically hear about only on the news, such as North Korea, don't get access to the ability to wage further an
unnecessary war, especially in the circumstances we see happening around the world today.
To that end, the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee, or NAMLC , plays a key role in advising
the Minister, that being the Minister of Finance, in this
regard. I should . . . I just remember ed, I have to disclose that I have some interest in this area as Head of Regulatory and Compliance Services at an international law firm locally, and formerly of the Bermuda
Monetary Authority [BMA] , with assignments to NAMLC
agencies.
So, to that end, we are supportive of this exercise, but we are raising some concerns about the appropriateness of some of these controls. A little- known
fact, Mr. Speaker, about international requirements is
that they are rarely specific. That is, that they often specify what should happen, but not how it should happen. To that end, they leave it to local authorities to
make that determination. When the authorities make that determination, it is rarely communicated publicly or
to industry that they are the ones who made the determination, and as such, they are the ones who have the
obligation to ensure that the processes work for Bermuda.
Bermuda's AML programme has some significant areas of improvement. After all, I once was
stopped by a very old nana outside what was then


Bermuda House of Assembly Bermuda Commercial Bank, and she said, I'm in town
because I'm here to give my updated passport . And it
was quite evident that she hadn't left St. David's in
some time, and I wasn't quite sure of the money laundering threat she posed to the bank. Equally, banks have definitely exceeded their mandate and have
forced a number of circumstances, including long relationships being derisked or debanked, and other such
things. One bank recently, I saw a KYC [Know Your
Customer] request that said, We will not accept as
proof of your residence the document we mailed to your
residence that you currently have in your hand. And I
remember thinking, Okay, I don't know where we're going here, but maybe proof of residence isn't something you guys are good at.
So, I say all that to say that there are consequences to Bermuda for this legislation, and it is a framework of legislation, and this specific piece
amends three pieces of legislation, all that play key
roles . One of them being the Proceeds of Crime Act ,
[POCA] which is the primary legislation or sort of the
founding and acting piece, and it is an interesting piece
because it actually has everything to do with our rise in
crime. You see, criminal gangs cannot exist without
money and money is the proceeds t hat they are using,
the proceeds of crime. S o, this legislation and this
framework is, in fact, entirely relevant and not just lim-ited to the use or compliance with international norms.
So, to that end, Mr. Speaker, we are broadly
supportive. I will raise some concerns in C ommittee,
most especially around applicability. ( Sorry, I will just
grab some water. ) But if the Honourable Minister could
speak a little bit to two points that we have here, and we will be going into some fairly technical areas in Committee.
The two points I want to raise on the second
reading here are, What measures has the Government taken to avoid over -regulation for small to medium enterprises in this high- cost environment, given the increase in regulation? And further, I s Bermuda . . . or
how is Bermuda benchmarking these reforms against other leading offshore centres so that we don't, to ensure proportionality and to make sure that we don't
over-regulate ourselves into the ground?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time?
None other?
Minister .
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I
thank the Honourable Member for his contribution.
Mr. Speaker, prior to going into C ommittee, I
think it is important to recognise that Bermuda, as an
international jurisdiction, must adhere to international
rules, some of which have come from the formation of
the Financial Action Task Force, which has 40 Recommendations and 11 immediate outcomes. And
as I indicated in the brief, Bermuda is preparing for our
next mutual evaluation.
The most recent evaluation that Bermuda had
was on technical compliance, in which we fared very well. FATF standards have changed, and we will be
looking at effectiveness moving forward. However, Mr.
Speaker, these international standards are very, very
important and vital to our international regulatory re-gime, and in particular, our reputation. So therefore, it's
prudent on us to ensure that we adhere to these stand-ards. And notwithstanding that some individ uals may
indicate that they think that these regulations that are
being applied may be overburdensome, especially as
the Honourable Member who indicated the example of
the grandmother from St. David's and the KYC.
Regrettably, Mr. Speaker, we are living in a
world where there are illegal actors. And when we
make legislation to try to avoid those actors from participating in our financial institutions, then they just get
a little bit smarter. So, we are going to be constantly
evolving and moving forward so that we can try to ad-dress those particular circumstances. Because what
we don't want is to have illicit criminal activities filtering
through our jurisdiction, which will adversely impact our
international reputati on.
Mr. Speaker, with respect to how we are
benchmarking these reforms, we are benchmarking them by preparing for our review. Like I said, at the last
mutual evaluation, Mr. Speaker, Bermuda fared very
well on technical compliance. And as such, these par-ticular pieces of legislation that we're speaking about
today address some of the observations that were made and raised in the last review, as well as the evolving regime as it relates to FATF. So, we want to keep
present, and therefore we will constantly be making
amendments to ensure that we are compliant with the international regime.
Mr. Speaker, on that note, I would like to move
to Committee, please, and I move that this Bill be committed.

It has been considered that all five
clauses be put on the table for consideration.
No objections?
There are none.
Minister, you may continue.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Clause 1 provides the citation of this Bill .
Clause 2 amends sections 42A(1) and 42B(1),
as well as section 49 of the Proceeds of Crime Act
1997. Section 42A(1) is amended to correct the reference to the definition of “ fund administration provider
business. ” Section 42B(1) is amended to enable all supervisory authorities to advise the Minister responsible for Justice on the designation of financial groups. Section 49 is amended to expand the scope of the N ational
Risk Assessment [NRA] to include proliferation financing risks and widens the list of the statutory members
of the National Anti -Money Laundering Commit tee to
include the permanent secretary of the Ministry of National Security.
Clause 3 amends the Proceeds of Crime (Anti -
Money Laundering and Anti -Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement) Act 2008. The Act repeals section 22 to resolve a legislative disharmony in rela-tion to the issuance of warnings and decision notices
with section s 24A and 24B of the Act. Section 5(2) is
amended to include a new subsection (2A) regarding a discretionary power enabling the issuance of rules,
codes of conduct or statement of principles by a supervisory authority. Section 13 is amended by requiring a notice to be published in the Gazette for the cancelling
of registered institutions, or regulated businesses or professions. Section 20 is amended to expand a com-petent authority’s ability to impose a civil penalty for
breaches of the AML/ATF Regulations.
Clause 4 amends R egulations 11 and 13 of the
Proceeds of Crime (Anti -Money Laundering and Anti -
Terrorist Financing) Regulations 2008. Regulation 11 is amended to broaden “correspondent relationships” and
insert a definition for “correspondent relationship. ” Regulation 13 is amended to extend the prohibition of entering into a correspondent relationship with a shell
bank to all AML/ATF regulated financial institutions.
Clause 5 provides for the commencement notice.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I rise to contribute to this debate, especially
surrounding some of the earlier statements made. We in the Op position are, in fact, aware ( speaking to all of
the clauses being moved at the same time) that previously we were assessed for technical compliance, but
I just want to add for the record that we are also aware
that the 2013 methodology used for that assessment
included immediate outcomes.
With that being said, moving on to clause 2( 2),
we note that the amendment is . . . I am looking at
clause 2( 2), reading “In section 42B(1), of that Act.”
This is for the Proceeds of Crime Act.

After the words “‘relevant
competent authorities ’, insert ‘and supervisory authorities.’” And we would raise with the Honourable Minister
that the Finance Minister would now be receiving ad-vice on financial groups from a number of different authorities, competent authorities and supervisory authorities. These are different things in Bermuda and different people. So could the Honourable Minister speak to
the risk of duplication of input and possible confusion
between different authorit ies?
Should I just keep going with the questions,
ma'am?

Dealing on clause 2( 3)(a),
which is amending section 49( 1)(e), and with this is the
case where we are expanding the scope of the National
Risk Assessment from money laundering and terrorist financing exclusively to include the proliferation risks,
again, of the financing of weapons of mass destruction. And I was curious . . . we are adding this. This is an
international requirement, so this is good. But this is a
very different typology with a number of different risks.
I believe the Minister had mentioned that it had
already been considered in a National Risk Assessment for 2024, and so my question was, When will the
2024 National Risk Assessment be released to the public?
Further to that point, it is worth noting that the
inclusion of this area into the AML /ATF world, as it


Bermuda House of Assembly were, will increase the number of risks that every compliance programme will have to accommodate, learn to,
and adjust, and therefore it will also increase the extent
of control environments that are necessary, therefore
increasing compliance burden.
So, with that being said, proliferation financing
risks in Bermuda are actually not defined . Currently , all
of our guidance does not include these specific risk in-dicators, such as the Bermuda Monetary Authority's
2023 Guidance Note, the sectoral. Some of those G uidance Notes go all the way back to 2018, which, in fact,
predates our National Risk Assessment, which means
that we are basically designing compliance programmes without the benefit of assessing the risks formally.
So, we have a number of areas, and we have
Guidance Notes for real estate agents and attorneys as
well. But the point I am making here is that we are adding proliferation financing risks, but we do not have anything that explains what those are and how the indus-try is supposed to respond to them.
And by the way, when I say “ industry, ” I am not
just talking about very large institutions, Madam Chairman. I am also talking about small sole proprietors like
individual insurance brokers or individual practi cing attorneys, or at least small firm practi cing attorneys, I'm
sorry. So , my question, therefore, is , What support or
typology guidance will Government provide to help these groups manage these risks in a meaningful way?
Moving on to clause 2(3)(b), I note that we are
adding the Permanent Secretary [of the] National Security as a statutory Member of the National Anti -
Money Laundering Committee. This is undoubtedly a good idea, considering the additional risks that we are
facing in this space, and the National Anti -Money Laundering Committee plays a key role in advising the Minister about the risks that we face, as well as what we
are supposed to do about them. However, there is a
general concern that we are expanding commit tee
member ship, and as committees get larger, they tend
to get a little harder to coordinate, and this risks slowing down decision- making.
So, I raise that as a point. There was a time
when NAMLC was actually relatively small, and it
seems to be getting larger and larger every year.
Moving on to clause 3( 1) . . . unless the Minister wants to take any part of that yet.

Sure. Hon. Kim N. Wilson: The National Anti -Money Laundering Committee that was established under the Proceeds of Crime Act and the regulations has not been
enlarged since it was commenced.
This is the first amendment that has been
made to it insofar as the body of the member ship. And
it was important to note that the Minister of National Se-curity, who also within his remit has under the ministerial’s portfolio, member s who currently are a part of
NAMLC , statutory member s such as Customs and the
Police. So therefore, it was important to note that Cus-toms are at the table, so are Police, and naturally, the
Permanent Secretary of those two agencies in the
name of the Ministry . . . Sorry. The Permanent Secretary of National Security should also participate and be a member of NAMLC; hence, their involvement and the
amendment that we are speaking about today.
Madam [Chairman] , with respect to the Proliferation of Financing National Risk Assessment
[PFNRA] and the comments that were made concerning typologies and support, and perhaps I missed . . .
[perhaps] the Honourable Member misunderstood . We
are currently in the process of doing the PFNRA. It was
not completed when we did the NRA [National Risk Assessment] for money laundering and t errorist financing
a few years ago. The Government has made a commitment heretofore that every three years we will be doing a risk assessment.
The last risk assessment that was completed
was with specific reference to money laundering and terrorist financing. We are currently in the [throes] of
doing the PF National Risk Assessment as we speak. Once that has been completed and approved by C abinet, then naturally, it will be disseminated to member s
of the public.
And in fact, there is a scheduled validation
meeting coming up in October. And I can just say on
the side, Madam Chairman, that I actually serve as the
supervisor for the AML/ ATF lawyers and accountants,
which is why I'm a little bit more familiar with respect to
the NRA, because I'm in the middle of it.

[Inaudible interjections]

Yes.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Therefore . . . but it is meant to
be validated in October. And then once C abinet approves it, it will be disseminated.
And naturally, the typologies and the risks that
have been associated and identified with respect to
proliferation of financing in Bermuda, albeit, I appreciate what the Honourable Member said, that they are
not as vast as you may see in other jurisdictions, but
it's important for us to go ahead and consider those,
and that we can see what inherent vulnerabilities do ex-ist in Bermuda as it relates to proliferation of financing.
And in addition to that, FATF R ecommendation 1 requires all countries to establish and review their


Bermuda House of Assembly risk so that they can ensure that they have regimes and
mitigants and controls in place to counter the risks that
are observed.
And then the first question with respect to the
supervisory authorities and adding to, I guess, the weight of the Minister of Finance as it relates to his remit, [his] or [her] remit, under the Proceeds of Crime
AML/ATF Regs 2008 , subsection . . . in the interpretation section, it speaks to what the supervisory authority
includes . If I can read that, Madam Chairman. And
these are entities that are already within the remit of the
Ministry of Finance; namely , the BMA ; the Registrar as
a supervisory authority in relation to relevant persons'
high-value goods, which comes under the Registrar of
Companies, which, of course, is under F inance; the Superintendent of Real Estate, again, that's under F inance; as well as professional bodies that may be designated by the Minister, namely the Ministry of Finance.
So, I wouldn't support . . . oh, sorry, and the Gaming
Commission, all are under Finance.

Yes, thank you, Madam
Chairman.
And I would respectfully submit to my honourable colleague that the 2008, 2007, and 2013 amendments to POCA did add the CEO of the BMA, the Registrar of Companies, and I want to say the FIA.
With that being said, I will move on to clause
3(2), where [new section 13 (5)] i s introducing that the
competent authority must publish notice of every cancellation of a registration.
It is a fairly minor piece. We are pretty used to
the enforcement regime as it is right now in industry, but my question was that since we are mandating that
the cancellation of registration be published, it is really
a technical spot, but it does mean that all of the cancel-lations must be published.
Some cancellations are not necessarily for
poor management or some other reason. Some are relatively minor administrative issues. So, I was just
wondering if there are any thresholds or safeguard before publication to prevent undue harm to reputation of
those persons? Again, a cancellation is not always a
bad thing.
With that being said, moving on to clause 3,
clause 3 (3)(a) specifically, I note the Minister had
raised . . . this is a very big one for a lot of people, and
if I can get some context here, Madam Chair man, . . .
In similar jurisdictions overseas, there is a schedule of penalties, and this area that we are dealing with is how
civil or monetary penalties are applied to those who fall
afoul of the regulation. For example, in Canada, when
we trained with the FINTRAC [Financial Transactions
and Reports Analysi s Centre of Canada] authorities,
they had a schedule or a table, as it were, that said this
amount of money is for this kind of penalty, this amount of money is for this kind of penalty. Penalties are broken down by regulation. Let's say regulation 6(1)(a )
dealing with establishment of business relationship,
regulation 7(1) , ongoing monitoring, that kind of thing,
and then left to right it would say minor, major, or sig-nificant or substantial infraction, and then it would have
a monetary amount, something like $15,000 going up
to $10 million.
The maximum amount of a fine in Bermuda is
$10 million. Right now, the way the legislation reads, it
is $10 million per breach, and that is obviously absurd,
because one breach can very rarely lead to $10 million worth of damage. So, it is generally scaled.
Now, we do have in the Bermuda Monetary Authority's enforcement regime an enforcement Guidance
Note which does give a very roundabout way of figuring out these penalties, but it is still not as refined or clear
as the United Kingdom, Canada, and probably the US .
So, my question is, given that . . . and, by the way, we
have a very active enforcement regime, so it sounds
like we are broadening the civil powers or civil penalty
powers, and I do not quite see why we are removing
them. What about them is not broad enough now, considering that we are penalising in the millions of dollars
right now? Thank you.
And this actually ties . . . I want to continue on
to [clause] 3(3)(b), because it repeals section 20(3) of
what we call the [POCA] Sea Act, or Proceeds of Crime
(Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing
Supervision and Enforcement ) Act [2008] . Now, why
does this matter? Because [section 20]( 3) actually
gives a breakdown of the exact regulations that one can
break. The reason that there are some regulations that
can be penalised versus others that canno t is because
they have contributing circumstances, some are causal
in relationship. So , for example, you canno t get to regulation 11 without getting past regulation 5 definition
6(1)(a ). So that is a great example. Regulation 5 is a
definition. Regulation 6(1)( a) is a conduct, and so you
penalise a conduct or lack thereof. You do not want to
penalise a definition. I t is just not sensible. It does not
work that way.


Bermuda House of Assembly So, the question is, why are we therefore repealing [section 20] (3), which is clearly delineated for
the purposes of penalising conduct? The other reason
I bring that up is because when we brought over the
Proceeds of Crime (Anti-Money Laundering and AntiTerrorist Financing) Regulations 2008, we brought
them in over as a framework from the UK's Money
Laundering Regulations 2007. Now, this was really as
a result of the 2006/ 07 IMF inspection of Bermuda,
which we did not do well at.
So, we ported over basically a framework that
was effective and scored highly internationally. That
framework includes a delineation that I have just mentioned in [section 20] ( 3), a delineation that we are doing away with. So , given that we are now doing away
with that framework that was sort of baked into it and
has worked successfully for this time, my question is, will the Ministry issue any clear penalty guidance or matrices as it relates to probability and predictability f or the
penalties?
And again, why are we now penalising all regulations, which includes things such as definitions?
Thank you.

Oh, can you turn on your microphone,
please, Minister? Thank you.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes.
Madam Chair man, under the [Proceeds of
Crime] ( Supervision and Enforcement ) Act [2008] ,
there are a number of measures that can be taken for
persons that fail to comply with the regulations, KYC
regulations, ongoing monitoring regulations. There are
about 15.
So, the fact that one addition is being made,
amendment that is going to be made to this insofar as
the publication, naming and shaming, so to speak. That
is just one example. There are a number of measures
that can be taken.
They can issue directives. There are civil penalties, as the Honourable Member indicated. So, there
is a host of measures that are already listed under SEA.
So that is just one example, but we are just adding to it
so that if there is the need, depending on the circumstances, for a gazetting notice, for a licence to
be revoked and that to be gazetted, that just provides
an additional measure to ensure compliance. One
would hope that we would not get to that, but it allows,
because it is legislated, for that to come into play.
The question concerning c lause 2, supervisory
authorities. The competent authorities are discrete, and
there is no duplication that is contemplated here. There
are competent authorities, and then there are supervi-sory authorities, and there is a distinction between that.
And then with respect to, I guess there was a
question concerning proliferation financing risk indicators, the guideline. Clause 3( 1) will allow for guidelines
and will allow for additional rules to be made, codes of
conduct to be made, statements of principles, et cetera,
to ensure that there is compliance. So, it will allow the
bodies to issue codes of conduct, to issue r ules,
et cetera, to ensure that there is guidance and that
guidelines are being made. And I think that's that for now, but I will pause for any other questions.

Yes, Madam Chair man. As I
tell clients and others, I did not invent this framework.
I'm just following it like all of us.
So, I actually want to go back to a point the
Honourable Member just made, because she mentioned the supervisory guidance, codes of practi ce,
statements of principles. And as the Honourable Mem-ber is aware, section 49M of the Proceeds of Crime Act
[1997] provides that when those guidance notes are
created, or when guidance notes are created, that both
supervisory authorities and courts of law have to take
them into consideration. Now, the reason this is important is because those actually tell you exactly what
to do.
So, my question is, and I have noticed that we
are bringing in additional types of guidance, in this
case, code of conduct, statement of principles. And
these are preexisting types of guidance right now.

Put your question to her, so that she at
least knows what you're asking, and then maybe continue to give a narrative.



Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Jarion Richardson: Sure. The Learned Member
. . . absolutely, I will put it to the Learned Member.
Given that we are not amending section 49M
of the Proceeds of Crime Act [1997] , will the codes of
conduct or statements of principles, as in clause 3 [new
section] 5( 2A), have the same force of law compelling
a court to consider them in a given matter before it?

Okay. So , we will deal with that question first.
Minister, are you able to respond to the Member?

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes, Madam Chairman.
Like I said, the insertion of [section] 5(2A) in the
POCA Supervision and Enforcement Act will clarify that
supervisory authorities may (there's that discretion ,
“may”) issue rules, codes of conduct, or statements of
principles on compliance.
Right now, there are provisions in the legislation, as the Honourable Member spoke about, about is-suing guidance. However, what we are seeing is that
the supervisory authorities, if they wish to add more to
the guidance by virtue of issuing codes of conduct,
rules, and statements of principles, then that can be added. And this, in turn, will ensure that the guidelines
are up to date and consistent with what they are intended to address.
As it relates to whether or not it has the force
of law behind it, it does not. But it still requires or allows for the supervisory authorities to issue such codes. If they are observing that A -B-C is occurring in the industry, then they can issue a code and say, this is how it should be addressed, ensuring that the code is compli-ant with the POCA regs.

Exactly.
The current . . . the list of regulations that are
currently in [ section 20] (3) that create the offences are
being done away with. They are . . . they come from a
peer jurisdiction and have been functional successfully
for some years now. And we are now opening more
kinds of enforcement to things like definitions.
Would the Learned Honourable Minister,
please explain why we are doing away with those lists
of current offences? The Chairman: While the Minister is . . . okay.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: I just ask the Honourable Member to just refer me to the reference, what provision he
is speaking about, please, so I can try that out.

Okay. Thank you for providing that
specificity. Yes.
Minister, when you're ready.
I just want to remind the listening public that we
are now considering the Bill, Proceeds of Crime (Miscellaneous ) [Act] 2025, and the Minister will prepare
her response for the Member.
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Perhaps if the Honourable Member has other questions, then he can perhaps pose those whilst I seek to receive the answers with respect to that question. Thank you.

Madam Chair man, I would
further speak to clauses of the Bill, clause 4( 1)(a),
which is going to be amending the POCA regulations,
specifically regulation 11 (3), where we are changing
the definition of a banking institution. And this goes hand- in-hand with the amendment at clause 4( 1)(c),
dealing with regulation (3AA), inserting a definition of
correspondent banking. So, I believe that the intention
here is to remove banks from the correspondent . . . or,
sorry, widen the obligation imposed in these regulations, passed beyond, sorry, beyond banks, into trust
companies, insurers, digital asset businesses, and the like.
So—


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: I have a question. Is that what you're
asking . . . is that what it intends to do?

Yes.

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Yes.
With respect to the correspondent relationship,
currently, as the legislation exists, financial institutions are not allowed to enter into a correspondent relation-ship with a shell bank. And what this legislation will do,
will extend that, for clarification, to ensure that not just
banks, but the term “correspondent relationship,” is clearly defined so that all and sundry recognise that
Bermuda does not operate with corresponding banking
relationships with a shell bank.

Sorry. I thank the Honourable
Minister for answering the question regarding clause 4(1)(a). But I am asking the question about additional
relationships for correspondent . . . or how these . . .
there are more people getting caught in the regulation.
So, my question is, will guidance be issued for those
who are getting caught in this amendment, that being
insurers, fund administrators, et cetera ?

Okay.
Minister .
Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you.
Yes. I am certain that with respect to guidance
that is oftentimes issued as it relates to amendments
that are made with the legislation, there will be guidance that will be issued. I think everybody recognises
that we do not do business with a shell bank. So, guidance will need to be issued to ensure
that particular clarification is made. With respect to the
amendment to clause 3, that does allow for penalties
that can apply to all breaches of the regulations where
I spoke about some of the regulations —ongoing monitoring, know your customers, CDD [customer due diligence] , enhanced DD [due diligence] , et cetera. And
that, yes, it is a deterrence, and it is being provided,
clause 3, for consistency. And there are non- legislative
guidance tools that will not ov erride the Act. So, the legislation will prevail.
And then, Madam Chairman, thank you for
your patience. I just saw something come in. Just a minute.
Yes. The banking institutions —and this is with
respect to the questions about the corresponding bank-ing—banking institutions to all AML /ATF, regulated financial institutions, as well as shell banks will be . . .
yes, we will not be able to do business with shell banks.

It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Are there any objections?
There are none.
So approved.

[Gavel]
[Motion carried: The Proceeds of Crime (Miscellaneous) Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the
whole House and passed without amendment.]

Hon. Kim N. Wilson: Thank you.

House resumed at 5:20 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

PROCEEDS OF CRIME
(MISCELLANEOUS) ACT 2025

Members, are there any objections to
the Bill entitled the Proceeds of Crime ( Miscellaneous )
Act 2025 being reported to the House as printed?
There are none.
Thank you, Members.
We will now move on to the next item on the
Order Paper, which is the second reading of the Benefit
Entities Act 2025, in the name of the Minister of Economy and Labour.

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill
entitled the Benefits Entities Act 2025 be now read the
second time.

Are there any objections to that?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.
BILL

SECOND READING

BENEFIT ENTITIES ACT 2025
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to
present the Benefit Entities Act 2025 to this Honourable House. This Bill will make amendments to the Compa-nies Act 1981, the Limited Liabilit y Company Act 2016,
and the Limited Partnership Act 1883. These amendments will establish a legal framework for companies,
limited liability companies, or LLCs, and limited partner-ships to operate as public benefit entities.
Mr. Speaker, public benefit entities are for -
profit businesses that are legally structured to pursue
one or more public benefits, in addition to their ordinary
business activities. These new corporate products will
help ensure that Bermuda remains a forwar d-thinking
jurisdiction that adapts and responds to changes in the global business environment.
Mr. Speaker, we are seeing more individuals
and businesses seeking out ways to preserve natural
resources, reduce effects on climate change, and make other positive impacts to their business activities. This
product aims to attract investors who wish to pursue positive social and environmental impacts, along with
financial returns. The Bermuda Benefit Entity will position Bermuda as a market leader and jurisdiction of
choice for those persons looking to conduct their business activities in a manner that pri oritises profit, people,
and the planet.
Mr. Speaker, while traditional for -profit entities
are expected to make decisions primarily based on
maximising profit, benefit entities will be required to
consider all stakeholders and the environment in the
management of the business. This approach prov ides
greater opportunities to create long- term value, both for
businesses and stakeholders.
Mr. Speaker, this structure will be available for
those companies, LLCs, and limited partnerships that
choose to operate as a benefit entity. This choice can be made either at the time of initial registration or at any
time after the entity begins operatin g.
In either case, a benefit entity will be subject to
the following:
1) To opt into the framework, a statement that the
business is a benefit entity subject to applicable requirements for such businesses must be
included in the Memorandum of Association, Certificate of Formation, or Partnership Certificate as appropriate.
2) A benefit entity may identify one or more specific public benefits the entity will pursue. For
this purpose, a public benefit is defined as a
positive effect on society or the environment
and may relate to things such as art, charity,
culture, education, p ublic health, religion, science, or sports.


Bermuda House of Assembly 3) The persons responsible for management of
the business will be required to conduct the entity's business activities in a manner that is responsible and sustainable. This means that a
benefit entity must consider the interests of its stakeholders and pursue an overall positive effect on society or the environment when conducting its business.
4) The person responsible for the management of the business must act honestly and in good
faith with a view to the best interests of the en-tity and must exercise [the care], diligence and
skill that a reasonably prudent person would
exercise in comparable circumstance.
5) A benefit entity must, unless otherwise ap-proved, provide its shareholders, LLC members or partners with an annual benefits state-ment describing the ways the entity sought to
operate in a responsible and sustainable manner and to comply with any applicable public
benefit provisions.
6) The shareholders, LLC members, or partners of a benefit entity will be empowered to enforce
the requirements of the framework by bringing
an action in the court for that purpose. This authority will also apply to such other persons or
classes of persons as may be approved by the
benefit entity in accordance with the framework.
7) A benefit entity may cease operating as such
and transition to a traditional for -profit entity by
altering its Memorandum of Association, Certificate of Formation, or Partnership Certificate
to remove the statement that it is a benefit en-tity.
Mr. Speaker, the requirements for benefit entities will apply in addition to all other requirements and obligations that apply to companies, LLCs, and limited
partnerships. These entities will be subject to the Bermuda standard process for registration of a business in
Bermuda and the typical requirements for customer due diligence, regulatory consent, beneficial ownership, and record- keeping will continue to apply.
Mr. Speaker, by introducing a framework for
benefit entities into our corporate legislation, we are creating an ecosystem in which these businesses can
optimise short -term profits for investors while also
seeking long- term value creation for all stakeholders,
including communities and society at large. This is not
just a change in the way in which these businesses op-erate, it is also an opportunity for the government to
achieve long- term value with our stakeholders.
Mr. Speaker, the proposal to introduce benefit
entities was developed by members of the private sec-tor and is supported across the legal and trust sectors.
Statutory frameworks that promote sustainable busi-ness practi ces and investment strategies are likely to
be well received by younger generations of business
owners as well as those persons looking to align their business activities with their values. This product is anticipated to be attractive to retail investors, individuals
of high net worth, family offices, and socially conscious
investors.
Benefit entities can be used by new and existing Bermuda businesses to create positive impacts in
our community while also enhancing Bermuda's reputation as a jurisdiction of choice.
Mr. Speaker, this is the first of two Bills we are
debating today that will differentiate Bermuda from
competitor jurisdictions. We will continue to work in partnership with the private sector to update Bermuda's
policies and legislations to attract new businesses and
sustainable investment to Bermuda. We look forward to
bringing forth more legislation to improve our laws in the coming months.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend a sincere thanks
to the private sector representatives who have worked
on this project. I would also like to thank the technical
officers in the Ministry of Economy and Labour, Ministry
of Finance, and the Attorney General's C hamber s who
worked on this legislation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Let me begin where the Honourable Minister
left off and also offer my thanks not only to the civil servants and technical officers who put work into this Bill
and the Bill that follows, but also to those in the industry
that the Minister rightly identified.
And whilst it might be inappropriate to identify
any particular individual by name, I would just like in this instance to recognise Gina Pereira's efforts to bring
both of these pieces of legislation to the forefront, because I know it is something she has been pushing for
quite some time on the world stage for Bermuda's ben-efit.
Mr. Speaker, the name of the Act is Benefit Entities Act, and that may not ring familiar with many people, including those in the industry. And the reason it is
called Benefit Entities Act is that this is dealing with
something people will know, I suspect, benefit corporations. In America, they call them B Corps for short. But
also, this Act is dealing with partnerships, limited part-nerships, rather, and LLCs. So, this is now going to be
a benefit limited liability company and a benefit limited partnership, which is why we are talking about entities
in the plural for anyone interested. But I will just speak to benefit corporations as shorthand in my very brief remarks.
This is not necessarily a novel concept. It exists
elsewhere. More than two- thirds of US states already
have B Corps or benefit corporations. I think the first of
them was Maryland. I may be wrong about that.


Bermuda House of Assembly Likewise, in the UK, they have a similar, if slightly differently -named beast, which is a community interest
company , a CIC. So, what are these things? Why are
they different from companies? The Minister has addressed it in detail , and rightly. These are still for -profit
entities, but they allow you to have a more broad list of
aims than a normal company would. A normal company
is really there to maximise return profit for its investors,
its shareholders. This allows them to do something
more.
And, Mr. Speaker, I do not know how old your
grandchildren are, but perhaps you might have caught
the Madagascar movies, which have these little cartoon
penguins . And their riff is to say, cute and cuddly, cute
and cuddly. So, I guess a benefit corporation is kind of
a company that's a little more cute and cuddly, right?
What does it actually do? The fundamental legal thing that this piece of legislation does is provide a shield for the directors, because there are some shareholders out there who, if a director were to invest in
things that are responsible, sustainable, environmental,
the shareholder might come along and say, Well, hang
on; wait a second. This is a company that is supposed
to be maximising my return .
So that is effectively what this is doing. By recognising that a company is a benefit company, or benefit LLC, or benefit partnership, it creates a shield for
the director against shareholders who might seek to bring lawsuits to criticise the director for those act ivities.
So, it effectively renders legitimate that which might
have been illegitimate for a normal company. And so,
again, we have got these companies that are going to
do good things. There is a laundry list, and the Minister already read it out ; I won't repeat it. But it is things like
environmental, artistic, charitable, et cetera.
And why is this a good thing? Well, for the jurisdiction it is a good thing because, of course, it is
bringing Bermuda into line with other jurisdictions that
have these. Not all jurisdictions do, so we will be in front
of some, behind others. But certainly, it adds to our arsenal. It adds to the menu of opportunities that we
have. That is particularly attractive, not only in the trust
space, but in the family office space. And so, you know,
that is a good thing. We want to make sure that we re-main at the f orefront offering the panoply of options that
people might look for in this space, whether it is family
office or the signs of trust who might have a more social
conscience bent and do better things with their billions.
We would encourage them to do so, obviously.
But it also has additional benefits, too. It is said
that benefit corporations have a workforce that sort of is a little bit happier. You know, it's cute and cuddly, and
they are buying into that idea that this company isn't
just there to make money. It's there to do better things,
right? Likewise, you see increasing customer loyalty to
certain entities in this area where the customer wants to go out. And I will not name, but let's say it is an electric car. The customer might feel better about buying an
electric car that is trying to do something for the environment than buying a gas guzzler, for example.
So that is what is going on, and I do not need to add
much more to it.
I only have one question for the Minister and
his technical officers who are present in the Chamber,
and that is really just about how do we propose to know
when any of these three entities . . . but I will just use
benefit corporation as the benefit company as the easy
one. How do we know when it is meeting its standards?
In certain jurisdictions, there are publication
obligations. We are talking about certification, and
third-party certification is referenced, but it was not
clear to me. It is supposed to be an annual statement
to the members or to the shareholders or whatever the applicable grouping may be within the entity. Is there
going to be some third- party verifier, or is it just going
to be a vouchsafe where the company itself says we' re
doing it? I ask the question because it is very flexible,
right? It's easy to c hange from being a benefit company
to not being a benefit company, so I am just curious
about what will be the certification or oversight or scrutiny from one to the other .
And I think that is all that I have to say, although
one of my colleagues may wish to add. But thank you
very much. We commend the Bill. We support the Bill, and it is always good for Bermuda to remain at the forefront of this industry on the world stage.
Thank you, Minister.

Thank you.
Would any other Members like to make a contribution?
None?
Minister .
Hon. Jason Hayward: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I thank the
Honourable and Learned Member for his intervention
and support. Certainly, this has been collaborative with
industry.
The Member did raise that the first public benefit corporation, which they are commonly known as,
notwithstanding we are using the benefit entities title in
Bermuda, was formed in Maryland, and that was in
2010 . So, these sorts of companies are not too old , as
we are amending a piece of corporate legislation from
1883 . And so, this is relatively young, but at least 40
states have passed similar laws because they have understood the advantage of these companies and this
corporate framework in their jurisdict ions.
The UK also has what is considered to be a
community interest compan y framework . But we opted
not to utilise the UK's framework as what we are proposing is much more flexible than the UK's framework.
I would say that in discussion with the technical
officers and industry stakeholders on this particular
matter as it pertains to regulation, there was kind of a
mixed review as it pertains to how these companies will
be regulated and the role of the government in overseeing the intentions of a corporate entity, and so these


Bermuda House of Assembly would be self -regulated . But we ensured that there are
reporting requirements on an annual basis . So, the entities will be required to report on their activities to their
owners and their investors and their boards. The company can determine whether the report will be made public or not, and the company can utilise a third- party
certifier if they choose. But it would not be something
that the government will be imposing on companies.
With that stated, Mr. Speaker, I now move that
the Bill be committed.

It has been moved that we consider
clauses 1 through 3.
Are there any objections?
There are none.
Minister, continue.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Madam Chairman, this Bill
seeks to amend the Companies Act 1981, the Limited
Liability Company Act 2016 and the Limited Partner-ship Act 1883 to make provision for benefit companies,
benefit limited liability companies and benefit limited
partnerships.
Clause 1 gives the citation.
Clause 2 inserts a definition of “benefit company” into section 2 of the Companies Act 1981, referencing new section 156R.
Clause 3 inserts new Part XIIB Benefit Companies (sections 156Q to 156V) into the Companies Act 1981 as follows:
Section 156Q (application) subsection (1)
states that Part XIIB applies to benefit companies. Subsection (2) states that the other provisions of the Companies Act 1981 apply to benefit companies, but where
Part XIIB imposes additional or different requirem ents
on benefit companies, those requirements prevail over
any conflicting provisions. Subsection (3) prevents the
alteration of the additional or different requirements in
the bye- laws of a benefit company except as provided
in Part XIIB. Subsection (4) c onfirms that Part XIIB does not affect the law applicable to companies that are
not benefit companies.
Madam Chairman, I just want you to know that
I am skilfully jumping between Roman numerals .

Okay. Yes, you are!

[Laughter]

Hon. Jason Hayward: Section 156R [(interpretation)]
subsection (1) contains definitions of expressions used
in Part XIIB, including “benefit company,” “public benefit,” “public benefit provision” and “stakeholder.” Subsection (2) sets out in what circumstances the directors
of a benefit company are taken to manage or direct the
operations of the business of the benefit company in a
“responsible and sustainable manner.”
Section 156S [(procedure for becoming or
ceasing to be a benefit company)] subsection (1) provides that a company may be formed as a benefit company by including in its original memorandum a state-ment that it is a benefit company subject to Part XIIB
and any public benefit provision. Subsection (2) provides that a company may become a benefit company
by altering its memorandum to include such a statement and any public benefit provision. Subsection (3)
provides for alteration of a public benefit company’s memorandum to include, amend or remove a public
benefit provision. Subsection (4) provides that a benefit
company may cease to be a benefit company by altering its memorandum to delete the statement and any
public benefit provision.
Section 156T [(duties of directors)] subsection
(1) requires the directors of a benefit company to man-age or direct the operations of the company in a manner that is responsible and sustainable, and that pursues the public benefits specified in any public benefit
provision. Subsection (2) provides that, unless otherwise provided in the bye- laws, directors do not have
any liability for monetary damages for the failure to
comply with subsection (1), except in the case of fraud
or dishonesty. Subsection (3) pr events any such alteration to the bye- laws having retrospective effect. Subsection (4) confirms that the status of a company as a
public benefit company does not impose a duty on the
directors towards any person except to the benefit company itself. Subsection 5 modifies the effect of Section
97(1) in relation to directors of a public benefit company.
Section 156U [(benefit statement and third
party certification) ] subsections (1) to (3) require a benefit company to provide its members annually with a
benefit statement describing the ways in which the
company sought to operate in a [ responsible] and sustainable manner and comply with any public benefit provision, and which has been prepared using a third party standard. Subsection (4) permits the statement to
be prepared less frequently than annually and without
reference to a third- party standar d, but subsection (5)


Bermuda House of Assembly sets out a procedure for members of a benefit company
to require compliance. Subsections (6) and (7) list the
requirements of a third- party standard for the purposes
of this section, which must be a recognised standard for reporting overall social and envi ronmental performance of a company that is comprehensive, independent, credible and transparent (as defined).
Section 156V [ (enforcement) ] makes provision
for members of a benefit company to bring an action to
enforce the requirements of Part XIIB. The bye- laws
may provide standing to other persons to bring an enforcement action. Subject to its bye- laws, a benefit
company will not be liable for monetary damages for
any failure to comply with Part XIIB, or any failure of the
benefit company to pursue the public benefits identified
in any public benefit provision.

It is, indeed, Madam Chair man.
Thank you very much, constituency 22, Paget East.
This is my only question in Committee.
Minister, you very kindly answered in the general debate my question about the certification question, with the obligations, and you pointed out it was
self-regulating. And I just want to make sure that I understand it for clarity. So, it is clause 3, which starts at
page 2 of the Bill, but then it inserts, as the Minister
noted, and I am not going to call out the Roman numer-als, but XIIB, and then it inserts a whole bunch of sec-tions into the Act.
And if we can turn over to page 4 of the Bill,
please, there we see under the heading “ Benefit statement and third- party certification, ” 156U (for underground) is being inserted into the Act. And this is about
the question that I posed in the general debate, and I just want to make sure I have understood it. I think I have, and I think the Minister explained it very well.
It will be self -regulating. There will be, at 156U,
I am at the bottom of page 4 of the Bill, 156U “(1) Except as provided in subsection (4)” (and we will go to
subsection (4) in just a second) “or its by e-laws, a benefit company shall provide its members annually with a beneficial statement as to the benefit company's efforts
to comply with this Part. ”
So that is the normal position, with an exception in subsection ( 4) or the by e-laws.
And if we scoot over to subsection (4) to look
at the exception, which is on page 5 of the Bill at the
top, it is the second paragraph in, subsection (4), “Except as provided by its by e-laws,” (so there is still a by elaws position) “the directors of a benefit company may ” (so it is not obligatory, it is ‘may’) “decide –either [(a)] to
provide the statement less frequently than annually ;” or
“[(b)] to prepare a statement without using a third- party
standard. ”
So, there is a flexibility. As the Minister noted,
it is self -regulating, but there is a safety net, and this is
the key, I think, the reason for my question, which is the
next subparagraph.
And in (5), it says that if someone chooses to
be less onerous, as they could be in ( 4) above, then we
have a safety net or a safety valve in ( 5), which is that
the requisite percentage of members of the benefit
company may require the more onerous standard.
They may say, No, no, no, we want you to have thirdparty standard, or we want you to have it more frequently.
And if we go back a page just to see what the
requisite percentage is, it is not high, it is someone who
has at least 2 per cent of the issued shares.
So I think the jurisdiction can take comfort that,
notwithstanding it is self -regulating, and notwithstanding there is a degree of flexibility for the benefit company, the members who, in other words are the shareholders, but they are the members in this l egislation,
they have that safety valve to step in. And I think that is
the situation .
I see the Minister nodding to clarify.
Thank you.

It has been moved that clauses 4
through 9 be considered.
Are there any objections?
None. Continue, Minister.


Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Jason Hayward: Clauses 4 and 5 amend the
Limited Liability Company Act 2016.
Madam Chairman, clauses 4 and 5 make similar provision in the Limited Liability Company Act 2016
for benefit limited liability companies. So, what you are going to find, Madam Chairman, is that what we laid out
as the standard and the requirements in the previous
Act will be replicated in the Limited Liability Company
Act.
Clauses 6 t hrough 8 amend the Limited Partnership Act 1883 for benefit limited partnerships.
Madam Chairman, clauses 6 through 8 make similar
provisions in the Limited Partnership Act 1883 to benefit limited partnerships. New section 37 mirrors section
20 of the Partnership Act 1902 to empower the Supreme Court to make necessary rules or orders in relation to its jurisdiction under the Act, which will not be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
Clause 9 provides for commencement

It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Are there any objections?
There are none, Minister.
So approved.

[Gavel]
[Motion carried: The Benefit Entities Act 2025 was considered by a Committee of the whole House and passed without amendment.]

House resumed at 5:51 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

BENEFIT ENTITIES ACT 2025

Members, are there any objections to
the Benefit Entities Act 2025 being reported to the
House as printed?
There are none.
It has been reported as printed.
We now move on to Item No. 9, which is the
second reading of the Trustee Amendment Act 2025 in
the name of the Minister of Economy and Labour once again.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I move that the Bill
entitled the Trustee Amendment Act 2025 be now read
a second time.

Any objections?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

BILL

SECOND READING

TRUSTEE AMENDMENT ACT 2025
Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, the second Bill
that we will be debating today is the Trustee Amendment Act 2025. This Bill is a companion to the Benefit
Entities Bill and is another product of this Government's
commitment to promoting sustainable economic growth
and improvi ng our legislative framework. The Trustee
Amendment Act 2025 will make amendments to section 55A of the Trustee Act 1975 to clarify that the decision -making powers of trustees as related to investment decisions.
Mr. Speaker, responsible investment practi ces
have become increasingly important in recent years as
more investors are seeking opportunities to make pos-itive impacts through their business activities. Trustees,
as stewards of trust assets, play a crucial function in
shaping the investment landscape. However, many trustees are uncertain about their ability to address the
growing concerns and evolving views of settl ors and
beneficiaries around environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and corporate governance.
This is currently the case in Bermuda and
many other jurisdictions. Mr. Speaker, it would not be a


Bermuda House of Assembly stretch to say that the most important stakeholders of
any trust are settl ors and beneficiaries. While the Trustee Act provides broad authority for trustees to manage and invest trust assets, the Act does not address a trustee's ability to take the wishes and views of these important stakeholders into account when making investment decisions.
In cases where a trustee is aware of a settl or’s
or beneficiary's desire to have the trust assets invested
in a way that aligns with their views, Bermuda trustees
currently have no clear authority to take such non- financial factors into account in the absence of express
authority in the trust instrument . This is simply not addressed in law.
Mr. Speaker, industry experts also note that
the decisions made by English courts have reinforced
the perception of uncertainty in cases involving invest-ment -related requirements set out in English law that
are quite similar to those included in Bermuda's law. In
fact, trust experts have determined that Bermuda's
Trustee Act arguably restricts the purposes for which an investment may be made only to those which are
currently settled in law.
Mr. Speaker, to address this issue and to better
serve the client's industry representatives assert that
Bermuda should enact legislation flexibility that permits
trustees to pursue investment strategies that consider
broader social and environmental impli cations as well
as financial returns. The Trustee Amendment Act 2025
seeks to provide legal certainty to trustees to align investment decisions with the values and wishes of set-tlors and beneficiaries regarding the impact of investment on society and the e nvironment and the governance of entities in which the trustees might invest.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill will amend section 55A of
the Trustee Act 1975 to clarify that in exercising the statutory power of investment, a trustee may consider such views of settl ors and beneficiaries if they are
known to him. There is substantial industry support among Bermuda's trust sector representatives for updating the law to align with evolving views regarding
corporate governance and the impact of investments,
particularly a s it relates to the younger generations.
The proposed amendments are the result of
collaboration between the members of the Bermuda branch of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners,
the Bermuda Association of Licenced Trustees, the
Bermuda Business Development Agency, Trust Law
Reform Committee, and other industry professionals.
The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners has recently launched a wider campaign to encourage other
jurisdictions to make similar changes to their trust legislation.
Mr. Speaker, by ensuring flexibility and certainty in the law governing the investment of trust assets, Bermuda will enhance its competitiveness while also taking a leadership position in the growing movement towards sustainable investing. The proposed
amendments aim to improve the clarity and clarify the law governing trustee practi ces, provide local trustees
with greater confidence and protection in making investment decisions that are aligned with sustainable investment priorities of settl ors and benefic iaries, make
Bermuda more attractive to wealth earners that support
the integration of sustainable finance practi ces in their
investment strategies, and position Bermuda as a lead-ing jurisdiction for sustainable finance and responsible
stewardship of private wealth.
Mr. Speaker, Bermuda has a well -deserved
reputation for being innovative and progressive in its legislative framework for international businesses. Bermuda trust experts have successfully collaborated with
the Government on many occasions to update our law s
to ensure that they are responsive to industry needs and appropriately positioned to compete with other
leading trust jurisdictions. This is another instance where such collaboration will result in improvements to
our legislation for the benefit of indus try representatives
and their clients, including family offices and other private wealth earners.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank
the private sector representatives who worked on this
project, as well as those industry groups that have supported this initiative. Finally, I wish to thank the technical officers who worked on this Bill in t he Ministry of
Economy and Labour, the Ministry of Finance, and the
Attorney General's Chambers.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
And yet again, Minister Hayward may be surprised that I am standing up to agree with him. But I
absolutely endorse what he just said. And as I am not
a government Minister, I might take a few liberties in
what I say.
But for those who do not know, when we think
about international business in Bermuda, we often go
to the insurance sector, because that is where our mind
is, insurance and reinsurance. But let us not forget that
a fundamental bedrock constituent of our international
business sector is the trust industry. And we are widely
regarded as one of the preeminent trust jurisdictions in
the world. And here is where I will take my liberty and
offer my opinion, Mr. Speaker. It is an opinion.
I would go so far as to say we are the preeminent trust jurisdiction in the world. But I know that there
are certain other international financial centres that might argue that point with me if they were here. But
we are certainly regarded as one of the preeminent
trust jurisdictions in the world. And we should be very,
very proud of that. And we should be very, very proud
of all of those working so hard and diligently in our trust
sector, in our trust industry, because they really are


Bermuda House of Assembly experts. And I am delighted that the Government has
worked hand in glove with the industry to promote both
the prior Bill and this Bill in this area.
This is slightly different than the last B ill in the
sense that the last Bill is something that is in a number of jurisdictions. I think with this Bill, we could fairly say
that we are now leading on this Bill. And so, we are the
ones taking the first step. Maybe not the first step; t hat
may not be true. But we are taking a step forward. And no doubt others will follow as we go this way.
ESG , forgive me for using the acronyms or the
letters, but it is Environmental, Social, and Governance. And it is this idea that we can introduce into wealth structures that concept of social responsibility.
And so just as in the last Bill we were talking about responsible and sustainable behaviour, here we are talking about environmental, social, and governance behaviour.
The Bill is blissfully short. It does what the Minister says. It does what it says on the tin. It is an amendment to our 1975 Trust Act , Trustee Act, rather. And in
effect, it does a very similar thing to the last Bill in that
it creates a shield, this time not for directors of a benefit
company, but for trustees. Because if a particular settlor or beneficiary says, I wish you (the trustee) to apply
trust assets to something wonderful, something environmental, something sustainable, something good for
socie ty, something for general benefit . . . under a normal situation , were we not to have this statutory shield
for the trustee, that trustee might be sued. Because
normally the trustee's obligation is to maximise the value of the trust.
And so, this is a very useful addition, [an] enhancement to our trust laws. And I think it will be wel-comed by trustees who will now know that if they have
socially conscious beneficiaries or a socially conscious
settlor who wishes to use trust assets to the greater benefit, the greater good of humanity and the world,
et cetera, that those trustees may do so knowing full
well that they are permitted by Bermuda's legislation to
do so.
And I do not doubt that as we take this step
here in what I, under my opinion, described as the
preeminent trust jurisdiction, those who are also in other preeminent trust jurisdictions may well take the
same step.
So I thank the Minister and all of those who
worked with him, both within the government, but also in the outside industry, for helping to advance Bermuda's trust laws and ensure and maintain Bermuda at the forefront of this particular industry, which play s a much
larger role in international business in Bermuda than I
think many, many people realise. When we say international business, it is not solely insurance and reinsurance, but we love them too.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you. Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this time?
None other? Minister .

Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honourable and Learned Member for his intervention and
support on this Bill. I thank him for removing his gov-ernmental hat and putting on his industry hat and just
reaffirming the work that the Government has actually done. I think it is undervalued sometimes, the partner-ship between the Government and industry, and then
when we work together we can actually work collectively, hand in hand, to progress Bermu da as a leading
jurisdiction in some spaces, but then al so preserve our
footprint in certain industry groups.
And so , the trust is an important sector to Bermuda, as articulated. The Government values the trust
sector, and I think this is a clear indication that if there
are reasonable changes that need to be made to our
laws, that the Government is willing to listen to these
considerations and then put to action if we see fit.
And so , with that said, Mr. Speaker, I move that
the Bill be committed.

It has been moved that clauses 1 and
2 be considered.
Any objections to that?
There are none.
Minister, please.
Hon. Jason Hayward: Madam Chairman, this Bill
seeks to amend the Trustee Act 1975 in relation to the
investment decision- making powers of trustees.
Clause 1, the Bill title. Madam Chairman,
clause 1 provides the citation.
Madam Chairman, clause 2 amends section
55A [(investment powers)] to provide clarity on the obligation of a trustee in subsections (4) and (5) to act as
a prudent investor would by considering “ the purposes,


Bermuda House of Assembly terms, distribution requirements and other circumstances of the trust ” when investing or applying trust
property. The phrase “ other circumstances of the trust ”
is defined in new subsection (6) to include taking account of the wishes of beneficiaries and settlors , including in respect of investment strategies that align with
their views regarding environmental and governance
issues, insofar as known to the trustee.

It has been moved that the Bill be reported to the House as printed.
Any objections?
There are none.
So moved.

[Gavel]
[Motion carried: the Trustee Amendment Act 2025 was
considered by a Committee of the whole House and
passed without amendment.]

House resumed at 6:07 pm

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

REPORT OF COMMITTEE

TRUSTEE AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Thank you. Members, are there any objections to the Bill
entitled the Trustees Amendment Act 2025 being reported to the House as printed?
There are none.
It has been reported.
Now we move on to the next item, which is consideration of the Tourism Investment (Navigate Drone
Light Show s) Order 2025. And that is in the name of the
Minister of Tourism and Transport, Culture and Sport.
Minister .
Hon. Owen Darrell: Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I move that consideration be
given to the Draft Order entitled the Tourism Invest-ment (Navigate Drone Light Show s) Order 2025, proposed to be made by the Minister responsible for Tour-ism with the written agreement of the Minister of Fi-nance in exercise of the power conferred by section 5
of the Tourism Investment Act 2017.

There are no objections. Continue.

DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT (NAVIGATE DRONE
LIGHT SHOW S) ORDER 2025

Hon. Owen Darrell: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of bringing this Tourism Investment (Navigate Drone Light
Shows) Order 2025 before this Honourable House is to
enable the grant of customs duty relief to the operators
of Navigate Drone Light Show s attraction. The Minister
of Tourism and Transport, Culture and Sport , in consultation with the Minister of Finance, deems this tourism
project to be an attraction which is in the national eco-nomic interest of Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased
to invite this Honourable House to take this Order under consideration.
Mr. Speaker, the application for a tourism investment order was submitted for the Navigate Drone
Light Shows Attraction by Navigate Limited, which was
incorporated in Bermuda on the 20th of September
2024. Mr. Speaker, Navigate Limited is a three- member Bermudian company led by Tre Maxwell as the
Chief Executive Officer, Michael Wollmann as the Financial Advisor, and N ekeasha Thompson as the Administrative Advisor.
Mr. Speaker, Navigate Drone Light Shows is
Bermuda's first in- house drone light show company and
was founded with the mission to revolutionise the Is-land's entertainment landscape through innovative,
captivating, and eco- friendly aerial displays. Navigate
Limited's aim is to deliver unforgettable visual experiences which celebrate Bermuda's culture and tourism
offerings. Navigate Limited's goal is to position Bermuda as a premier destination for unique entertainment attracting both locals and visitors alike.
Mr. Speaker, in addition to the aforementioned
CEO, Financial Advisor, and Administrati ve Advisor,


Bermuda House of Assembly Navigate Limited will employ five ground crew and a
social media specialist during its first year of operation.
Mr. Speaker, the Navigate Drone Shows will operate
using 215 drones, 430 batteries, 215 propellers, and
supporting equipment including GPS, ante nnas, and IT
networking equipment.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will note
that Navigate Limited is seeking full relief from customs duty for a period not exceeding five years from the operative date of the tourism investment order in respect
of any equipment, goods, and supplies which are necessary for the operation of this attraction, Navigate
Drone Light Shows.
Mr. Speaker, I eagerly anticipate watching the
Navigate Drone Light Shows from our skies. In addition, I hereby congratulate Mr. Maxwell and his team for
their vision, a vision now realised, a vision which will undoubtedly enhance the tourism offerings her e in Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recommend this
Order for the support of this Honourable House.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is very nice to hear about the amount of staff
and the vision that Mr. Maxwell and his team have in regard to this drone show. I just want to also give a slight story of bipartisanship here where Mr. Maxwell
did reach out to the Member from constituency 25 who
then reached out to me and we were able to put him in
contact with Ms. Shivon Washington , who was so receptive and responsive and was able to walk through how he could fill out his application for this t ourism order.
So, it goes to show that, you know, we all can
do our part and participate in pushing out things that are going to not only help our tourism product but aid in
entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, which is a key
plank of what the One Bermuda Alliance stands for as
well. So, we have full support for this tourism investment order and look forward to seeing this amenity and
how it can enhance our tourism offering.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, if I can ,
ever so briefly , echo the support of this order here today
with regard to the drone light shows and underscore one thing, that the growth of tourism is going to come
from the excitement of entrepreneurs and future entrepreneurs finding innovative ways to excite visitors while
on Island. And I hope that we could see one beautiful
headline showcasing the confidence that these young
entrepreneurs have in the future of Bermuda to underscore the fact that they can come to this Government and find ways to seek support to get their businesses going.
And I see . . . and I will repeat something I have
said before: Opportunities to excite visitors during their
stay. We are seeing it in the new . . . it's not pickleball,
some type of racquetball that's coming up. I see one
down at Tucker's Point. I heard of one coming up in
Warwick pretty soon near me. I declare an interest
there, being affiliated somewhat with the resort there.
And don't let it stop there. The water is there.
And maybe somebody might want to invest in some
type of water transportation. Look to Hong Kong and
other places as to how it comes and invest in ways to
get persons entertained in Bermuda so that everybody
in Bermuda isn't just looking at the Government to do the things.
The Government can facilitate the things , is
what I see the Minister doing very well in this space.
And it excites me. And I hope that more young entrepreneurs, grassroots entrepreneurs . . . and I see it in
St. George ’s, you know, Mr. Speaker. I see young entrepreneurs getting excited. I see it just coming there.
And I declare my interest. I am a Member of
Parliament from St. George ’s. And, you know, a parish
that has a town. And within a town it has a golf course.
It has three hotels. Within the town more hotel amenities. The lovely boutique hotel up there, Aunt Nea's Inn.
And right there, the old Hillcrest is now the new beautiful boutique hotel. The St. George's Club up on the hill.
The St. Regis down on the water.
And let me say this about an amenity. Let me
just give another idea for a young person. In Bermuda,
right, every year we have visitors. Every January to April we have some very special visitors. The whales.
The whales come back. And I say they come back because they got memories. There was a time when they
were hunted in these waters. Maybe a hundred or more
years ago. But they may have steered clear knowing
that they might not get past here and leave a calf behind for some reason or whatever or even themse lves.
But now they know they are in friendly waters.
And they have come back , just like all of my friends.
The visitors are coming back to St. George's with these new hotels and these amenities that they can get. And
let me give this little titbit. You can get to the whales quicker from that dock off of St. Regis or Ordnance Island or Penno’s Wharf than anywhere else in Bermuda ,
until such time as there is a finger pier right there off of
Pompano. You can get to the whales from St. George's
off of St. David's in less than 30 minutes where there
are people taking day trips and taking two hours to get out there to see them. They could be doing it. By the
time you get out there off of Sally’s Port or off of Southwest Breaker, they could have made their way [to]
somewhere else.
And so, a young entrepreneur that wants to put
together a programme . . . and when you're in the hospitality industry, you've got to be flexible. So, you might


Bermuda House of Assembly have to have a rainy -day plan, too. But the whales are
still there in the rain. And so, what you need—

And absolutely right . Because Mr. Stevenson and those lot are using drones to
be able to know where they are. And so, but what I am
saying is people do not want to be spending three hours
to go find and see something.
But it just so happens that the whales come
closest and can get closest in the east. The only thing
elusive in the east is the Cup .

One day soon.
But in all seriousness, I encourage . . . and you
know what? That young entrepreneur could maybe cut a deal with the owners of a dock that needs some repair, get an investment order and cut a deal for some
. . . for exclusive use or whatever. Because I remember
Mr. Kelly, may he rest in peace, having great charter
fishing right off of there.
And let me tell you this when we . . . and the
Honourable Deputy Premier would know this one very well, because he comes from a fishing family like me.
The World Marlin Tournament, more winning marlins
are caught right off of Pink Beach in what we would
consider shallow waters . But it's deep. Less than a mile
and a half. And you can get down there in less than 45
minutes.
So, the boats are starting . . . where they used
to all be going off of Port Royal, they are now all going off of St. David's. And so, the people with all these hotels we got down there now, Grotto Bay is getting more,
people are staying in the east. So eventually we are
going to need the Causeway Bridge to be opening up so that the boats can go through and go straight out off of there as well. So that infrastructure is coming because of the success of these investment orders. It is
all connected. It is all linked up.

Thank you.
Does any other Member wish to make a contribution at this point?
Minister .

Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and
thank you to the Honourable Member from the other
side for his support. And thank you to my colleague
from constituency 2 for his contribution. As we always
know, he has definitely been, and I know will continue
to be, a champion of not only tourism in Bermuda, but
all workers and everyone else associated with that seg-ment.
So, with that said, Mr. Speaker, I move that the
said Draft Order be approved and that a suitable mes-sage be sent to His Excellency the Governor.

That, Members, brings us to Item
No. 11, which is the Tourism Investment (Odyssey
Commercial Charter Yacht ) Order 2025, again in the
name of the Minister of Tourism.
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that consideration be
given to the Draft Order entitled the Tourism Investment (Odyssey Commercial Charter Yacht ) Order
2025, proposed to be made by the Minister responsible


Bermuda House of Assembly for Tourism, with written agreement of the Minister of
Finance in exercise of the power conferred by section
5 of the Tourism Investment Act 2017.

Any objections?
There are none.
Continue, Minister.

DRAFT ORDER

TOURISM INVESTMENT (ODYSSEY COMMERCIAL
CHARTER YACHT ) ORDER 2025
Hon. Owen Darrell: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of bringing this Tourism Investment (Odyssey Commercial
Charter Yacht) Order 2025 before this Honourable
House is to enable the grant of customs duty relief for
the operators of the Odyssey Commercial Charter
Yacht attraction. The Minister of Tourism and
Transport, Culture and Sport, in consultation with the Minister of Finance, deems this tourism project to be an
attraction which is in the national economic interest of Bermuda. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to invite this Honourable House to take this o rder under consideration.
Mr. Speaker, the application for a tourism investment order was submitted for the Odyssey, a commercial charter yacht , by Odyssey Charters Limited, a
local company founded by Neil [sic] de Ste Croix on the
5th of November 2024. Odyssey Charters Limited is a family -owned business directed by Neil [sic] de Ste
Croix, a Bermudian. Mr. de S te Croix has worked in the
customer service industry for more than 45 years in Jer-sey and the Channel Islands and here in Bermuda. Mr.
Speaker, this tourism product named Ody ssey is a luxury 36- foot power catamaran luxury yacht. It will be operated solely as a commercial tour boat on a daily ba-sis.
The capacity of the Odyssey is between 26 and
35 passengers. It is capable of a cruising speed higher than that of a sailing vessel offering more adventurous
experiences within Bermuda's coastal waters. Areas,
including the Eastern Blue Cut, Pompano Beach, and
Castle Roads will be new and accessible excursions as options for guests. Sunset cruises, onboard dinners,
which will include locally themed and flavoured cocktails, will be designed to entice business travellers to
return to Bermuda with their famili es for relaxing vacations.
Mr. Speaker, Odyssey will operate initially with
two full -time employees, a licens ed pilot and another. It
is projected that as the business expands, casual and student labour opportunities will arise.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members will note
that Odyssey Charters Limited is seeking full relief from
customs duty for a period not exceeding five years from the operative date of the tourism investment order in
respect for any equipment, goods, supplies which are
necessary for the operation of this attraction, the Odyssey. Mr. Speaker, I have every confidence that the
Odyssey will indeed enhance the tourism offerings here
in Bermuda, capitalising on our unique cuisine and our beautiful crystal -like waters. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased
to recommend this order for the support of this Honourable House.
Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This is more of, I would say, a technical kind of
point as far as where we are heading with this particular
tourism investment order. There are some similar characteristics between what this particular yacht is offering
and what Airbnbs tend to offer, right? The reason why
I am bringing this up is because we have a wide tourism
product with many people contributing to it. And while the Airbnbs are subject to an additional tax, we are giving concessions to a yacht, which I think we in the Op-position have no problem with supporting entrepreneurs and we will support this investment order. But I
want us to make sure that we really clarify to the public
what the specifications [are] and what is falling underneath a tourism attraction.
Because if you have somebody that's offering
certain things and then you have Airbnbs ( Right? ), you
want to make sure that everybody feels like they are
getting a fair shake in the industry, right? So , we support this [order] , but I just wanted to caution, just caution
that as we go through these tourism investment orders
and we start to pass out these concessions that we
make sure to keep the playing- field equity for all of our
tourism contributors.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Would any other Member . . .
Deputy Premier.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, maybe today is appropriate for
me to remind Members of this House and the country
that concessions like this were started 23 years ago . . .
today , the Honourable late David Allen died 23 years
ago today. And it was that Honourable Member who
brought concessions to this House for the very first time.
And if you can just think of how many concessions, tourist -related concessions just like this one today, and like the one Minister Darrell brought just a few minutes ago, the amount of funding it has generated for
this country, the amount of jobs it has created, the
amount of stimulus in our economy over the last 23 years because of the late David Allen's vision to offer
concessions to not only hotels, but look what it has morphed into.


Bermuda House of Assembly We have a litany of people who have gone into
business looking for concessions, entrepreneurs taking
advantage of these concessions. And I have to say how
proud we are, especially on this side of the House, and
I am sure Members opposite must feel some pride in
knowing that a Member of this House, the late great
David Allen, 23 years ago today he died. And to think
that his vision is still being carried and entrepreneurs
are taking advantage of that vision even today.
So, Minister Darrell, continue to support those
that come to you and want concessions to develop new businesses, and we will always support you, certainly
on this side of the House.
Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Speaker. Whatever's required to be able to echo what the Deputy just
said with regard to Mr. David Allen.
It is important to realise that as a journalist and
a business owner in the tourism industry with [Ber-muda] Dateline as well, and he did that in addition to
being an Opposition MP prior to being in the Government in 1998.
And my experience with the late David Allen
goes back to 1985/ 86 when he used to pay calls to me
down at St. George's Golf Club in 1985 when I came to
St. George's for the first time, well , the second time, because I was in Tucker’s Town from 1982/84, and I used
to advertise in [Bermuda] Dateline. And it is absolutely
right what the Deputy said of his vision for concessions that were carried out there, and they still . . . and more
so today . They are needed.
And just to speak to the point of the Shadow
Minister, the significance of this Order with regard to
this Odyssey yacht speaks to something I was mentioning just a few minutes ago on a similar . . . earlier when
I spoke to the opportunity that exists on the water in this
country.
You have seen this country . . . and the Minister responsible for Transport has to deal with that. So you will have on one side persons finding fault because
of an accident caused by someone trying to go to work,
and then you have got a Minister coming with an entrepreneurial opportunity that if everybody embraces, and
it is written about properly, that it might excite more entrepreneurs to get in, get on the water and do it. I have
said it a number of times already today, the opportunity for business owners is on this water.
And do you know what one of the problems is ?
Bermudians who are tied up in a knot socially in this
country trying to survive do not get to enjoy the water
as much. That is why I am excited to see this order today, and the Minister of Transport responsible for Tourism as well bringing it here to encourage not just Odyssey's success on the water, but others to get excited about entrepreneurial opportunities because they are
in an abundance.
And why are they in an abundance? I will give
you a few reasons, Mr. Speaker. Southampton Princess, Elbow Beach, the Azura, The Loren, those are
just the more recent ones where we see economic activity percolating success. So, we are going to need
more of these orders because we are going to need
more young entrepreneurs to find ways so that they do
not have to rely on looking in the newspaper for a job
opportunity or a job ad to answer. They will be looking
in the business section to be looking for investment opportunities from the money that we make because nobody gets wealthy working for somebody else.
Nobody gets . . . if the persons . . . and let me
tell you this . You have persons who came out of high
school or came out of primary school with the right type
of foundational there that taught them at Glebe—
Southampton Glebe and wherever and East End and
the like, taught them how to be practical and became
entrepreneurs . And while some of us were out there
getting our BAs, they were getting their piece of the rock, at 20 years old buying land.
What I see happening right now with these investment orders and the vision that was birthed out of
the Progressive Labour Party for it is creating ways to
give people the opportunity to become entrepreneurial
spirited. And we need entrepreneurs to be able to revive tourism. And we have seen it in BermudAir. BermudAir is an entrepreneurial venture.
And being an entrepreneur does not come
without risk. So, we want to encourage more young
Bermudians to do exactly what Odyssey [ Charters Limited] is doing here. Go call the Minister and he will put
you in touch with persons who can give you some advice. The Small Business Development organisation as
well can advise you. I went there, what , 48 years ago
when I was an entrepreneur in 1985 and running these
types of events. Some of them still exist today because
young people with a vision and passion have tim e on
their side to be able to make it a reality.
And those of us with wisdom on our side are
prepared to offer some help to help them navigate through some of the pitfalls that eventually come. So, it
is a balancing act. Balance matters, Mr. Speaker. And
the Minister is providing the tools in which Bermudians
can enter into the entrepreneurial space.
Stop looking for the pitfalls and look at the positive. This glass is more than half full that the Minister
has brought here today. But that's what the Opposition
does.
Find a new way.

Thank you, Member.
Does any other Member want to make a contribution?
Minister .



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And
once again, I thank you for the contributions from the
Members opposite as well as the Members from this
side of the House. I just want one clarification that was
mentioned by the Honourable Member from the other side, the Shadow Minister of responsible for Tourism.
He mentioned vacation rental property owners.
I have good news, Mr. Speaker . Vacation rental property owners can actually apply for a tourism investment
order if —if—they offer an attraction which is separate
from their vacation rental. So, at any time they can, you
know, come up with an attraction. And this is something
that we have definitely put in so that, as we have talked,
more entrepreneurs and more Bermudians can enter the tourism space.
With that said, Mr. Speaker, I move that the
said Draft Order be approved and that a suitable mes-sage be sent to His Excellency, the Governor.

That brings us to the end of the Order
Paper for today. So now we move on to third readings and we will start with the first [Bill] .
Premier, would you like to do . . . yes, Junior
Minister, would you like to do the third reading on the first item, the National Pension Scheme [(Occupational
Pensions) Amendment Act 2025 ]?

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21

Hon. Wayne L. Furbert: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that S tanding Order 21 be
suspended to enable me to move the Bill entitled the
National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pensions)
Amendment Act 2025 be now read a third time by the
title only.

Yes. The next one was a regulation.
Item number three, the Public Service Superannuation [(PSSF Stabili sation) Amendment Act 2025].
Premier?

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21

Hon. E. David Burt: Mr. Speaker, I move that S tanding
Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move the Bill
entitled Public Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabilisation) Amendment Act 2025 be now read for the third
time by its title only.

Any objections?
There are none.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 21 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION (PSSF
STABILI SATION) AMENDMENT ACT 2025

Hon. E. David Burt: Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the B ill entitled the
Public Service Superannuation (PSSF Stabili sation)
Amendment Act 2025 be now read for the third time by
its title only and passed.

The next is the Road Traffic Amendment
[and Validation Act 2025] . National Security . . . I believe Minister Hayw ard, are you doing it for him? Yes.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Jason Hayward: Mr. Speaker, I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended to enable me to move the
Bill entitled the Road Traffic Amendment and Validation
Act 2025 be now read a third time by its title only.

Item No. 6, The Loren ( Pink Beach [and
Elbow ] Beach) Act 2025 .
Minister.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 21
Hon. Owen Darrell: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I move that Standing Order 21 be suspended
to enable me move that the Bill entitled The Loren (Pink
Beach and Elbow Beach) Act 2025 be now read a third
time by its title only.