July 22, 2020

Sorry, Madam Attorney General. You
can continue.

QUESTI ON 1: AGEING WELL COMMITTEE —GOAL
FOR HEALTHY AGEING

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Every Stat ement provides an opportunity to learn something new.
And the Senator, on page 5, refers to fall prevention
and indicates that there are fall programmes. I would
love to have an example of a fall programme. My parents are active seniors, and it is quite a daunting pos-sibility to anticipate these things. But I would love to
hear what fall programmes are and their availability.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes, Attorney General.
The primary fall programme is at the hospital. And
basically, they encourage seniors to come into the programme. I am not s ure if it is operating at this time.
But it provides seniors with things that they should
and should not do, safety practices, et cetera. And as
I said in my Statement, unfortunately what tends to
happen is people enrol in the programme after they
have fal len. So to be proactive, hopefully my stat ements provide for the opportunity for people who have
1072 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate family members who are at risk to look at going to the
hospital to investigate the fall programme.
The President: Thank you.
Madam Attorney General, did you have a follow-up question or that is . . .

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: I most certai nly do. So, to the Senator, is it recommended that there be enhanced mobility exercises to prevent the falls?
Are there prevention measures that we s hould know
about and that we can find somewhere?

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: I would say the advanced mobility assists with individuals not falling. But
at the same time, when someone is at risk for falling,
very often the doctor will suggest that they look at this
programme. But from a family’s point of view, I do not
believe it is necessary for a doctor’s referral. But if it is necessary, you can. But it is important once people
become fragile and you realise that there is that possibility that they are not steady on their feet, that they
look at getting into a programme, because it is very
comprehensive, and it gives ideas that I think the average person would not think about.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Mm-hmm.
Thank you for that.
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
No. Then moving on, would any Senator care
to ask questions on the Update on Gaming that was also given by Senator Simmons -Wade?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President, Senator
Jones.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Just to be sure, I am talking and
referring to the gaming Statement, yes?
The President: Yes, you are.

[Laughter]

The President: That is the one under discussion at
this time.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON GAMING

Sen. Marcus Jones: Okay. Just wan t to be sure,
Madam President. There are l ots of Statements.
I was very much heartened when listening to
the Statement that the Government, or at least this Commissio n in its budget of $3.3 million of last year,
were able to spend less than the amount of $3.3 mi llion and were able to trim their sails and be able to cut
that back to $2.1 million. And I believe the public
would like to know, and I am curious, how much ha s
been spent on the Gaming Commission since its i nception, if you have those numbers on hand? And
how much [money in] application and yearly renewal
fees has been received, which would also underscore
the Government’s good fiscal management? That i nformati on would be very helpful. Thank you, Madam
President.

The President: Thank you, Senator.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Senator Jones, this is
actually not part of this particular Statement, but I will
take your questions under advisement.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
Senator Jones, do you have a specific question on this Update on Gaming that was presented?

[No audible response]
The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on the Update on Gaming?

Sen. Michelle Simmons : Yes, I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Good morning, everyone.

Some Hon. Senators: Good morning.
The President: Good morning.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON GAMING

Sen. Michelle Sim mons: I was just wondering (and I
apologise in advance if this was mentioned in the Statement . . . my Internet connection keeps dropping,
I do not know what is wrong this morning) how many
counsellors have actually received the international
certification that was mentioned in the Statement?
And also, roughly how much has been spent by the
commission on ensuring certification for those counsellors? Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Senator Simmons, I
will seek to provide this information for the Senate on
those questions.



Bermuda Senate The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you.
The President: Would any other Senator care to ask
questions on this?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam President,
Senator Richardson.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: UPDATE ON GAMING

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you. With respect to
the matter raised by the Junior Minister in her Stat ement, would the H onourable Junior Minister please
clarify the nature of the stakeholders who have been
involved in these developments? Are they banks? Are
they law firms? Are they just individuals? Are they consultants?
Who or what —not necessarily who in terms of
identification, but certainly what are these stakehol ders other than that very broad title?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Senator Richardson,
banks have been involved, and two recognised credit
card organisations.

The President: Senator Richardson, any follow -up?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes. The follow -up would
be—

The President: Supplementary?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Jarion Richardson: The supplementary; thank
you, Madam President.
Recognised credit card institutions; thank you
very much. When we say “recognised,” are we meaning regulated in another jurisdiction or regulated here?
Are we talking about . . . just because I am not sure I
am familiar with the phrase of “recognised.” Are we talking about brand name? Or is this some form of
financial institution? Thank you.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes. Senator Richar dson, yes, they are regulated. And I will say that probably each of us has one of those cards in our pocket.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: That is all my questions.
Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Honourable Junior Minister.

The President: Thank you. Thank you.
I would like to apologise to Senator Michelle
Simmons. I did not ask you if you had a supplemen-tary question or a second question.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you. No, that is perfectly fine. I am okay.
The President: You are satisfied. Thank you very
much.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on the Statement on Update on Gaming before
we move on?
No. Then we will mov e on now to the next
Statement, which is the sixth Statement, COVID -19
School Reopening Plans, that was given by Senator
Richardson. Would any Senator care to ask questions
on this Statement?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President, Senator
Jones.

The Pr esident: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1: COVID -19 SCHOOL REOPENING
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

Sen. Marcus Jones: For those parents who may not
feel comfortable with the health and safety protocols
of the public school in its reopening, is th ere a plan in
place to facilitate remote learning for those students, with the provision of computer devices if needed?

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President.
The President: Yes, Senator Richardson. You have
the floor.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thankf ully both of those
comments are referred to actually in the Statement.
The answer is yes. The Ministry actually intends to have . . . one aspect it is going to be a hybrid model.
And so in those instances, provide children who for
whatever reason are not able to be in the physical
classroom, they can access all of the information r emotely.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Jones, do you have a second question or a supplementary question?
Sen. Marcus Jones: No. Thank you, Junior Minis ter.
The President: Thank you.
1074 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Robinson, is it?
Yes, Senator Robinson.
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Yes. I will take that hot potato today .
The President: You have the floor.

QUESTION 1: COVID -19 SCHOOL REOPENING
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I just wanted to ask for a bit
of specifics on whether there has been a comprehensive look into different styles of learning for each child,
or at least a broad sense of the different styles of
learnings for the children who are currently going to school in our system and whether or not this hybri dised system suits every style of learning. Because what we do not want is to have a system that, yes, it
keeps everybody safe; and that is what we want. That
is the main goal. But we also want everybody who has
different learning styles and learning techniques that they require to get all of that mutual support. So I was
just wondering if there were any specifics as far as
judging whether this hybrid system keeps everyone
safe, but also gives everybody an equal playing field
regarding learning and how they process information.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Senator Richardson.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Sure. Madam President,
I will . . . I was going to ask your indulgence, but I will
not do that. In terms of, there is a statement in terms
of . . . a comment, rather, within the Statem ent about,
I think the correct pronunciation is Schoology. And
that is a web- based learning management system that
allows organisations to administer educational cour ses and training programmes, and track the progress of its users. And if somebody at the Ministry is going to adopt . . . and when I was preparing for this Statement
I asked, What is that, basically? And what it is is an
online learning tool that allows educators to do just what Senator Robinson is asking, which is to customise programmes and a lso make information available
to individual students.
And what I like about that is it provides a
feedback mechanism whereby if Anthony is learning at home, for example, I can verbalise what my concerns are and send that to the teacher. And my par-ents can also pull up on what is taking place. And so,
it does allow for a significant interaction within the st udents, based upon their particular needs. And in the Statement, I referred to the fact
that the additional training will be offered to educators
to allow them to be more comfortable with this mec hanism.
But the hybrid model itself does really address
what Senator Robinson is referring to. And I will take
the liberty to also say that, as part of just some of the
discussions, I spoke to one teacher in the private sy stem. And they are doing the exact same thing. So
there is probably greater harmonisation in terms of
how the public and private systems are adjusting to the new educational arena than we would initially
have anticipated. And further added to my Statement,
is the fact that the Minister has been actively engaging
with the private schools’ leadership to ensure that
there is some consistency.
And also I would add, to reaccept the fact that
he is not the Minister of public education; he is the Minister of Education. Therefore, [his] appropriate role
should be to ensure that both systems are working
well and, clearly, given Bermuda’s current health f ocus on COVID -19, to ensure that both systems are
healthy and appropriately responding to the new env ironment.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Robinson, a supplementary or a second question?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: No, Madam President. That
was perfect. Thank you.

The President: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: COVID -19 SCHOOL REOPENING
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

Sen. Michelle Simmo ns: Thank you. I have two
questions. I will ask the first one, and then Senator
Richardson might like to respond. And then I will then
ask the second.
If all of our students choose to physically r eturn to school in September, in view of what has been proposed in terms of physical distancing in clas srooms, and also keeping in mind that all of our
schools have different footprints, my question is, Have
all schools been able to find sufficient space, keeping
the physical distancing guidelines in mind? Because I
know we do not know at this point how many parents
may opt to keep their children at home. And therefore,


Bermuda Senate we do not know how many students will actually be
physically present. But I would imagine schools have
to anticipate that there is a possibility of everyone r eturning to school. So I was just wondering if all schools have been able to find sufficient spaces so that the physical distancing guidelines are satisfied.
That is the first question.
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Senator Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President, I do
not know if there is a thought that everybody [will r eturn] to school. I think more so, based upon feedback
there is justification, to be honest, that again based
upon feedback not every parent will send every child
back to school. And what I do know is that the schools
have considered how best to accommodate. In the
Statement, it refers to the fact that in a class of, let us say, 20, based upon, I guess I want to say reorganis ation, reorganising the classroom, they will use additional spaces in the building to accommodate the (I
want to call it) overflow bucket, the other students.
And so you can have a class of 20 broken up into two
classes. And to the extent necessary, it will pote ntially
use some of what are called other common rooms.
But what is . . . I guess for me as a noneducator, what is somewhat intriguing is the idea that
there will be a hybrid. And so, some children will be
accommodated for, or anticipated to be accommodated for by not being in class. And you recall in the Statement that we referred to the consideration that
there may be a scheduling of school, which we may
not be used to for sure because we have not had to
do it in the past. But whether it means that chil dren
from, let us say, “A” to, I do now know, “M” might go to
school in the morning, or Monday, Thursday and Fr iday or something, and the rest will go o therwise, sim ilar to what we referred to as the alphabet -shopping for
grocery shopping. So that has been anticipated for
implementation if we get to that stage, certainly for
those students who are in the middle and upper
school levels.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have your
second question?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I do. I have a suppl ementary based on Senator Richardson’s response.
That is, you have received feedback from parents. Is
that actually in writing? Or is it just verbal feedback that you have received?
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President, the
Ministry . . . it obviously does not have to be a person,
but the Ministry did conduct a survey. So it is in wri ting, yes.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you.

The President: Do you have a second question?

QUESTION 2: COVID -19 SCHOOL REOPENING
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

Sen. Michelle Simmons: My second question is
about teaching staff. And I am not specifically referring to teachers. But I am referring to all those who const itute the teaching staff at any school. So that is teac hers, paraeducators, learning support staff , and so on.
In view of the need to change the model as to
how schools are going to operate, will additional teaching staff be required? Or are there sufficient posts within the system to move people around to accommodate the additional needs in various schools?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Senator Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you again, Senator Simmons.
So, Madam President, what I understand is
going to take place is that if Anthony is a teacher and
my class of students are [split into] two [groups], that I
will be teaching both. And so the other class will have
a physical person there to handle the instruction. But
the instruction is going to be supplemental to what I
am doing. So there is not going to be a need for an-other teacher, per se, but there will be additional staff
on hand to provide the necessary supervision. I think
that is the correct way to put it. And I do know the
Statement talks about beyond the supervision, and
when it comes to cleaning, for example, that the Mi nistry will work with Workforce Development to engage
other persons to ensure that the whole, I want to say ecosystem to doing this is maintained.
And I guess to be practi cal, clearly not ever ything has been or can be anticipated. But based upon those statements, I think we can agree that a lot of
work has been completed to anticipate as much as possible. And I would encourage us all to have, as
best we can, an open mind so that when school starts
it is going to be different. Let us all work through and
be practiced to ensure that we are able to maintain
the primary objective, which is to maximise the lear ning of all of our students. And again, looking back to
the late stages of May and June, that we all be pr epared, whether those be parents, educators, officials,
1076 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate guardians, children, everybody, to really let us make
this work. Because it is not going to be the same as it
was in the beginning of 2019.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Michelle Simmons, you have a su pplementary?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: No. I really appreciate Senator Richardson’s responses. And I am sure the listening public do as well. Thank you.

The Presiden t: Thank you.
Would any other Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: [This is] Senator Richar dson.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

QUESTION 1: COVID -19 SCHOOL REOPENING
PLANS FOR SEPTEMBER 2020

Sen. Jarion Richardson: With respect to the matter
raised by the Honourable Junior Minister in his Stat ement, where he said that a more detailed health and
safety plan or protocol would be published in fulness —even though, to be fair, these two Stat ements
he has already said are full of health and safety information— would the Honourable Junior Minister inform
this Honourable Senate of when that further document
will be published?

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Senator Anthony Richardson.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President and Senator Richardson.
I cannot specify at this stage an exact timing,
except for all of us, as I emphasised a couple of times,
to look at the Ministry of Education website because
that would have lots of information that we are refer-ring to going forward. So that is the key, is to look at
the www.moed.bm
website to have as up- to-date i nformation as possible and certainly in anticipation of
schools.
So tow ards . . . into August, make sure that
we are focused in doing that. That should suffice.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, do you
have a supplementary or follow -up?

SUPPLEMENTARY
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Senator Ric hardson. Your point is (just for clarification) that parents
can use that information and would not have to wait for the further supplemental documentation to begin their decision -making relevant to whether their chi ldren will be attending and things like that? Given that the next release of information would be quite substantial, it sounded like it would be far more detailed.
But what we are saying is that there is enough information right there for them to start making decisions,
right now. Is that fair to say? Or if you could just clarify
that? Yes, they can go to the website and that is
enough, right? Thank you.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
I would accept almost , I guess, that based
upon the two Statements today, which were also gi ven by the Minist er, or very similar [to those] given by
the Minister in another place (as we call it), it is ev ident that a lot of work has in fact taken place in terms
of the parents or the school year 2020/21. And I think that in of itself is evidence of what we have done.
But certainly, people should be comfortable
going to the website to understand these things. And
again, to use me as an example and as a parent of a
child in the public system, it is comforting (if that is the
right way to put it) to understand what h as taken place
even in terms of, as I said earlier, that they have taken the opportunity to walk through, I guess, a day in the
life of a child. You arrive at school. You go to class.
You use the bathroom. You have lunch. You play
around with children, all that kind of stuff. So all of
those stages in the day have been taken into consi deration, and at each stage they have already consi dered, what the possible steps are.
One step was done in draft. The school pri ncipals got it, went through it again. There was a
walkthrough. And then each school principal was able
to, I guess, specify or further . . . yes, further specify
that information for the individual school. I think that all
speaks to the preparation. And so, yes, I would encourage parents to go to th e website.
And if I may, Madam President, I want us also
to start thinking through the idea of perception versus
reality, because that is going to also impact our dec isions about sending our children back to school in September. And [being at school] is a clear advantage
for children to learn. And so I trust that nobody opts
out completely. I certainly understand the idea that
some people may decide to let their children remain at home until they are more comfortable. But again, as I
said earlier, the real hope is that we each recognise
that there is a reality of COVID -19. There are some
practical implications and applications for us to e ngage in a holistic way to ensure that our children ind ividually and collectively do benefit from the education
process.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.


Bermuda Senate Would any other Senator care to ask a question on the school reopening plans?
No. Then we will move on to [Statement]
number seven, which is the Entry and Exit Protocols.
That was also given by Senator Richardson.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

QUESTION 1 : COVID -19 ENTRY AND EXIT SAFETY
AND HEALTH PROTOCOLS FOR THE
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Yes, just two. Regarding
the entering of the school protocols, now I remember
it used to be a time where it was a metal detector at
CedarBridge when I attended not too long ago.
[Laughter]
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: And it caus ed a bit of a bottleneck getting in on the first bell. Now, I anticipate
that much more thorough entering plan is going to
also cause somewhat of a bottleneck. So are there going to be any methods to expedite, or are there going to be any additional staff to support the GET offi cers, or whoever security is employed, to do this? And
will parents also be advised maybe to drop their chi ldren off earlier than usual? Or, you know, some way
to mitigate that bottleneck so that kids are not con-stantly late to class or whatnot? [We also want to] expedite the process [since] we want it to be as smooth
as possible. Because let us face it. A lot of kids are
not going to like it, right? But we want them to adhere
to it for their safety.
So I am just wondering how we are going to
make that process as smooth as possible. I just want
to hear a bit of specifics on that.

QUESTION 2 : COVID -19 ENTRY AND EXIT SAFETY
AND HEALTH PROTOCOLS FOR THE
PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM
Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Also, the second question
regarding kids younger than 15. And it was a portion
of the Statement that talked about contactless playing.
And I have a 12- year-old brother. Not a 12- year-old
kid, but a 12- year-old brother. And the concept of contactless play baffles him. You know what I mean? And he is one of the slightly older ones. So I am just wondering how this is going to be enforced, because we
do not want a situation where kids are basically being
told that playing is wrong, in a sense. So I just want to hear a bit of specifics as to how that will be properly
enforced. And if a child does breach that contactless play, are there any repercussions, or is it more of a friendly talking- to? That is all for me, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Senator Richardson, two questions.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you. I am actually
smiling because I can go on and wax lyrically about all
these things. I will not do that. That would be entirely
inappropriate.
But in terms of the entry process, I mentioned
in my Statement that the schools have been encour-aged to have a 30- minute entry process. And to be
honest, based upon my own observations, more so at
Berkeley than CedarBridge, for the older children
there is a process. And they do monitor the children
as they go in. So this w ould just be another part of
that. And yes, it would be ideal to have the children
come a little bit earlier so it is orderly. And to be honest, I think with all of these things it will become a routine after a while. And so yes, in the month of September, especially the first week or so, there may be
some delays of more than 30 minutes. But I think after
a while it is routine. You get to school, they take your
temperature, and you get yourself inside, and away
you go. And I trust that, again as parents and guardians, we would prepare our children to be responsible with respect to all of these things.
You know, my wife is a school principal. And
she has talked about the fact that when schools first
start in September there is really an adjustment period
for the children anyway. They have been out, they
have been playing, all that kind of stuff. So I trust that
this will simply factor into that.
The question in terms of contactless play . . .
clearly there are a lot of comments around that, b ecause part of going to school beyond the academic and all that kind of stuff is actually the socialisation of
our children so that they understand how to act, how
to interact, what is my personal space? ; how not to
contravene that , and all those kind of things; what is
appropriate, inappropriate touching, and all that. And
so, I do not know if it is specific to Bermuda education
in this instance, but it is going to have to be for us.
And as for you, Madam President, as a health pract itioner, you would understand that this is a much bi gger picture. And so we will have to, as a society, try to
understand what that means and then defer to the
educational practitioners, psychologists, sociologists,
all those others who impact education to figure out
how that would work.
But c learly even us as adults, we often talk
about the fact that Bermudians are what I call touchy -
feely. So we have had to adjust to that. So I do not see that as being different for the children while they
are in school. There will have to be some adjustment.
And in terms of discipline for so- called contraventions,
that has been considered also in the educational con-text because on the one hand you do not want to get
1078 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate to a point whereby school is just about rules enforc ement. But on the other hand, you do not w ant to compromise children’s health. And so there is going to
have to be a happy medium.
And the chances are that when you first intr oduce this new regime it will be a verbal reinforcement, you know, multiple times over. But at some point,
clearly, we hav e to become more aggressive with that,
because, again, you do not want to have any uni ntended compromise of our children’s health and then,
by extension, each of us —because children come
home. And a child can come home to me, for exa mple. And if he is impacted negatively, I get infected.
The family get infected, and then we go out to work.
And so we have to understand the simple nature of all of this stuff and be guided accordingly.
And the last point I will say also goes back to
us as parents. Let us ensure that we are constructiv ely responsible in engaging with our children in terms of
their at -school and out -of-school physical activities,
because you do not want to get to a stage whereby
the (quote/unquote) “ discipline ” at school becomes
now an impediment to actual education, because the
focus of going to school in this instance is, of course,
education.
So I will end on that, and just again emphasise the fact that this is really about all of us being r esponsible and practical as we prepare ourselves to go
into the next school year. Thank you, Madam Pres ident.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
So as a final comment, would any Senator
care to ask any other questions on entry and exit pr otocols (that is on Statement number seven) before we
move on?
No. Thank you. Then we will move on to the
eighth Statement, which is the Public Register of Beneficial Ownership, which was given by Senator Cam pbell. Would any Senator care to ask questions on this Statement?
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam Pr esident,
Senator Jarion Richardson.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson. Yes, you
have the floor.

QUESTION 1: PUBLIC REGISTER OF BENEFICIAL
OWNERSHIP
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you.
With respect to the matter raised by the Ho nourable Junior Min ister in his Statement, wherein he
said there are threats and risks that have altered the
Government’s position from one of resistance, as it
relates to implementing the Public Beneficial Ownership Register, to the current position where we have undertaken that exercise. Would he be able to clarify
what those threats and risks are ?
Thank you.

The President: Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I think the
primary reason for this is we have a history, a long
history of ever -changing requirements as it relates to
anti-money laundering, anti -terrorism financing, compliance issues for jurisdictions such as Bermuda. So to pick out any specific instance . . . I do not have that
at my fingertips. But as I stated in my Statement, we
did go out to our key stakeholders this year in April.
And the general consensus for the majority of the
stakeholders was that the Government should make
an appropriate commitment in line with other jurisdi ctions.
What this does, Madam President, is gets us
out . . . and if I can go back also to my Statement, the
UK sanctions and anti -money laundering Act 2018
compels the Overseas Territories to establish public registers of beneficial ownership information of co mpanies by 2023. So with the consultation and the consensus of majority stakeholders saying that gover nments should make the appropriate commitment, getting out there now well ahead of that date gives us the
luxury, really, of time to develop the appropriate pol icies and procedures. And as I also stated, you k now,
we are talking about the work to create the legislative,
institutional and operational framework that is suff iciently robust and appropriate and contains all of the
necessary checks and balances.
And that being said will require us to go back
out to our partners and the stakeholders, the Bermuda
Monetary [Authority], the Registrar of Companies and
industry partners, to fine- tune that and determine what
that looks like. By getting out there early, it also allows
us to deal with any challenges that may come about as a result of the pandemic that we are still experiencing.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Senator Jarion Richardson, do you have a
supplementary or a second question?

SUPPLEMENTARY

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I have a supplemental question. And that is, in relation to these key stakeholders and partners, I think it is nomenclature for Bermuda to say that we have
partners and key stakeholders. And I think we are all
well aware that they are just people wit hin the community who we as legislators interact with. Was this a
formal consultation process? And are these key
stakeholders commonly or frequently referred back to?


Bermuda Senate Really I suppose what I would ask is, Is there
a framework within which that consultatio n or that —I
do not know another word for reaching out, speaking
to people—took place? Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Senator Richardson [sic].
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, it is —

The President: Sorry, sorry. Senator C ampbell. Carry
on.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, the Mini stry of Finance is always in contact with our industry
partners. This is not something unusual. It is a regular
occurrence. And it is a formal process.

The President: Thank you, Senator Cam pbell.
I think, Senator Jardine, you have a question
on this Statement?

Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. I hope this c omes across. I am [INAUDIBLE ]—

The President: Senator Jardine. Senator Jardine, we
cannot hear you very well. I do not know if you can
speak a little louder or adjust your microphone.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Okay. I am having problems
this morning, as [other] Senators are having the same
problem. I am getting the video and sound coming
and going all morning.

[Pause]

The President: Yes. Senator Campbell, can you hear
Senator Jardine?

Sen. Vance Campbell: Still coming through muffled,
Madam President.
Madam President, may I suggest , if it is okay
with Senator Jardine, that he sends us his question?
And then we can perhaps endeavour to get an answer
to his question subsequent to the Senate , or later in
this [sitting] ?

The President: Yes. All right.
Senator Jardine, would that be helpful?

Sen. James S. Jardine: Yes, that is fine.
The President: Fine. Thank you.
He agrees, Senator Campbell. So then we will
look at the—
[Inaudible interjection]
The President: Sorry. Would any other Senator care
to ask a question on Beneficial Ownership? That is
Statement eight.
No.
Then we will move on to the last Statement,
which is the Bermuda Housing Trust Audited Financial
Statements. That was also given by Senator Cam pbell.
Would any Senator care to ask questions on
this Statement?
No. Then we will move on.
Introduction of Bills.
There are none.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President.
The President: I beg your pardon, Senator.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Yes. I wanted to r espond to Senator Simmons’s question in regard to the
money spent on problem gaming.

The President: Yes.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: From 2016 to d ate,
$129,961 was spent. In regard to the qualified cou nsellors, by the third quarter there will be 15 in total.
And a total of 35 will be trained by the end of the fiscal year.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you very much,
Senator Simmons -Wade. Appreciate it.
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: You are welcome.

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Madam President.
The President: Senator Jarion Richardson.

Sen. Jarion Richardson: You are on agenda item
numbers 9 and 10. I think we are on 12?

[Inaudible interjection]

ORDERS OF THE DAY
The President: Yes. We are on Orders of the Day.
[Crosstalk ]

The President: All right. So the first Order of the day
is the consideration of the draft Order entitled the Pu blic Health (COVI D-19) Emergency Extension Order
2020. And that is in the name of Senator Simmons -
Wade.
You have the floor.

1080 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President, I
move that Standing Order 71(2) be suspended so that
Senate may n ow proceed with consideration of Public
Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension Order 2020.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Simmons -Wade.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) suspended.]

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you.
Madam President, I move that the Senate do
now take under consideration the draft Order entitled
the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension
Order 2020.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Simmons -Wade.

ORDER

PUBLIC HEALTH (COVID- 19)
EMERGENCY EXTENSION ORDER 2020

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President, I
am pleased to invite the Honourable Chambers to
consider the Order entitled Public Health (COVID -19)
Emergency Extension Order 2020 . Madam President,
I would like to take this opportunity to remind the pu blic of their civic responsibility to take steps to protect
themsel ves, their loved ones and their neighbours.
We live in a very small Island, and the potential
spread of COVID -19 can reach medically vulnerable
persons of a community very quickly. One way to slow
the spread of the virus is wearing a mask to cover
your nos e and mouth, as well as physical distancing,
also called social distancing. The more space between you and others, the harder it is for the virus to
spread.
Other important tips for members of the public
include frequently wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. When soap and water
are unavailable, use an alcohol -based hand rub with
at least 60 per cent alcohol. Also, wash hands that are
visibly soiled. Avoid touching your eyes, nose or
mouth with unwashed hands. Practice good respirat ory etiquette, including covering your coughs and
sneezes. Avoid close contact with people who are
sick. Stay home if you are sick. Find out more about
how you can practice this guidance located on the government website. Madam President, sometimes
we feel like a broken record, always repeating ourselves. However, in circumstances such as the ser iousness of this pandemic, repetition is necessary. The importance of quarantine. Coronavirus
disease 2019 (COVID -19) is caused by a new virus
that has spread quic kly throughout the world. The
COVID -19 spreads easily between people who are in
close contact or through coughs and sneezes. Most infected people suffer mild flu- like symptoms. But
some become seriously ill and even die.
There is no effective treatment or vaccine for
COVID -19. So other ways of slowing the spread are
needed. And one of the World Health Organization’s
recommendations to control the disease is quarantine. This means separating healthy people from other
healthy people in case they have the vir us and can
spread it. You might be asked to practice self -
quarantine if you have recently returned from traveling to a part of the world where COVID -19 is spreading
rapidly. Strong evidence has found quarantine to be
vital in reducing the number of people infected and the
number of deaths. This turns me to the importance of
following public health directions and the legal r equirements such as the requirement to quarantine.
Madam President, I would like to take this
opportunity to remind members of the publ ic that se ction 12(1) of the
Quarantine (COVID -19) (No. 3) Order
2020 provides that any traveller that arrives in B ermuda must take a COVID -19 test upon arrival at the ai rport and “shall” (which is obligatory) “place himself in
quarantine at the house or accommodation . . . until
such time as he shall receive . . .” a negative COVID -
19 test result. The penalties for a breach of this section are outlined in the Quarantine Act 2017 , which
provides on summary conviction six months impri sonment and/or a fine of $25,000. I am delighted to
report that the vast majority of travellers have complied with quarantine requirements and public health
directions fully and amicably. People feel glad to be
coming to a COVID -19-safe place, and we are happy
to be able to have our borders open with the rigorous
protective measures in place.
Madam President, the Minister of Health consulted the Chief Medical Officer and determined that a
communicable disease of the first or second category,
namely COVID -19, continues to propose a severe
threat to public health in Bermuda. This Order will extend the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Order
2020 made under the Public Health Act 1949 to permit the Governor to continue the Public Health (COVID -19
Emergency Powers) Regulation 2020, which imposed
extraordinary measures necessary in the interest of
public health to prevent, control and suppress COVID -
19.
Madam President, Senators will be aware that
the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Order 2020
was made under the negative resolution procedure effect ive the 30
th of June 2020 for 30 days, expiring
the 29th of [July] 2020. However, the COVID -19 pandemic continues to rage on globally, and a public health emergency continues to exist on our shores.
Therefore, in accordance with section 107A(3) of the


Bermuda Senate Public Health Act 1949, I bring this extension Order to
these Honourable Chambers to prolong the state of
public health emergency for a further 60 days ending
on the 29th of September 2020.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.

The President: Senator Marcus Jones, yes. You
have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: We support this emergency extension Order to be extended for 60 days, as we have
done in times past.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this emergency extension Order?
No. Then Senator Simmons -Wade, you can
carry on

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the said draft
Order be approved and the following message be sent
to His Excellency the Governor:
May it please Your Excellency, the Senate,
having had under consideration the draft Order ent itled the Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension Order 2020, proposed to be made by the Minister
of Health under the provision of section 107A of the
Public Health Act 1949, has the honour to inform Your
Excellency that the Senate has approved the said
draft [Order].
The President: Is there any objection to that Order?
No. Then a suitable message will be sent.
[Motion carried: The Public Health (COVID -19) Emergency Extension Order 2020 was approved.]

The President: And thank you, Senator Simmons -
Wade.
We will now move on to the next item on our
Orders of the Day. And this is the consideration of the draft Order entitled the Riddell’s Bay (Warwick Parish)
Special Development Order 2020.
And, Senator Richardson, I believe this is your
Bill [sic]. You have the f loor.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Yes.
The President: Pardon; your Order.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Good morning, Madam
President.
The President: Good morning.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 71(2)

STANDING ORDER 25
Sen. Anthony Richardson: I now move that Standing
Order 25 and Standing Order 71(2) be suspended.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Carry on, Senator Richardson.

[[Motion carried: Standing Order 71(2) was suspended.]

[Leave granted for the Riddell’s Bay (Warwick Parish)
Special Development Order 2020 to be read a second
time on the same day as its first reading.]

ORDER

RIDDELL’S BAY (WARWICK PARISH)
SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT ORDER 2020

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President, I
move that consideration be given to the Draft Order
entitled Riddell’s Bay (Warwick Parish) Special Development Order 2020 , the Order to be made by the Mi nister responsible for Planning in exercise of the power
conferred upon the Minister by section 15(2) of the
Development and Planning Act 1974.
Madam President, I am pleased to take this
opportunity today to provide this Honourable Senate
with further information on the historic —I do underscore historic —importance of this scheme in addition
to providing detail on the process that has led to the formulation of this Special Development Order [SDO].
Madam President, the Order seeks to grant
planning permission, in principle, for a period of 10 years from the date of this Order being made for the
development of the site, subject to conditions outlined
in clause 3(2) of the Order.
The conditions include, but are not limited to,
the following: All applications for final planning permission of the residential lots shall be in accordance
with Residential 2 Development Zone as specified in
Chapters 9 and 27 of the Draft Bermuda Development
Plan 2018; status reports of the conservation management plan must be submitted at various stages of
the development, and site inspections must be undertaken to confirm the requisite conservation management plan has been completed; roadways must be installed prior to the development of the new vacant
residential lots; and the development of the Nature
Reserve area, the Open Space area, the Recreational
area and the Woodland Reserve area shall be in ac1082 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate cordance with the provisions set out in the Draft Bermuda Plan 2018.
Madam President, the Order also seeks planning permission to subdivide land with conditions outlined in clause 4(2) to
1. create 18 vacant residential lots totalling 23
acres (9.307 hectares) —approximately 25 per
cent of the property —intended to each accommodate one detached house. We are tal king about 18 detached houses ;
develop four conservation areas totalling 64
acres (25.899 hectares )—an estimate of
75 per cent of the property —and compris ing a
Nature Reserve totalling 18 acres (7.284 hec-tares), an Open Space area totalling 14 acres
(5.665 hectares), a Recreational area totalling
19 acres (7.689 hectares) and an Open Space area totalling 13 acres (5.260 hectares);
2. develop an internal system of roadways and
associated parking areas, a network of foot-paths and private and communal outdoor ar eas, and landscaped grounds.
Madam President, clause 5 of the Order declares that “nothing in this Order grants planning permission, final or in principle, for any matters of development for which planning permission is required, apart from any matter for which planning permission in
principle has been granted by paragr aph 3 and pla nning permission for the subdivision has been granted
by paragraph 4.”
To be clear, applications must be submitted
for planning permission for the development of each
of the 18 residential lots. So in summary, they still
have to go through the same planning process to build
each of those houses.
Madam President, I would like to remind Honourable Members of the history of Riddell’s Bay Golf
Course. Intentionally, Madam President, I would like
to remind Honourable Members of the history of the
Riddell’s Bay Golf Course. Early legislation for this
property dating back to 1925 includes an Act that was
passed by Parliament to use public funds to financially assist a privately owned golf course. They used public
money for the private golf course. I am sure that Senators can remember that access was only available to the privileged few, i.e., Blacks were excluded. I b elieve that access was only granted to affluent Black
members in the latter 20
th century. It is unfortunate
that, for far too long, this club, like some others, was
closed to the majority of Bermudians. So, public funds
were spent on a project that excluded the majority of Bermudians.
Madam President, I am most proud to sit before this Honourable Senate almost one century later in support of an Order which grants all Island res idents public access to 64 acres of land. “All” includes
you, me and everybody else. Madam President, I have received much
commentary on the legitimacy of the developers’ i ntention to have the new conservation areas ac cessible
to the public (“I” meaning the Minister). Please allow
me to assure the general public that the developer —a
Bermudian— has remained transparent and steadfast
with his intentions on creating valuable conservation
land not just for the general public to enjoy and interact with, but also to provide critical habitat for birds
and other flora and fauna. We have a letter of co mmitment from the developer, Mr. Daniel Tafur, which
confirms the following:
The 46- acre Gardens (Areas B, C & D) will be
accessibl e to the public for a minimum of 50 hours per
week. The exact time and days for opening hours are
subject to change based on the seasons, required
maintenance and guidance from environmental groups on changes to access for protection of plant
and animal species during specific times of the year.
The 18- acre Nature Reserve (Area A) will be
accessible to the public by appointment only. This is
for the protection of the bird and plant life in the area and to prevent overcrowding in the most ecologically
sensit ive area of the site. The Nature Reserve will
serve as an educational resource for schools, student
groups and environmental groups. The exact times
and days for opening hours will follow those of the
Gardens and are subject to change based on the seasons, required maintenance and guidance from env ironmental groups on changes to access for the pr otection of plant and animal species during specific times of the year.
Madam President, there has been much debate about whether the Special Development Order should stipulate the developer’s commitment to allo wing public access. I will pause. To be clear, an SDO is
a form of planning permission and is only for the purposes of granting planning permission. The SDO
speaks solely to the planning permission in principle and subdivision planning permission, and the conditions of each. Those permissions do not include
whether the public will have access to the developmental areas on completion of the development, especially as this property is privately owned. Madam
President, simply put, the SDO provides in part subd ivision permission for the development of the Nature
Reserve and Conservation areas. It is outside of the
scope of the SDO to provide how those areas will be
used or accessed once the development is complete.
Madam President, the Minister has consi dered the concerns that were raised and, as a result, I am pleased to announce that, after discussion with
Minister Roban and Mr. Tafur, the developers have
agreed to enshrine their commitment through the
grant of an easement to the government on behalf of
the public. This grant of easement should allay any concerns that the commitment of the developers is fleeting and could be changed in the future. Excellent
example of working together, Madam President.


Bermuda Senate Madam President, please allow me to emphasise that the rightful method to approve this type of
scheme is via an SDO, a framework that ensures absolute transparency through the dates in the legisl ation. It is important to point out that an SDO is a form
of planning per mission under section 15 of the Deve lopment and Planning Act 1974, and is granted when
the development is considered to be in the national
interest. In this case, the Riddell’s Bay Special Deve lopment Order undoubtedly involves a tremendous public gain, gi ven the creation of new conservation
areas which the public can access.
Madam President, it is of value to mention the
consultation that the developer undertook with all en-vironmental groups in advance of submitting a subdi-vision application to the Departm ent of Planning. Specifically, detailed presentations of the scheme had been made to BEST, the Audubon Society, Greenrock
and the National Trust. Madam President, to this end,
I would like to share a snapshot of comments made
on record by these environment al groups.
First up we have the Bermuda Audubon Soc iety: “While we are loath to see any of our precious
remaining open space given over to development, we accept that in this case, there is a pragmatic need for
the new landowners to sell some lots for dev elopment
in order to be able to set aside a sizable area as a
reserve, which will benefit Bermuda as a whole.”
Now Greenrock: “ If anything, we saw it as a
potential planning gain for the people of Bermuda in
terms of expanding the land back to protected green
space.”
Madam President, it would be remiss of me
not explain the in- depth assessment of the scheme
performed by technical officers within the Department
of Planning. This project has undergone an exhaustive environmental analysis and scrutiny. The applic ation submission included a comprehensive environmental impact statement and conservation management plan. By virtue of the statutory advertising pr ocess required by the Development and Planning Act
1974, this application was afforded public scrutiny.
The submission details were comprehensively r eviewed by technical officers of the Departments of
Planning and Environment, and Natural Resources,
as well as non- government organisations and me mbers of the community.
Madam President, the Department of Planning, in their review of the comprehensive submission, reached the conclusion that the proposal represented
an appropriate form of sustainable development which
would bring about notable public benefits that would outweigh any harm brought about by the loss of re creation zoned land.
Madam President, the department’s Board
Report, accessible on their website, clearly articulated the following salient points:
1. The Development Applications Board (DAB)
did not have the [discretion] to approve the application, given [that] the subdivision of land
for residential lots is not permitted within a recreation zoning, as per the Draft Bermuda
Plan 2018. So they could not do it.
2. Given the inability for the DAB to approve,
coupled with the position of the department that the application represented a scheme of
national significance and importance, it ther efore warranted a Special Development Order.
Madam President, in accordance with section
15 of the Act, planning permission granted by a development order may be granted with or without conditions. A number of stringent conditions have been
included in the Order, which sets out the standards for the development lots in addition to the requirements
regarding how the Conservation Management Plan to
create the new conservati on areas shall be impl emented.
Madam President, in essence, it is the add ition of 64 acres —64 acres of conservation land that
garners the national interest component of this SDO. The two conservation lots, split into four categories including the Nature R eserve, Open Space, Recreation and Woodland, significantly upgrade the conservation status of the existing recreation zoning. Not ably, the vast size of this conservation area in its entir ety exceeds the size of the majority of Government N ature Reserves and/or National Parks on the Island.
Madam President, I must also clarify the mi sinformation that has been espoused by some objec-tors in respect to the level of protection which is afforded to land zoned recreation. Development is per-missible on recreation zoned land such as sports
clubs, racing tracks, educational facilities and horse stables. Even accessory uses to recreational development such as commercial and even tourism accommodation are permitted. Land formerly zoned as
recreation has been rezoned for other uses in Berm uda. And two such examples include Somersfield
Academy (which was formerly the National Sports
Club) and the Newstead Belmont development. Other
zones such as Nature Reserves and Open Space r eserves are afforded significantly greater pr otection
from development than recreation zones.
Madam President, against the backdrop of the
current challenges being faced by our community, I
am certainly proud to introduce such a scheme that
represents a significant ecological and social gain for
the Island. It has, undoubtedly, tremendous potential
to inject an estimated $75 million in capital investment into the economy and provides much- needed stimulus
to various business sectors including construction and
landscaping, real estate, and other retail and service
industries and, most importantly —most importantly,
provide jobs for Bermudians.
Madam President, to conclude, I would like to
add my thanks to the developers, in particular Mr.
Daniel Tafur, for undertaking such a significant venture, which entails much- needed new investment for
1084 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate the country, as well as valuable conservation land for
the benefit of all of the community. Madam President,
we applaud the developer for continuing to believe in
Bermuda as a sound and promising jurisdiction in
which to invest.
Madam President, I now invite my honourable
Senate colleagues to give their consideration to the
Order. Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
Would any Senator care to speak on this D evelopment Order?

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Robinson, you have the floor.

Sen. Dwayne Robinson: Thank you. We on this side
are definitely in support of the stimulation of Bermudian jobs and the creation of Bermudian jobs, with r eluctance to the development of our open space. But
with the consultation of the various environmentalist
organisations, you know, our fears are a bit allayed.
But, yes, we definitely support the Order and anything
that will stimulate the economy and create B ermudian
jobs.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Robinson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this SDO?
Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President. Madam
President. Madam President.

The President: Who is this?
Sen. James S. Jardine: Senator Jardine.
The President: Senator Jardine. Yes. You have the
floor. Sorry.
Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you very much, Madam President.
[Pause]

Sen. James S. Jardine: Madam President, first of all,
I would like to thank the key members from the D epartment of Planning [INAUDIBLE ] and also update
on some information and ask him some questions
which maybe other Senators have.

The President: Senator Jardine, we are having—

Sen. James S. Jardine: Can you hear me?
The President: Senator Jardine, we are having a
problem hearing you. No, we are not hearing you
properly right now.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Okay. Well, I do not know
what else to do. I have tried numerous things here to
get the sound sorted. [INAUDIBLE]

[Crosstalk]
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Can you hear me any better?

The President: Senator Jardine, are you using your
tablet?

Sen. James S. Jardine: No, I am not. I am using my
desktop.

The President: Oh. I think that is one of the pro blems.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Is that any better?

The President: Yes, it sounds a bit better. I will find
out from Senator Richardson. If you speak for a couple of minutes, then he can hear you.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Fine. Let me know. If it continues to be bad, then I will just have to drop off.
But I just wanted to say my thank you to
members from the Department of Planning, and to
Rozy Azhar, who was [ INAUDIBLE] yesterday, and
[INAUDIBLE] Independent Senators.

The President: Yes.

Sen. James S. Jardine: I thank them very much for
their time.
I do support this [Order] for a number of reasons. And I think the biggest ones that have already
been indicated, some of those reasons, the par amount reason being plans to provide, hopefully, some
jobs for our economy and potential financial support
for our economy. I think, in looking at 64 acres of conservation area which [INAUDIBLE ] is a result of this
SDO, which otherwise may not happen. Certainly,
they are the only ones who purchased this property
and are prepared to commit a significant amount of
the property so purchased as conservation land, the 64 acres that we are talking about.
We have also heard from the Junior Minister
that both Greenrock and the Audubon Society are
supportive from the point of view that he has created
an additional conser vation plan for Bermuda to benefit
from. I think also one has to ask the question, Well, what are the alternatives? They are the only people who came forward to purchase this land and are pr eBermuda Senate pared to keep a significant portion of it into conserv ation. And they should be applauded for doing that.
At least I also hear the Junior Minister indicate
that they are prepared to enter into an enshrined li mited SDO, a grant of easement so that the public has
access to parts of this conservation property. That I
think was a concern expressed by a number of people
in another place, and I am pleased to hear that this
matter has been addressed.
So, Madam President, I think that the public
access item has been dealt with. I can see possible construction of single prope rties, which will create jobs
and hopefully stimulate the economy, as I understand.
And I think also within the clauses 3 and 4 of this legislation, it is pretty extensive stuff in there that the d evelopers of this property have to comply with before
anything can be built on these lots. And I think again
the direction of planning has been tasked with the r esponsibility of ensuring that all of the requirements,
the planning requirements, are met before anything
can be built on this property.
And so, Madam President, I will not speak too
much longer, because of the sound difficulties. But I just wanted to say that I support this [Order] for all the
reasons that I have indicated. And I am pleased to
hear of the instalment of the planned easement for the
public.
Thank you very much, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this SDO?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you very much,
Madam President. I support this [Order]. And I too, like Senator Jardine, would like to express my appr eciation for the briefing we had with Permanent Secr etary Rozy Azhar and two members of her technical
team.
I had one concern, and they addressed it yesterday. My concern was really about that there
seemed to be some flexibility with regard to the buil dings which could go onto the 18 new building lots. And
I was assured that there can be no variation from the
Spec ial Development Order without its being amended. And that would need to come through the Legisl ature.
This plan gives Bermudians [and] Bermuda a
total of 64 acres to enjoy as a nature reserve, open
space, recreation. And I think, compared with the 23 acres which will be allocated to the 18 building lots,
that is a huge gain for the community as a whole. Of
course, economically it is going to help to stimulate some movement in the economy. And so, all around
this is a good plan. Furthermore, it is interesti ng to
note how government money was used in 1925 to
provide for a privately funded golf course. So now, of
course, I view this as being a way of dealing with things that probably should not have happened in the
past, but they actively excluded the majority of the
population from using that privately owned golf
course. But now justice is being served. Thank you,

Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this SDO?
No. Then, Senator Richard son, you will . . .
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Madam President, I r espond [INAUDIBLE] my response. I want to certainly
thank all the Senators who commented, and certainly
the Government team, for supporting what is a signif icant development.
Senator Jardine, I know that you like to always give good input. Unfortunately, we have been
challenged with your audio for today. But I did listen
intently to hear that you do support this [Order] and
particularly the fact that the environmental agencies were able to have input to the final decisions that were
being made.
And for all of us, I believe, we understood the
fact that we now will have 64 additional acres of open space happily to enjoy. And I will also add that in other cases, other instances, there were announcements
made whereby there are large parcels of land being
donated to government for whatever reason; but they
did come with restrictions whereby the general public
cannot enjoy them. And so, to me sometimes, what is
the point, to be honest (without being too crude)? But
in this instance, we have the enshrined opportunity for everybody to be able to enjoy these new spaces.
I was particularly engaged with the understanding around the conservation for the birds and the flora and fauna, all those kind of things, because it
speaks to the idea of there being a new —like a nat ural place for us to go and to engage with nature and
ourselves to some degree. I will emphasise one more
time, without being tongue- in-cheek, that it is amazing
that 100 years ago the Government spent money to
allow a development that would not benefit the major ity of Bermudians.
And now there is the opportunity for that to be
effectively bought back, albeit by an individual who
has committed of his own personal ethos (I suppose)
to allo w us all to use it. Clearly, we all understand that
there is an economic aspect of this because if you buy
the entire lot, somebody paid money for it. We do not
do these things for nothing. And so now the, I guess, sensible connotation has been had whereby there will
be 18 lots that will be sold off for whatever reason,
1086 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate whatever money, to have some money come back to
the individual.
But more importantly it speaks to the fact that
there can be a practical application of the economics
and the social developm ent. We spoke earlier about
how Bermuda has changed. And so I look forward, to
be honest, to this development coming into full deve lopment, I guess, so we can see how we will be able to
interact and how this, hopefully, is done in such a way
whereby they are sensitive to the overall environment,
given that there are only going to be 18 [building lots].
And so, Madam President, with all those
words I do not think anybody actually asked a question.
The President: Yes.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Everybody wan ted to just
give comments in terms of support. So I do appreciate that.
And so, Madam President, I now move that
the draft Order entitled the Riddell’s Bay (Warwick
Parish) Special Development Order 2020 be read a
second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Carry on.
Sen. Anthony Richardson: Thank you, Madam President.
I move that Standing Order 26 be suspended
in respect of this Order.
The President: Senator Richardson, do you have the
. . . you have to have the motion to approve the Order
and then the message to the Governor. You should have that statement.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: I have it now.
I move, Madam President, that the Senate do
now take . . .

[Crosstalk ]

Sen. Anthony Richardson: I now move that t he said
draft Order be approved —

The President: Yes.

Sen. Anthony Richardson: —and that the following
message be sent to His Excellency the Governor.

[Inaudible interjection and laughter ]

The President: You can read the whole— you can
read that passage, “May it please Your Excellency
. . .”

Sen. Anthony Richardson: Sure. May it please Your Excellency:
The Senate, having had under consideration
the draft Order entitled the Riddell’s Bay (Warwick
Parish) Special Development Order 2020, proposed to
be m ade by the Minister responsible for Planning u nder the provisions of section 15(2)(a) of the Development and Planning Act 1974, has the honour to inform
Your Excellency that the Senate has approved the
said draft Order.

The President: Is there any objecti on to that motion?
No objection.
A suitable message will be sent to the Governor.

[Motion carried: The Riddell’s Bay (Warwick Parish)
Special Development Order 2020 was approved.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Richardson.
And, Senators, we will no w break for lunch.
And we will come back at 2:15.

An Hon. Senator: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident.
The President: Madam Attorney General.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Yes, M adam
President.
The Clerk: She is just thanking you.

The President: Yes. That is all right. We will break for
lunch. Thank you.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you.

[Laughter]

The President: I thought you were going to say
something else, but okay, Attorney General.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Oh, no.

The President: Good.

Proceedings suspended at 1:00 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2: 17 pm

[Sen. the Hon. Joan E. Dillas -Wright, President, pr esiding]

The President: Good afternoon, Senator s and listening audience.


Bermuda Senate The Senate is back in session and continuing
with its virtual meeting today.
We will now undertake the second reading of
the Bill, Ministers and Members of the Legislature
(Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act 2020.
Senator Campbell, this is your Bill, you have
the floor.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Do you have any objection for me moving the
provisions of Standing Order 25 for the next four because they are all mine.

The President: Absolutely . . . no reason. You can do
that. Thank you.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the provisions of Standing Order 25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed to the second reading of the Bills entitled the Ministers and Members of the
Legislature (Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act
2020 ; Public Service Superannuation Temporary
Amendment Act 2020; the National Pensions Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act
2020; and the Registrar of Companies (Supervision and R egulation) Act 2020.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell.
[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Ministers and
Members of the Legislature (Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act 2020; Public Service Superannuation
Temporary Amendment Act 2020; National Pensions
Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2)
Act 2020; and the Registrar of Companies (Superv ision and Regulation) Act 2020 , to be read a second
time on the same day as their first readings .]
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Ministers and Members of the Legislature (Sal aries and Pensions) Amendment Act 2020 be now read
a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on, Senator Campbell.

BILL

SECOND READING
MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE
LEGISLATURE (SALARIES AND PENSIONS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, I present for the consider ation of the Senate the Bill entitled the Ministers and
Members of the Legislature (Salaries and Pensions)
Amendment Act 2020 .
Madam President, the Ministers and Members
of the Legislature Pension Fund [MMLPF] was estab-lished on April 1, 1988, by the Ministers and Members
of the Legislature (Salaries and Pensions) Act 1975
(the Act). The purpose of the fund is to provide reti rement pension for the Ministers, Members and officers
of the Legislature of Bermuda in accordance with the
Act. The fund is administered by the Accountant Ge neral’s department.
Senators should note that when the Ministers
and Members of the Legislature Pension Fund was
first established there was no separate fund established. Contributions were paid into and benefits were paid from the Consolidated Fund of government. On
April 1, 1988, the Ministers and Members of the Legi slature Pension Fund (the MMLPF) was established,
and from that date contributions were paid into and
benefits have been paid from this fund.
Madam President, the provisions of the fund
are as follows:
• Ministers and Members contribute 12.5 per
cent of salary. Government matches these contributions.
• If a Member terminates before accruing eight
years of service, he or she receives a refund
of his or her contributions plus interest at
6 per cent per annum.
• The rate of pension earned is 3.6 per cent of
salary for each year of service and in calcula ting a pension not more than 25 years of ser -
vice may be counted.
• Where a Member has more than 25 years of
service, the service in the higher office is
counted first.
Senators will recall that during the sitting on
the 5
th of June 2020 in another place, as part of a
cost-cutting measure, a resolution under the Ministers
and Members of the Legislature (Salaries and Pen-sions) Act 1975 was passed. The purpose of the res olution was to temporarily reduce salaries of all Members and non- ministerial offic ers by 12.5 per cent. In
addition, the resolution temporarily reduced the mini sterial portion of Member’s salaries by 15 per cent. The
reduction took effect on July 1, 2020, and ends on
June 30, 2021, a period of one year.
Madam President, in conjunction w ith the
above- mentioned salary reductions, Ministers’ and
Members’ contributions to the Ministers and Members of the Legislature Pension Fund were suspended along with the matching government portion. The sus1088 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate pension of pension contributions also took effec t on
July 1, 2020, and will also last for a period of one
year. During the cessation period, a Member will lose
one year of pensionable service.
Madam President, the cost -saving proposals
were as follows:
• Ministers and Members will take a temporary
pay reduction.
• For the period that their pay is reduced, they
will not make contributions to the MMLPF.
• Government would suspend making its
matc hing contributions to the MMLPF.
• Pensionable service would not accrue for this suspension period.
Madam President, the projected cost -savings
from these reductions are approximately $500,000 in relation to the MMLPF contribution cessation, and
$480,000 in relation to the salary reduction. In addition, during the June 5
th sitting that took place in another place, it was noted that later in this legislative
session the Act would be amended to allow a Minister
or Member to elect to make voluntary contributions to
the MMLPF during the suspension period, or buy back
the year that is being lost in pensionable service.
The Bill c urrently before the Senate gives effect to this proposal and provides for, amongst other things, the following: It allows a Member to elect to
make voluntary contributions and requires an election
to be made to the Accountant General if a Member elects to continue contributing to the fund.
Madam President, this amendment also pr ovides for a capital sum payable on the death of a ser ving Member. The MMLPF already provides a widow’s
pension and a child’s pension should a Member die
before retirement. However, to provide further security to financial independence if a Member dies, it is pr oposed to amend the Act to create a death benefit for Members in line with the benefit for public officers outlined in the Public Service Superannuation Act 1981,
[PSSA] sectio ns 47 through 51. The Public Service
Superannuation Act provides for a capital sum pay able upon death. For contributors to the Public Service Superannuation Fund who die while in the service of
the government, benefits are available to contributors
employed for a continuous period of not less than one
year at the date of death. The sum payable is equiv alent to one year of the contributor’s basic salary.
Madam President, to meet this policy objective the Act will be amended to provide for a capital
sum to be payable on the death of a serving Member.
The amended Act will add provisions similar to the
capital sum in the Public Service Superannuation Act.
The death benefit will provide a lump sum payment to
a Member’s nominee equivalent to one- year’s basic
salar y. Each Member will be required to nominate in
writing the person or persons to whom the benefit will be paid. Madam President, I can also confirm that the actuary has considered this benefit and can advise that there will be very little financial impact, if any, on
the fund by adding the capital sum benefit.
Madam President, as at March 31, 2020, the
fund had net assets of over $10.8 million, representing approximately 6.6 times the annual value of pensions paid in the 2019/20 fiscal year. The effect, Mad am
President, is that if the MMLPF received no further
contributions it could still continue to pay out pensions
at the prevailing rate for almost seven years. The last actuarial report for the MMLPF was for the period
March 2017 and has already been tabled in the Se nate. Senators are advised that the next actuary review for the MMLPF is scheduled for the period ending
March 31, 2020.
Madam President, I would like to take a look
at the key clauses in this Bill.
Clause 4 inserts a new section 15AA into the
principal Act. Subsection (1) allows a Member to elect
to make voluntary contributions, notwithstanding that
both Houses of the Legislature approved a resolution for the purposes of section 15A specifying that contr ibutions toward the cost of pensions pay able under
this Part shall be 0.0 per cent of salary during the suspension period. Subsection (2) requires an election to be made in writing to the Accountant General
on or before 31 July 2020. Subsection (3) provides
that a Member may either continue to c ontribute to the
fund in monthly instalments at a rate of 12.5 per cent
of his salary during the suspension period, or make up
those contributions by lump sum payments by 30
June 2022. Subsection (4) provides that if a Member
makes payments in accordance w ith subsection (3)(a)
or (3)(b) for the suspension period, that period shall be counted towards his years of service or contribution (as applicable) for the purposes of sections 10(3)
(eligibility for pension), 10A (deferred pension) and
11(5) (calculation of pension). Subsection (5) makes
provision for refund of voluntary payments in certain
circumstances, and subsection (6) clarifies that section 15C(1) (Government’s contribution) does not ap-ply to payments made under new section 15AA.
Clause 5 inserts a new Part IV into the princ ipal Act (new sections 15E to 15H) to provide for a capital sum payable on the death of a serving Member. This is modelled on Part VIII of the Public Service
Superannuation Act 1981, which provides a similar benefit on the death of a serving public officer. Section
15E(1) provides that Part IV applies if the Member has
been a Member for a continuous period of not less
than one year. Section 15F allows a Member to nom inate, in writing to the Accountant General, the person
or persons to whom or for whose benefit the payment
may be made after the Member's death. Section 15G
provides for the capital sum to be paid to the nom inees, or to the estate representative in the absence of
nominees of a Member in the amount of one year’s
basic sa lary as a Senator or Member of the House of
Assembly. Section 15H provides that any payment


Bermuda Senate made under the new Part is in addition to any other
benefits payable under the principal Act.
So with those comments, Madam President, I
now invite my fellow Senators to speak on this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, very much, Madam
President.
Under the COVID -19 pandemic Government
has searched for ways to reduce its spending. And in
all fairness public officials of the Legislature should be
the first to make this sacrifice in the form of a reduction to their salaries. The elimination of pension contributions by both MPs and Senators along with the
matching contribution of the Government for one year
would negatively impact future pension benefits at
retirement. So amending the legislation to allow for
voluntary contributions to make up the shortfall and
provide for a capital sum payable on the death of a
serving Member makes sense. So we support this legislation, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President.

The President: Senator Jardine, yes, you have the
floor.

Sen. James. S. Jardine: Madam President, I support
this Bill too. I am always reluctant to see cessation of
the payment of pension cont ributions because at
some point in time, as I say, we all retire and we will
need those. But I entirely understand the reason why this was done and spoke on it in earlier debate, so I
am supportive of this Bill.
I just had one question. I was a bit confus ed
on page 4, commencement, clause 6(1) of the Bill
says, “ Section 4 shall be deemed to have come into
effect on 30 June 2020 .” Now there is no section 4 in
this Bill and I am wondering if that should read, Part IV
shall be deemed to have come into effect on 30 June
2020 , or clause 4 (on page 2). I was not sure. It talked
about a section 4, and I think it is either Part IV (which
is new) and that is the capital sum payable, or it is
referring to clause 4 on page 2, which is [new] section
15AA.
So I think m aybe that is, again, a typo b ecause there is no section 4. So I think it should read either Part IV (which is new), or it should read clause 4 where we are inserting section 15AA. So perhaps
the Junior Minister could address that particular question.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No?
Then, Senator Campbell, you have a question.

[Pause]

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President —
The President: Yes.

Sen. Vance C ampbell: Madam President, first of all, I
would like to thank Senator Jardine for pointing that
out. And if in fact it is a typo, Madam President, under
the Computerization and Revision of Laws Act, the Attorney General has the power to correct that if it is
in fact an error.

Sen. James. S. Jardine: That is fine, Madam Pres ident, it is just for clarification so that it addresses the
correct section or Part (as the case may be).

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
Madam President, with there be no other
questions, I move that the Bill entitled Ministers and
Members of the Legislature (Salaries and Pensions)
Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
Standing Order 26 be suspended in respect of this
Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that mot ion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

1090 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate MINISTERS AND MEMBERS OF THE
LEGISLATURE (SALARIES AND PENSIONS)
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled Ministers and Members of the Legisl ature (Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act 2020 be
now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Ministers and Members of the Legislature
(Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act 2020 do now
pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
The Bill has passed.
[Motion carried: The Ministers and Members of the
Legislature (Salaries and Pensions) Amendment Act
2020 was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: We now move on to the second rea ding of the Public Service Superannuation Temporary
Amendment Act 2020.
This, Senator Campbell, is your Bill. You can
carry on.
[Pause]
The President: Senator.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Public Service Superannuat ion
Temporary Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on.

BILL

SECOND READING

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION
TEMPORARY AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam Presi dent, the Go vernment now wishes the Senate give consideration to the Bill entitled the Public Service Superannuation
Temporary Amendment Act 2020 .
Madam President , this Bill seeks to amend
the Public Service Superannuation Act 1981 (the pri ncipal Act) to provide for the temporary suspension of
the Government’s contributions to the Public Service
Superannuation Fund, and the optional temporary
suspension of a contri butor’s contributions to the fund
for the period 1st of August 2020 to the 31st of July
2021 or, for teachers, 1 September 2020 to 31 August
2021.
Madam President, the Public Service Superannuation Fund was established on April 1, 1982, by
the Public Service Superannuation Act 1981 and its
subsequent amendments. Members will be aware that
the purpose of the Public Service Superannuation
Fund is to provide retirement pensions for retired em-ployees of the Government of Bermuda and t he employees of various quangos ( quasi -autonomous, nongovernmental organisations). The plan is a defined
benefit plan and its general provisions are as follows:
• Non- special group members contribute 8 per
cent of the pay.
• Special group members, e.g., police officers,
contribute 9.5 per cent of the pay.
• Government matches these contributions. If
an employee terminates employment in the
first eight years, he or she receives a refund of his or her contributions plus interest at
4 per cent per annum.
• Employees earn a pension based on earnings
and years of service in the Public Service S uperannuation Fund.
• Employees are required to contribute to the
Public Service Superannuation Fund every
year that they are employed.
• The pension earned each year is 1.5 per cent
of their final earnings at retirement.
• The maximum pension payable is 60 per cent
of final earnings.
Madam President, Senators are aware that
COVID -19 has had a significant impact on economic
activity and a severe knock -on effect on the 2020/21
budget. T he combination of lower fiscal revenues and
higher public spending will cause the projected budget
deficit of $19.8 million to increase significantly.
Ministries have already identified savings in
the following areas:
• delaying the start of any capital projects that
have not commenced;
• instituting an immediate freeze on the funding
of vacant posts that are not required to address COVID -19 or to protect Bermuda’s national interests;
• continuing the ban on non- essential gover nment travel; and


Bermuda Senate • reducing all di scretionary spending including
grants, consultancy, training, materials and
supplies, clothing and uniforms, et cetera.
Madam President, to reduce the deficit further
other temporary payroll or government employee
over-head savings have to be considered. Therefore,
Government has been in negotiations with the unions
to reduce the salaries of all public officers. Corr espondingly, it is proposed to freeze employer contrib utions into the Public Service Superannuation Fund with no benefits accruing under the plan for a oneyear period if employees opt to suspend their contr ibutions for the year. This is a temporary measure that
will provide meaningful savings to the Government
and intended to provide public officers with the same
level of take- home pay for publ ic and uniformed offi cers who take advantage of the option to suspend co ntributions for a year.
Senators are advised that over a 12- month
period the cost savings for this proposal are approx imately $28.8 million in relation to the Public Service Superannuation Fund contribution cessation and a pproximately $37 million in relation to the salary reduc-tion. The proposal is as follows:
• Employees will take a temporary reduction in
their gross pay. For the period that their pay is
reduced, they can opt to not mak e contributions to the Public Service Superannuation
Fund.
• Government will also not make contributions
to the Public Service Superannuation Fund.
• The employee will not accrue pensionable
service in the Public Service Superannuation
Fund for this period.
Madam President, this Bill provides for the
temporary suspension of the Government’s contribution into the Public Service Superannuation Fund and a temporary suspension of a member’s contribution to
the fund during the period 1
st of August 2020 to the
31st of July 2021; or, for teachers, the 1st of September 2020 to the 31st of August 2021.
Madam President, I want to make it clear that
the suspension of this year’s contribution does not
make any pension provisions of a public officer less
favourable than on the date that the person joined the
service. Senators are advised that section 91 of the
Constitution provides that any amendment to the Act
should not make any pension provision of a public
officer less favourable than on the date that person
joined the service.
In addition, any special situations in which
Government’s contributions are factored into a benefit
from the fund have been addressed in the Bill. The Bill
currently before the Senate also provides for the following:
• It provides various definiti ons.
• It suspends the Government’s contribution. • It allows the contributor to elect not to make
contributions to the fund during the suspension period.
• It sets out the effects of a contributor not ma king contributions during the suspension per iod.
• It allows the contributor to elect to repay the
fund contributions during the suspension peri -
od within one year following the end of the
suspension period.
Madam President, Senators will be aware the
Government had previously started to address the
problems assoc iated with the Public Service Superannuation Fund. Based on actuarial advice, the Public
Service Superannuation Fund contribution rates were
increased during the period of 2006 to 2008, from
5 per cent to 8 per cent for regular members, and
9.5 per cent for uniformed officers. Madam President,
this was part of a funding strategy to place the Public
Service Superannuation Fund on a more stable financial footing and to attend to some long- standing sp ecific issues that have had a significant impact on the
financial position of the [Public Service Superannuation] Fund.
Madam President, to further improve the sustainability of the Fund, in 2014 the cost-of-living a djustment [COLA] increases were suspended for pe nsioners until such time as the sustainability of t he
Fund had been improved. Senators should note that
there is no simple remedy to resolve the unfunded
position of the Public Service Superannuation Fund .
To assist with the comprehensive review of the Fund,
the Ministry of Finance plans to engage additional e xternal resources to assist with the implementation of
changes to the Public Service Superannuation Fund
to enhance the long- term sustainability of the plan and
the estimated associated cost to provide these services.
Madam President, as of 31st of March 2020,
the assets of the fund totalled $559.9 million, roughly seven times more than the annual projected benefit
payout of some $80.3 million in pensions for this fiscal
year. Madam President, although the Fund is fully
backed by the Government, this F und’s balance pr ovides further security of benefits.
Madam President, the latest actuarial report
for the PSSF was completed as at 31
st of March 2017,
and has already been tabled in the Senate. The next
report is due for the period ending the 31st of March
2020.
Madam President, it is important to note that
the actuarial liabilities of the fund are based on the
benefits earned up to the valuation date assuming the
fund continues indefinitely. Accordingly, the majority of
these obligations are not due unti l extended periods
into the future. Nevertheless, it is important that Government takes early actions to ensure that sufficient
provisions are made to make future pension oblig ations. This is exactly what the Government did when
1092 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda Senate contribution rates were increased in 2006 and the
cost-of-living adjustment provisions [were] suspended.
Madam President, I would like to take a look
at the important clauses in this Bill.
Clause 2 provides definitions, and states that
this Bill applies notwithstanding anything to the contr ary in the principal Act or in any contract or agreement.
Clause 3 provides that nothing in section 13 of
the principal Act shall be taken to require the Go vernment’s contributions to the Fund to be made during
the suspension period.
Clause 4 deems the Government’s contributions to the Fund to have been made at the same time
as a contributor’s contributions in certain special cases.
Clause 5 allows a contributor to elect not to
make contributions to the Fund during the suspension period as would otherwise be required by section 12 of the principal Act.
Clause 6 sets out the effects of a contributor
not making contributions during the suspension peri-od: in particular, the suspension period shall not be taken into account under the principal Act as pensionable service, as time in the service of Government for
the purposes of section 33 (vesting after eight years),
or in computing whether a contributor has contributed to the F und for a certain number of years, unless and
until the contributor makes a repayment under clause 7. However, the suspension period shall not be tak
en
t
o be an interruption in a contributor’s continuous contributions to the fund, and a contributor shall still be classed as a contributor even if not contributing during the suspension period.
Quite clear, right, Madam President?
The President: Absolutely!
[
Laughter]
Sen. Vance Campbell: Clause 7 allows a contributor
to elect to repay to the Fund the amount of the mont hly contributions that (but for his election under section 5) would have been deducted from his salary during
the suspension period, provided the repayment is made within the period of one year following the end of the suspension period or, if sooner, before he ceases being employed in service of the Government.
Clause 8 clarifies that any contributions made
during the suspension period, or repayment of contr ibutions under section 7, shall be calculated on the basis of the contributor’s full salary, whether or not the contributor is for any reason (temporary reduction of salary or otherwise) receiving less than that salary at
the time the contributions are made.
Clause 9 modifies section 33 of the principal
Act (rate of pension).
Clause 10 amends section 59 of the principal
Act (determination of length of service for judicial pe nsion) to clarify in paragraph (a) that, in determining the amount of pension, account shall be taken of the full period during which a contributor was the substantive
holder of a judicial office and contributed to the Fund, as already provided in paragraph (b).
So with those comments, Madam President, I
now pause to allow my Senate colleagues the oppor-tunity to speak on this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Senator Jones, it looks like you are about to
speak. You have the floor.
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
We appreciate the three major unions and its
members for agreeing to this temporary suspension of a contribution to the Public Service Superannuation Fund both from Government and its employees. It is
another example of how civil servants, seeing the f inancial pressure that the Government faces, are wil ling to make these very important sacrifices. So we
support this legislation.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
Senator Jardine . . .
It looks like you have full support, Senator
Campbell. It is over to you.
[
Pause]
The President: Senator C ampbell.
[
Crosstalk]
The President: Senator Campbell, you have full support.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
I thank my Senate colleagues for their support of this Bill. I move, Madam President, that the Bill entitled Public Service Su perannuation Temporary Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second time.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. V ance Campbell: Madam P resident, I m ove that
Standing Order 26 be suspended in res pect of this
Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[
Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]


Bermuda Senate BILL

THIRD READING

PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION
TEMPORARY AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Public Service Superannuation
Temporary Amendment Act 2020 be now read a third
time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the B ill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled Public Service Superannuation Temporary
Amendment Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
[Motion carried: The Public Serv ice Superannuation
Temporary Amendment Act 2020 was read a third
time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: You are on a roll. You can go onto the
National Pensions . . .

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the National Pensions Scheme (Occ upational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be
now read a second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Carry on , Senator Campbell.

BILL

SECOND READING

NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL
PENSIONS) AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I am
pleased to provide for the consideration of the Senate
the Bill entitled the
National Pension Scheme (Occ upational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 .
Madam President, this Bill seeks to amend
the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pe n-sions) Act 1998, (the principal Act) and to make consequential amendments to the National Pension
Scheme (Lump Sum Refund) (Retiree) Regulations
2020, the National Pension Scheme (Refund) (Te mporary) Regulations 2020, and the National Pension
Scheme (General) Regulations 1999.
Madam President, Senators will be aware that
the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pe nsions) Act 1998 provides for the establishment, administration and regulation of private sector occup ational pension plans in Bermuda. The Act became
fully operational on the 1st of January 2000 and over
the years a number of amendments to the Act and
regulations have been introduced to provide for var ious matters.
Senators will be aware of the series of recent
changes to the A ct to provide for greater access by
plan members to their pension funds as the result of
increased financial hardships created by the COVID -
19 pandemic. In particular, the national pension
scheme legislation now provides plan members subject to satisfying certain criteria with two additional
types of refunds; namely, providing members up to a
$12,000 refund for those under the age of 65 and who
have not retired, and providing members up to a
25 per cent refund for those 65 or older and who have
retired.
Madam President, since the commencement of
the refund provisions on the 1st of June 2020, as at
the 1st of July, approximately $51.92 million in combined refund applications have been approved. The breakdown of these applications is as follows:
• for the one- time $12,000 refund, total applic ations received, 6,976; total number of applic ations approved so far, 4,382; and total value
of applications approved, $49,443,629;
• for the 25 per cent refunds, total applications
received, 97; total number approved, 79; total
value of applications approved, $2,482,284.
Madam President, COVID -19 has had a si gnificant impact on economic activity and social cond itions in Bermuda. In addition to these pension r efunds, Government swiftly introduced a number of
relief measures such as the temporary unemployment
benefit for employees laid off as a result of the pandemic allowing a temporary suspension of required
pension contributions to provide further support to both employers and employees, to name a few.
Madam President, both th e Government and
the Pension Commission have increasingly received requests by members of the public to be provided with
relief from the current restrictions of the relevant provisions of the principal Act which requires an applicant for refunds to either be retired or not retired for eligibi lity purposes. Government recognises that, for exa mple, in the case of persons over the age of 65 many have to continue to work full or part -time to support
themselves and their family members during these challenging economic times. To this end, Government
1094 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate agrees that the main criteria for refunds should be
whether or not the applicant meets the age requir ement for the respective refund, and not whether they
are retired or not. This is the primary reason for the
propos ed amendments to the principal Act.
Madam President, in addition, there are a
number of changes to clarify the payment of the appl icable annual administrative fees by both the pension plans and local retirement products and to reformat
and clarify the stat ed applicable fees to be paid by a
plan administrator, employer and the pension fund in
the case of a multi -employer pension plan. There are
also a number of other related consequential amendments.
Madam President, I will look at some of the
clauses.
Clause 2 amends section 24 (9)(b) of the
principal Act, to allow a member or former member of
a defined contribution pension plan or local retirement
product who has attained the normal retirement age to
apply for a lump sum refund of up to 25 per cent of hi s
account [balance]. The previous requirement to have
the retiree retired is removed. Subsection 9(c) is
amended to allow a member or former member of a
defined contribution pension plan or local retirement
product who has not attained the normal retirement
age to apply for a lump sum refund of up to $12,000 during such period as may be prescribed. The prev ious requirement not to have retired is removed.
Clause 3 amends section 35 (Small pensions)
of the principal Act by repealing and replacing subsections (1) and (2). Subsection (1) now provides for
payment to be made to both a member and former
member of a defined benefits [pension] plan that has
attained the normal retirement age, if the commuted
value of his benefit is not more than $50,000. Subsection (2) now provides for payment to be made to both
a member and former member of a defined contribution pension plan or a local retirement product that
has attained normal retirement age, if his account balance is not more than $50,000. The previous requir ement in both subsections to have retired has been
removed.
Clause 4 makes consequential amendments
to the National Pension Scheme (Lump Sum Refund)
(Retiree) Regulations 2020. In particular, the word “Retiree” has been deleted from the title and citation.
Regulations 2 and 3 have been amended to provide
for both a member or former member of a defined
contribution pension plan or a local retirement product
who has attained the normal retirement age to apply
for a lump sum refund of up to 25 per cent of his ac-count balance. The previous requirement to have r etired is removed. For the sake of completeness, regulation 9 has been amended to insert a requirement
that the Commission notify persons whose applic ations have been denied, and to give a reason for its
decision. While the Commission currently does this on a voluntary basis, this will make it a mandatory r equirement.
Clause 5 makes a consequential amendment
to the National Pension Scheme (Refund) (Temporary) Regulations 2020 in the definition of “applicant” to provide for both a member and former member of a
defined contribution pension plan or a local retirement
product who has not attained the normal retirement
age to apply for a refund of up to $12,000 during the
period prescribed by those Regulations. The previous
requirement not to have retired is removed.
Lastly, clause 6 amends the National Pension
Scheme (General) Regulations 1999. Regulation 19
(Fees) has been amended in paragraph (1A) to i nclude a reference to local retirement products. The
format of paragraph (1B) has been modified, but the
substantive amendment provides for the payment of annual administrative fees out of the pension fund of a
multiemployer pension plan.
Madam President, in closing I would like to
thank all of those persons within th e Pension Commission, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the
Ministry of Finance who have assisted with the development of this Bill.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?
Sen. Marcus Jones: Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.

Sen. Marcus Jones: We support this legislation. We
understand that this transfer of duties from the FIA to
the Registrar —

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, I think he has the wrong Bill.
The President: Senator Jones —

Sen. Marcus Jones: I do. I do.
The President: Senator Jones, you are speaking on
the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pe nsions) Amendment (No. 2) Act [ 2020].
Sen. Marcu s Jones: Well spotted, Madam Attorney
General. I was just testing you to see if you were on
your P’s and Q’s and you proved once again you are at the top of your game.

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: No need to
test me.
[Crosstalk]


Bermuda Senate The P resident: We don’t need testing. Senator
Jones, they do not need testing.

[Laughter]
[Inaudible interjections]

The President: Anyway, do you want to speak to this
Bill?

Sen. Marcus Jones: I do, yes, Madam President.

The President: The National Pens ion Scheme (Occupational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020.
Sen. Marcus Jones: The National Pension Scheme,
again, we support this.
It is a necessary amendment that was made
obvious once this legislation was approved weeks ago, it was put into practic e. That being the need for
the applicant to meet the retirement age requirement
as opposed to their retirement status as a criterion to
qualify for hardship withdrawal on their pension plan.
With the significant numbers of people fitting this d escription t his amendment will be welcomed by the
community at large. We support this.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jones.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill? No. Then Senator Campbell, you have the
full support.
[Pause]

The President: Senator Campbell, there are no questions. You have full support.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.
And I also thank my fellow Senate colleagues for their
support and I hope that those previously precluded
from applyi ng for the relief will now be able to access
that relief from their pension funds.
With that, Madam President, I move that the
Bill entitled the National Pension Scheme (Occup ational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now
read a second time.

The Pres ident: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
Standing Order 26 be suspended in respect of this
Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. [Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME (OCCUPATIONAL
PENSIONS) AMENDMENT (NO. 2) ACT 2020

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled National Pension Scheme (Occup ational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 be now
read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the National Pension Scheme (Occupational Pen-sions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill has passed.
[Motion carried: The National Pension Scheme (O ccupational Pensions) Amendment (No. 2) Act 2020
was read a third time and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Thank you, Madam President.

The President: You will now move on to your fourth
one, the Registrar of Companies (Supervi sion and
Regulation) Act 2020.

Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, it sounded
as though Senator Jones was going to be in favour
and in full agreement with this Bill so I would like to—

[Laughter]
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: So we need
not proc eed.

[Laughter]

Sen. Vance Campbell: —so I would like to skip reading the brief.
The President: Senator Campbell, we will listen to
you. We will hear everything you have to say.
Sen. Vance Campbell: I am just joking, Madam President.

1096 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate The President: I know. You are on a roll!

[Laughter]
Sen. Vance Campbell: Madam President, I move that
the Bill entitled the Registrar of Companies (Superv ision and Regulation) Act 2020 be now read a second
time.
President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Crosstalk]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident.

The President: Yes.

[Crosstalk]

Sen. Vance Campbell: We may want to have a substitution, Madam President.

[Laughter]

The President: Oh, oh! Madam Attorney General,
you h ave the floor.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Just for clarif ication, the FIA comes under my domain and the Registrar of Companies comes under the Finance Mini ster’s domain and Senator Campbell speaks for the
Minister of Finance. I am prevailing today and so I
therefore move the Bill —

[Laughter]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: —entitled the
Registrar of Companies (Supervision and Regulation)
Act 2020 be now read a second time.

President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Madam Attorney General.

BILL

SECOND READING

REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES (SUPERVISION
AND REGULATION) ACT 2020
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, I am pleased to introduce to the Senate the Bill
entitled
Registrar of Companies (Supervision and
Regulation) Act 2020 to facilitate greater efficiency
and cost -effectiveness in aspects of Bermuda’s r egime for continued compliance with international standards set by the Financial Action Task Force,
which we refer to as FATF .
Madam President, this Bill will transfer the
anti-money laundering and anti -terrorist financing, or
AML/ATF supervisory responsibilities from the Fina ncial Intelligence Agency (FIA) to the Registrar of
Companies [ROC] in relation to dealers in high value goods. The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force
[CFATF ] recently completed an assessment of Bermuda’s AML/ATF regime and a strongly positive r eport was published by the Financial Action Task Force
in January of 2020. Bermudian authorities continue to
proactively work on strengthening the effectiveness of
the regime including enhancing the cost -effectiveness
and efficiency of the regime.
The amendments contained in this Bill will
address this in relation to the AML/ATF supervision of
dealers in high value goods. Madam President, one of
the areas of focus of Bermuda’s mutual evaluation assessment was Bermuda’s approach to the superv ision of the sector described by the FATF as “desi gnated non- financial businesses and professions,” or
DNFBPs. This sector is comprised of several bus inesses and professional groups such as lawyers, ac-countants, trusts and company service providers. Al -
so, it includes real estate dealers and dealers in pr ecious metals and stones.
At present, dealers in precious metals and
stones are covered under Bermuda’s AML/ATF laws
in the category described as dealers in high value
goods. This category also includes dealers in cars,
boats, trucks and motorcycles, as well as auctioneers.
The AML/ATF supervision of this group of businesses is currently being carried out by the FIA whose prim ary statutory role is that of financial intelligence.
Madam President, early in the development of
Bermuda’s AML/ATF framework, when it was initi ally
determined that the FIA would be an AML/ATF super -
visor, it was intended that FIA would regulate DNFBPs. However, this would not include trust and
company service providers who were to be regulated
by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. This approach
was generally similar to that taken in jurisdictions such
as Canada, Australia, and Barbados. However, subsequent policy decisions resulted in the FIA only being
designated as an AML/ATF supervisor for dealers in high value goods while the other sector, such as real
estate, casino gaming, lawyers and accountants were
assigned to other supervisors.
Madam President, the primary function of the
FIA is to gather, analyse and disseminate financial intelligence and to work in partnership with other competent authorit ies to digest and utilise this intell igence.
As a result of requirements imposed by international bodies under the security of the intelligence
function, supervisory staff within the FIA cannot be
involved in the FIA’s intelligence work. It is clear sec urity partitions have to be created between these inte lBermuda Senate ligence and supervisory functions. In the existing ci rcumstances, continuing to have the FIA as the
AML/ATF supervisor is not cost -effective nor efficient.
Therefore, it is important for Bermuda to trans fer the
supervision of dealers in high value goods from the FIA to a suitable supervisor with the relevant expertise.
Madam President, by legislation, the ROC (or
Registrar of Companies) is also the Superintendent of Real Estate, to whom statutory powers have been
given and financial and other resources have been
provided to facilitate the AML/ATF supervision of the
real estate sector. Substantial work has been done by
the superintendent to develop a robust supervisory
programme and to enhance the skills and capacity within the ROC to competently carry out this work.
The success of their efforts today has been favourably
assessed in Bermuda’s recently published mutual
evaluation report. In light of this, the Bill seeks to leverage the existing supervisory c apabilities and r esources within the Registrar of Companies and thus
relieve the FIA of the responsibility to continue as the
AML/ATF supervisor for dealers in high value goods.
Madam President, the Bill enacts legislation to
give effect to the new superv isory responsibilities that
are assigned to the ROC. Additionally, to further facil itate the transfer of responsibilities from the FIA to the
ROC, the Bill also makes miscellaneous amendments
to the Proceeds of Crime Act 1997, the Anti-Terrorism
(Financial and Other Measures) Act 2004, the Proceeds of Crime (Anti -Money Laundering and Anti -
Terrorist Financing Supervision and Enforcement) Act
2008 , the Financial Intelligence Agency Act 2007, and
the Proceeds of Crime (Anti -Money Laundering Anti -
Terrorist Fina ncing) Regulations 2008.
Madam President, the totality of the new legi slation, together with the miscellaneous amendments, provides for the transfer of supervision of dealers in
high value goods from the FIA to the ROC and gives
effect to this change in r esponsibilities.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Kathy Lynn Si mmons, Attorney General and Government Leader in
the Senate.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?

Sen. Marcus Jones: Yes, Madam President, I would.

The President: Senator Jones, you have the floor.
[Inaudible interjections ]

Sen. Marcus Jones: As stated earlier, we support
this legislation. We understand that this transfer of
duties from the FIA to the Registrar of Companies has been proposed by the t ask force responsible for Bermuda’s mutual evaluation that created this Island’s Anti-Money Laundering regime earlier this year. As a side note, hats -off to the FIA, who played
a key role, along with other regulatory agencies, in having Bermuda attain a “ highly favourable” rating.
Bermuda has been historically very responsive to i nternational regulatory bodies which advise us. So it appears that operationally, this makes sense. The
brain trust of the FIA and the ROC appear to be in
favour of this move. And if the numbers of dealers in
high value goods is not significantly high— and I believe that there are only two who are registered as
such —one would suspect that the staffing levels and
resources within the Registrar of Companies would be
sufficient to fulf il this supervisory role. Thank you,

Thank you, Senator Jones.
Senator Jardine, you have indicated that you
would like to speak. You have the floor.

Sen. James S. Jardine: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Madam President, as somebody who was
involved very heavily in the preparation for the mutual
evaluation of Bermuda from 2016 to 2019, it is amusing in some respects to see responsibility for things
being passed around. I know that there were certain
areas of responsibility, a nd people were saying, Well,
that’s not my area. BMA should look after that! You
know, I’m just the ROC. I really shouldn’t be looking
after this. And I think, you know, it is good to know
that it has been properly thought through and it has
now found, sha ll we say, a home that is prepared to
regulate it.
Certainly, it was an experience working
alongside many others for that four - or five -year per iod. But it certainly brought home to me the importance
of having a good, strong supervisory regime in Bermuda. And we came out very well at the end of that
assessment, due in no small part to the hard work by
the Government and people whom it employed to
push forward many of the changes that were required.
And this is another one of them. So I am pleased to
suppor t it, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jardine.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then, Madam Attorney General —
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam President.
The President: Oh, I beg your pardon. Senator Jarion
Richardson.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, thank you.
The President: Yes. You have the floor.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes.
1098 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate In the first instance, I declare my interest that I
did work on the programme, the supervisory pr ogramme that the Madam Attorney General has just
referred to, with the ROC and the Superintendent of
Real Estate. And I was involved in creating the Fina ncial Action Task Force, or our project to comply with
international anti -money laundering norms. I would
also declare my interest that m y current business is
dealing almost exclusively in this space.
So with that being said, I do—as much as I
agree with the idea, the concept, I am very mindful
that the Registrar of Companies has a number of duties associated with repository function. And obviously, the expansion of their role into supervisory activ ities was no small thing to navigate. And obviously, it required everything from building- out of skill sets to
building- out forms, documents, processes, those sorts
of things. And with the ROC currently having to handle
the economic substance filings that we are dealing
with in Bermuda, and more than a few other things, I
am pretty sure tax exchanges is an area that they are working in. And then we talk about the Superintendent
of Real Estate as i t regards to anti -money laundering.
And real estate is a massive sector for our economy.
And obviously, it can be quite nuanced.
Now, we in Bermuda have passed that
CFATF assessment not just well, but with flying colours. And I do not think enough praise can be given to
the team members from the various entities in Berm uda who worked on that. And that includes Government
and the Cabinet Subcommittee (I think it was). So to
that end, that team inspected Bermuda, and we got a
substantial rating. In immediat e outcomes, it means
that we performed the technical compliance part very
well. And that was based on the FIA actually undertaking these duties that are now going to be transferred to the ROC.
Now, granted, we always had some difficulties
with the FIA spl itting supervisory duties with that of the
Financial Intelligence. And Madam Attorney General has spoken of that. My question to her would be,
What, if anything, changed from the successful
CFATF examination into now? And I think saying that we have econom ies of scale that we would like to
benefit from and the knowledge within the Registrar of Companies is the answer to the question. But I just want to make sure that we are going on the record
and saying that the ROC has the capabilities to undertake this . . . basically the availability and time. B ecause it seems like they are getting a lot more work as every day goes by.
And as we all well know, in Bermuda it is not
us generating these things. It is people from overseas
pushing it into our jurisdiction. A nd we are trying to
maintain a high level of standards for our financial
services sector. So we do have a lot of pressure points. In fact, earlier Senator Campbell spoke about
just some of these pressure points and how our sector
is responding. And to that end, I do think we have to be a little bit careful that we do not overburden the
people who are good at this or who are established in
a language especially given that the FIA have passed
this international exam.
So to that end, we support it. You know, the
ROC is well staffed, is full of professionals and has served Bermuda well since time immemorial. So there
is no question about them; it is more a question of,
Are we as policymakers making sure we do not overload them?
Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Before I hand over to Madam Attorney Ge neral, would any other Senator care to speak on this
Bill?
No. Then, Madam Attorney General, you have
a question.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I am going to give a fulsome overview which
addresses that question also, give some background so that Senators have a full comprehension of the i ssues underlying resources, et cetera, in our compl iance regime.
In relation to resources in the FIA, the current
staffing in the FIA is primarily concentrated in the an alytical unit, and that unit carries out the FIA’s intell igence function as Bermuda’s Financial Intelligence
Unit [FIU]. And according to the FATF requirements in relation to FIUs, intelligence obtained and analysed by
that unit, by the FIU, must be subject to high levels of
security and confidentiality. This actual requirement is
also embodied in the practices and standards of the
international body for FIUs, which is the Egmont Group and security sys tems that need to go to FATF
and the Egmont Group’s stringent response need to
be implemented to safeguard the information that is
being held by FIUs.
Additionally, the standards also require the
FIU staff to have appropriate security clearance levels in order to be able to have access to intelligence. So
accordingly, any personnel whose functions within the
FIA are not connected to intelligence and analytical
work cannot be permitted to have access to the conf idential and highly secured intelligence dealt with by
the FIA’s analytical unit. And therefore, the majority of their staff cannot engage in supervisory work. So that
is background pertaining to the FIA.
Their staff who currently carry out supervisory
responsibilities, I will address that. Since that sector,
since this sector was brought under the supervision,
the FIA had not employed any new staff for the purpose of carrying out supervisory functions but had
added these responsibilities to the legal officer. And that officer post has been required b y the FIA Act, a ctually, since its inception. And after commencing s uBermuda Senate pervision, the FIA also engaged consulting services —
and I know this was mentioned, but it is necessary —to
provide additional support with the oversight of the
sector. But that arrangement has not been in place
recently. So therefore, the transfer of supervision from
the FIA will allow the new officers to focus on provi ding legal support to the FIA and vet the need for reengaging of consulting services for the purpose of the FIA background.
In relation to what thought has been given to
capacity with respect to the Registrar of Companies and the adequacy of resources to take on the expanded role, especially in light of all of their respons ibilities as a result of economic substance requir ements, which the Senator mentioned, I can say cat egorically that —or un- categorically —that the ROC has
already enhanced their supervisory team which is r esponsible for the supervision of the real estate sector. And that team is separate from the compliance t eam
that is responsible for carrying out compliance monitoring and enforcement of the requirements of the corporate legislation to include economic substance
requirements.
So while it is true that work is still underway to
identify appropriate personnel t o build out that compl iance team, this assigning of supervisory responsibility
to the Registrar will leverage the expertise and sy stems that have already been developed for superv ision of the real estate sector and will not impact on the work of the Regist rar’s compliance team. And so,
as the Registrar will be —well, I think that is about —
that is enough. That is enough for a background.
But let us just suffice it to say that the Regi strar had already transitioned from already being a r epository of corporate information to becoming a reg ulatory authority. So, I believe from a resource point of
view, we are covered. I believe in terms of our r equirements, we will be fine. And we also need to be
responsive to the needs of industry and the need to
make sure that our supervision and regulatory r egimes are always in compliance and at the standard
that we are known to have achieved and that we are
actually part of.
So I hope that suffices to address Senator
Richardson’s question.

The President: Madam Attorney General, I do not
know if Senator Jardine had an additional comment.
Senator Jardine, you are indicating that you
want to . . .
Sen. James S. Jardine: No, no. No. No.

The President: All right. Thank you, Senator.

[Laughter]

The President: You are lighti ng up, but I just wanted
to make sure. I do not want to miss . . . Madam Attorney General, then.

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President. I will proceed. And thank you, Senators, for your comments and question. And with that, I move that the Bill be read the second time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I move that [Standing Order] 26 be suspended
in respect of the Bill.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

REGISTRAR OF COMPANIES (SUPERVISION
AND REGULATION) ACT 2020

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President. I move that the Bill entitled the
Registrar of Companies (Supervision and Regulation)
Act 2020 be now read a third time.

The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection.
Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simm ons: Thank you,
Madam President.
I move that the Bill do now pass.
The President: It has been moved that the Bill ent itled the Registrar of Companies (Supervision and
Regulation) Act 2020 do now pass.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill is passed.

[Motion carried: The Registrar of Companies (Supervision and Regulation) Act 2020 was read a third time
and passed.]

The President: Thank you, Madam Attorney General
and all Senators.
We now move on to the final item, the Parli amentary Election Amendment Act.
Senator Simmons -Wade, this is your Bill. You
have the floor.

1100 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Thank you, Madam
President.
Madam President, I move that the Bill entitled
the Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 be
read a sec ond time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

BILL

SECOND READING

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President,
today I present to the Senate the Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 . This legislation is being
introduced in order to ensure the continued efficiency
and integrity of the electoral process in Bermuda.
Madam President, in general, the proposed
amendments seek to maximise the pool of eligible
voters while improving the integrity of the voting pr ocess. This will be done by allowing those who are not
normally able to vote independently, or who were not previously entitled t o vote, the opportunity to vote,
[and] moreover, by ensuring that the Parliamentary Registrar has the necessary discretionary authority to
plan and execute any election efficiently and safely for
all voters.
Madam President, the Act in its current state
makes no provision for visually impaired voters in
Bermuda to vote independently. In 2017 the Parli amentary Registrar, in response to requests, met with
representatives of Vision Bermuda (formerly known as
Bermuda Society for the Blind). This meeting was he ld
to discuss Vision Bermuda’s concern that the Act pr ovides no alternative for visually impaired voters to vote in secret, especially with advances in modern tec hnology.
The Parliamentary Registrar began to work
with Vision Bermuda to understand their concerns and find ways to create and use assisted devices that
would allow the visually impaired voters to vote more independently. Together they devised a solution using
a combination of technical and electronic devices to assist voters. This will allow vis ually impaired voters
the ability to vote in secret like everyone else. This
corroboration is ongoing, and we expect to have clear
instructions and testing of the tactile devices in the
coming months.
Madam President, discussions around advanced polling for travellers has also been a contentious issue for some time. In the past, voters have had
to make application to the Registrar for permission to
vote in advance if they intend to be absent from or
travel to or from Bermuda on the polling date. This gener ally required voters to present themselves to the
Registrar —
The President: Excuse me, Senator Simmons -Wade.
I am sorry. You did not do the Rule 25. You have to
do it in order. Standing Order 25. I beg your pardon. Just briefly move it.

Sen. Ianthia Simm ons-Wade: Hold on one second,
please.
[Pause]

The President: If you just quickly could do it, and
then you can move on.

STANDING ORDER 25

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President, I
move that the provisions of Standing Order 25 be granted so that the Senate may now proceed with the
second reading of the public Bill entitled the Parli amentary Election Amendment Act 2020.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.

[Motion carried: Leave granted for the Parliamentary
Election Amendment Act 2020 to be read a second
time on the same day as its first reading.]
The President: So carry on where you left off. I am
sorry about that.
[Crosstalk ]

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: I will start this way.
Madam President, discussions around advanced polling for travellers has been a contentious
issue for some time. In the past, voters have had to make application to the Registrar for permission to
vote in advance if they intend to be absent from or
travel to or from Bermuda on the polling date. This
generally requires voters to present themselves to the Registrar with proof of travel prior to going to the advanced polls in order to receive an advanced polling
certificate. The voter would then have to take the certificate to the polls on the d esignated advanced polling
date and present it to the returning officer, who would then allow them to vote.
This process is seen as inconvenient by voters and has created challenges for the Parliamentary Registrar’s office over the years. Therefore, to ma ke it
more convenient and user -friendly for voters who i ntend to travel, the application process is being r emoved from the Registrar’s office. Voters will therefore be allowed to take their travel document directly to the polling station, where the returni ng officer will inspect


Bermuda Senate the documents and, if satisfied, issue the certificate to
the voter and allow them to vote at that time.
Madam President, in keeping with the objective to maximise a pool of eligible voters, consider ation has been given to both parolees and non -
institutionalised sick and shut -in incapacitated voters.
These two groups of voters have previously not been
able to vote, as we currently have no legal provisions
to allow them to do so.
Madam President, allowing parolees to vote
has been the subject of much debate over the years.
There are those who are in support of doing so, and
others who are opposed to it. Section 77 of the Act
provides for the Commissioner of Prisons to forward
to the Parliamentary Registrar’s office a list of those persons who are disqualified from voting because
they are serving a term of imprisonment. That list also
specifically identifies parolees, i.e., those persons who
have been released on licence under section 12 or 13
of the Prisons Act 1979.
Prior to the 2017 General Election, 80 persons were listed as being on parole, 9 of whom were
not registered to vote. The proposal is for the Act to
be amended to allow persons lawfully released on
licence by the Parole Board to be qualified to register
and vote in an election. This amendment would not
contravene any constitutional provisions and would mean that parolees will no longer be ineligible to vote,
as they will be excluded from the list of disqualified
voters that the Commissioner of Prisons provides to
the Parliamentary Registrar’s office. Where a parolee,
prior to the expiration of his [adjudicated] term of i mprisonment, fails to comply with any requirements of
the law or his licence, he or she will be required to
serve his or her unexpired in- prison time. This will
mean that the parolee will also lose the right to vote if
he returned to prison.
Madam President, under the current legisl ation, an advanced poll is helpful to three categories of
voters. They are travellers, incapacitated voters, and
voters who live in institutions. Any hospital, home for
the aged or other institution for the treatment of any
chronic illness or disability with permanent accomm odations for five or more patients may apply to the Registrar to hold an advanced poll at that institutio n. If the
Registrar is satisfied with the application, she appoints
a time and date for those institutions to be visited by a
team of returning officers, and those persons are then
able to cast their votes in advance.
Likewise, an advanced poll for incapacitated
voters who need additional time to get into the polling
station, or who have scheduled medical procedures that would not allow them to be present on the polling
date to cast their vote, are allowed to vote in advance
and are given a certificate of incapacity by their medical practitioner.
Madam President, there is, however, another
category of persons who have not typically been considered —specifically, those voters who are sick and shut-in and unable by mechanical or other means to
get to a polli ng station to cast their vote. Though the
number of persons in this category is not confirmed,
the Parliamentary Registrar regularly gets requests to
visit private residences during election periods. As we have an ageing population and persons with debilit ating health issues, our ability to visit them at their pr ivate residence will ensure that all eligible voters are given the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.
Madam President, the effects of COVID -19
have introduced a new normal. And like the r est of the
world, Bermuda has to adapt. That adaptation i ncludes making provision for social distancing within an
election room and polling station —including instit utional and soon- to-be [added] in- home polling places,
as defined in the Parliamentary Election Act 1978
(the
Act)—together with affording more categories of persons the opportunity to vote in advanced polls.
Whether in response to a spike in COVID -19 cases, a
new outbreak or any other health emergency, or sim ply due to an extraordinarily harsh flu season, Bermuda
must make provision to protect the health and safety
of all electors. The objective is to keep the current
process in place during normal times, as prescribed in
the Act, and during a crisis to ensure that the Par liamentary Registrar’s office can be proactive and agile
enough to adjust its requirements accordingly.
Madam President, Bermuda can achieve this
by giving the Parliamentary Registrar flexibility by way
of discretionary power in the Act to reduce election
room polling station place issues during normal times,
as well as during emergency or unprecedented times
such as those that we currently are experiencing. The
scope of the discretion being proposed will be restric ted to operational matters. For example, in relation to
room configuration within the polling stations allowing
the unrestricted flow of voters, if an election were
called today, the Act provides no flexibility for the Registrar to effect crowd control by ensuring that there are
smaller numbers of voters, political party agents and other workers inside of the election room at the [same]
time. To date, the Registrar, in order to make even
minor changes to the configuration of an election
room has to rely on a very liberal interpretation of sec-tion 45 as read within section 36 of the Act.
Polling station operations are guided by the
rules in the Schedule to the Act. This amendment is
not for adjustment to be made [specifically] to the
Rules, as that would lead to even more rigid stipul ations and not the flexibility required for operational
functionality at the polls. The Registrar will be in the
same position as experienced today. The discretion
being sought would allow the Registrar within the co nfines of an election room and polling station to ch ange
the setup to accommodate social distancing, ensure safe facilities, and ensure an interference- free process
for the checking of credentials with ample space for election agent workers and the requisite space between electors.
1102 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Madam President, the CO VID-19 crisis also
highlighted the Registrar’s lack of discretion in granting who can vote in the advanced poll and the lack of
discretion to expand the timeframe in which such a
poll can be conducted. If an election were called t oday, the Registrar would not be able to expand the
categories of persons voting in an advanced poll to
include, for example, our most vulnerable population
of seniors, who account for approximately 40 per cent
of registered electors.
Such discretion will be an effective tool in t he
Registrar’s arsenal for alleviating large numbers of
persons in the same venue on polling day, long lines
outside of the election rooms due to physical distancing requirements and long wait times. The Registrar requires, only when necessary, the flexibi lity to i ncrease the days or number of times an advanced poll can be held and, more importantly, identify additional
categories of persons who would be allowed to vote
during a specific advanced poll.
Madam President, the timeline as set out in
the Act for the completion of election between the di ssolution of Parliament and the polling day has become
increasingly difficult to navigate for the Parliamentary
Registrar’s office, especially over the last two elections. We are now proposing to add new events to the
time period that will require additional organisation
and time to complete. Therefore, we are amending the
timeframe for the polling date for both general elections and bye- elections to be at least 40 days after the
issue of the writ of election.
Madam President, in general, the proposed
amendments seek to maximise the pool of eligible voters and improve the integrity of the voting process
by allowing persons not normally able to vote ind ependently or not previously allowed to vote in an election the opportunity to do so, and by ensuring that the
Parliamentary Registrar’s office can effectively plan,
coordinate and execute the election process.
Madam President, in closing I would like to
thank the Parliamentary Registrar, Ms. Tenia Woolridge, and the staff of the Parliamentary Registrar for
their continued work and dedication to the depar tment. I would like to also thank the members of Vision
Bermuda, who continue to work together with the Parliamentary Registrar’s office in developing the tools to assist visually impaired voters.
Thank you, Madam President.

[Pause]

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Madam Pres ident, you are muted.
You are still muted, Madam President.

The President: Sorry. I am still trying.

Some Hon. Senators: There you go.
The President: I beg your pardon. I did. Yes, thank
you.
Would any Senator care to speak on this Bill?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, I would, Madam President.

The President: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
The expansion of the voter bases is obviously
beneficial to Bermuda in so many different ways. And
most specifically allowing our vulnerable persons to
still be able to participate in an election is —it is almost
a no- brainer. We cannot possibly conceive of ourselves advancing as a group of people into the future if we continue to restrain and restrict the franchise.
Too many people have fought for too long for us to
play with this, so to speak. So when you look at legi slation like this, and then you look at the people who
are contributing to it, like Vision Bermuda, you cannot
help but admire them for their forethought and consi deration and taking those steps. So we definitely commend everyone who participated in the development
of this leg islation, the generation.
Its timing is always curious, because I just
note that the Junior Minister said if an election is
called. And words like that always make you go, Oh?
“If”? So we have what looks to be quite, quite a noble
piece of legislation pre paring us for a large civil event.
And only with these preparations could we possibly hold the event safely. I follow the Honourable Junior
Minister’s comments that right now we are in a very
dangerous new normal, and we simply cannot risk our
elderly and our vulnerable populations. So to that end, she is to be commended for moving the ball down the
road, equally so for the advanced polling features. Any kind of complexity or bureaucracy that limits the
franchise is just not —it is a non- starter. We cannot
possibly have all of these very weighty issues. We are
a small country, but we have a number of issues that need to be contended with on a regular basis, and a
lot of money —a lot of debt, but we also have a lot of
money.
So these things need to be dealt wi th assertively and fully with as many people participating as we can [get]. So again to her, to the Honourable Ju nior Minister, thank you. And again, our commenda-tions.
To that end, extending it also to prisoners who
are making amends, certainly this opens up a whole
different conversation. But nonetheless, all of us can
agree that a person should not be deprived of these
rights frivolously or without serious consideration. So
for these guys and ladies who are coming out and making a go of life, then again limiting franchise, I just
cannot see how this would benefit us in the long run.


Bermuda Senate We want people to participate in our society. And always, if anything, expanding voter bases has to be
part of some sort of noble enterprise of government
over time. So again , commendations to them , and
thank you.
The only thing we would add is that absentee
balloting has to take place at some point. We just
have to do that. There are a lot of Bermudians all over
the place, and especially the students. And those are
the ones w e definitely want to get their attention, get
them involved in our civil society, not just coming
home for summer breaks and things like that. So that
when it comes time for them to leave or when it
comes time for someone to come back to Bermuda,
they have some buy -in. And I think that is the best
way to handle that.
But that being said, this piece of legislation
has our total support. And we thank the Government
for bringing it forward. Thank you.

The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
this Bill?
No. Then, Senator Simmons -Wade, it is over
to you. You have the floor.
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President,
thank you for the questions —well, the comments, not
the questions.
I move that the Bill e ntitled the Parliamentary
Election Amendment Act 2020 be now read a second
time.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. Carry on.

SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDER 26
Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Madam President, I
move that the Standing Order 26 be suspended in respect to this Bill.
The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
[Motion carried: Standing Order 26 suspended.]

BILL

THIRD READING

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
AMENDMENT ACT 2020
Sen. Ianthia S immons -Wade: Madam President, I
move that the Bill entitled the Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 be now read a third time.
The President: Is there any objection to the third
reading?
No objection. The Bill entitled the Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 is now passed.
Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.

[Crosstalk]

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Do I move to have it
passed?
The President: I beg your pardon?

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Do I have to move to
have it passed?

The President: You m oved for it to be passed. I
thought you did.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: No, I did not.

The President: Senator Simmons -Wade, do the
passing of the Bill.

Sen. Ianthia Simmons -Wade: Okay. Madam Pres ident, I move that the Bill do now pass.

The President: Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection. The Bill entitled the Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 is now passed.

[Motion carried: The Parliamentary Election Amendment Act 2020 was read a third time and passed.]
The President: Thank you, Senator Simmons -Wade.

MOTIONS

The President: There are none.

CONGRATULATORY AND/OR
OBITUARY SPEECHES
The President: Would any Senator care to speak?

[Inaudible interjections ]

Sen. Vance Campbell: Yes, Madam President. I
have some.

The President: Senator Campbell?
Sen. Vance Campbell: That is correct.
First of all, Madam President, I would like to
congratulate Myrtle Edness, who celebrated her tur ning 106 recently. Wow, 106! It is amazing! But even
more amazing, Ms. Edness still swims. She is i nvolved in gardening and doing puzzles. I did a puzzle,
1104 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate Madam President, recently, and it took me forever. So
I can identify, and I appreciate when she said that she
used to do 1,000- piece puzzles, but now she does
500- and 350- piece puzzles. So, congratulations.
Amazing 106. And she is the aunt of Dame Jennifer Smith.

The President: I am sure we all join—

Sen. Vance Campbell: Next, Madam President, I
would like to congratulate the 25 students who were
recipients of the ABIC [Association of Bermuda International Companies] scholarships. These are educ ation awards. Madam President, this is the 43
rd anniversary of these awards. And ABIC members have supported more than 670 students with their college
educations. And this year there are 25 recipients. These education awards are sponsored by annual
donations from international companies in Bermuda.
And we want to thank them for their support in this
area.
Madam President, there are 25 names, so I
beg your indulgence:
• Jasmaine Adams
• Reanna Bassett
• Tiffany Cooper
• Shatonae DeSilva
• Jordan Etemadi
• Dazhja Greaves
• Victoria Lindsay
• Natasha Mansell
• Isaiah Marques
• Brianna Mawer
• Kairo Morton
• Julianne Oatley
• Alneisha Outerbridge
• Alyssa Paynter
• Candace Paynter
• Tamia Place
• Kayla Simpson
• Chrysda Smith
• Khiyrah Smith
• Jahkai Smit h
• Malaysia Thomas
• Kelly Trott
• Zahra Wilson
• Taiyana Allen (Post Graduate)
• Elizabeth Sousa (Post Graduate)
I apologise if I [pronounced] any of those i ncorrectly. Congratulations to them. I also want to congratulate and thank PwC
[PricewaterhouseCoopers] B ermuda for their HeadStart programme which was first implemented in 2008. Both myself and Senator Richardson are former PwC people when it had a different name. But these
awards —the HeadStart programme provides Berm udians with scholarship, training and mentorship to
springboard their careers in the financial services i n-dustry. And it is aimed at accelerating personal and
professional growth. And the programme offers coops, internship and associate programmes to Berm udian students who graduate, as well as up to $75,000 in scholarship funds annually in addition to full funding for their professional designations. In particular, I
would like to highlight two individuals, Mr. Sean Kelly,
who was recently named as a partner effective July 1
of this year. And Mr. Kelly was part of the inaugural
HeadStart programme in 2008 when he was hired as a full -time associate in PwC’s insurance practice. Mr.
Kelly’s parents were at PwC when Senator Richar dson and I were there. So it is being passed on through
the genes, I bel ieve.

[Laughter]

Sen. Vance Campbell: Also, I would like to congrat ulate my daughter, Bermudian Tamae Campbell, who was promoted this year to senior manager. And she
also began her career a year after Mr. Kelly with the
HeadStart programme. And she joined the firm’s asset management team as an associate and has pr ogressed through. And she herself has been a manager to her team and contributed to the firm’s Corporate
Responsibility Initiative. So, congratulations to both
Tamae Campbell and Sean Kelly. And thank you,
PwC.
Two more things, Madam President. I would
like to thank the community group, Grateful Bread.
They managed to start the Families Supporting Fam ilies drive in May and have raised $80,000 for families
left in dire straits by the COVID -19. And they picked
the Coalition for the Protection of Children to help
them select the families who would be the beneficiaries of that effort. So thank you to Grateful Bread.
And lastly, a big thank -you to the Greene
family, who have donated recently $50,000 t o the
Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre, who many may
remember put out an appeal for funding earlier this
year. So thank you to the Greene family for once
again coming to the assistance of Bermudians in
need.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Campbell.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
congratulatory and/or obituary speeches?

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would, Madam President.
The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you have
the floor.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you.
I would like to join with Senator Campbell in
congratulating Mrs. Myrtle Edness on her 106
th birthday.


Bermuda Senate And I also would like to join with Senator
Campbell in thanking ABIC for those 25 scholarships.
What I really like about their programme is t hey are
encouraging qualified Bermudians to come back home and contribute to the international business i ndustry. So, well done ABIC.
And I also would like to ask the Senate to join
with me, and you in particular, Madam President, in thanking and congrat ulating the outgoing CEO of the
Bermuda Hospitals Board [BHB]. That is Mrs. Venetta Symonds.

The President: Mm-hmm.

Sen. Michelle Simmons: Madam President, I know
you were a former CEO of the BHB. And it would be
well—well, you would know Mrs. Symonds quite well.

The President: Absolutely.
Sen. Michelle Simmons: I would just like to add that
she has had a very successful 40- year career at BHB,
initially starting as a summer student who was employed as a file clerk. And then after studying overseas, she was employed as a radiographer at the
hospital. She steadfastly sought to provide the best
care that she could to the community through her work. And it was no surprise to those of us who knew
her that she steadily climbed the ladder and eventua lly was appointed CEO and President of the Bermuda
Hospitals Board in 2012.
Upon her retirement at the end of this month,
she will have served in that role for eight years. I am
told that is longer than many CEOs of hospitals els ewhere and in Bermuda. She has seen t he hospital
through some challenging times. There was the new
Acute Care Wing that was brought on board. And
now, as the hospital has been at the forefront of the
battle to beat the COVID -19 virus, she has had huge
responsibilities. I feel we should all be very grateful for
her service. And on behalf of all of us, I would wish
her well as she enters a new phase of life. Do not [INAUDIBLE] real, real retirement. But it is certainly going
to be a different phase of life for her.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons. And I certainly support your —I am sure the entire Senate body supports the comments that you
have made about the CEO, Mrs. Venetta Symonds. I
did work with her, and she did a stellar job. And it is
just great to see how much she had achieved in the time that she has been there. So thank you for that. I
am sure we all join you in your comments.
Would any other Senator care to speak on
congratulatory and/or obituary speeches?
No. Then, Madam Attorney Gener al, a djournment.
ADJOURNMENT

Sen. the Hon. Kathy Lynn Simmons: Thank you,
Madam President.
Madam President, I move that the Senate do
now adjourn to Wednesday, July 29th.

The President: Thank you.
Would any Senator care to speak on the m otion to adjourn?
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Yes, I would, Madam President.
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Madam President.
[Crosstalk]

[Laughter]

The President: Senator Michelle Simmons, you were
in quickly. You have the floor.

ARGUS INSURANCE, ISLAND HEALTH SERVICES
AND FAMILY PRACTICE GROUP MERGER
Sen. Michelle Simmons: Thank you, Madam Pres ident.
Something has been weighing on my heart for
a few weeks now, and I just have to share it. It has to
do with health care in Bermuda. This is something that
touches every indiv idual and every family on this I sland. And it is something we have to get right for the
sake of the community. It has just worked its way to, I
am going to say the positive side of the COVID -19
pandemic, thanks to the leadership of the Gover nment, [and] the hard work of all those in the health
care community. We understand that we have not
eliminated the virus from our shores; we know that.
The Government led and the community responded
by following Government’s guidelines, for the most
part. We are sitting in a good place now because we
came together in a spirit of cooperation and what was
best for our individual selves and for the community.
We had wonderful results a couple of weeks ago when Bermuda had no active cases of COVID -19.
The larger health care picture has also come
into focus recently because of a very interesting, a very curious acquisition. And I am referring to the acquisition of Island Health Services and the Family
Practice Group by the Argus Group, which is an i nsurance and financial serv ices organisation which offers insurance coverage, pensions and investment
products. I will declare my interest: I am a patient of
Island Health Services. And on the night of June 30
th,
like all of their clients or patients, we all received the same email to announce this change— no warning, no
advance notice, just this email.
1106 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate There are so many questions which Island
Services, the Family Practice Group and Argus need
to answer for all the patients who will be affected by
this acquisition. For example, how i s this going to lead
to better health outcomes for patients? The business
model (because insurance companies are busines ses) . . . so which business model is being used? Are
doctors going to be salaried employees of Argus? How will Argus share in the profi ts of this acquisition?
Another question . . . and I already know the
answer, so maybe I will just make a statement. Cur ious that Argus did not share any of their plans with
the Bermuda Health Council. But that was probably by
design. And one that is dist urbing me greatly is, how
many other doctors and practices have also joined
with Island Health Services or the Family Practice
Group? I know of at least one other practice that has
joined. And it makes me wonder how many more will
be joining. Is this meant to be a takeover of the health
system in Bermuda? I do not know.
But there is a lot of speculation out there, and
a lot of us are very concerned about what this means for the future of our own health care. So I am appea ling to those who can answer and address the questions of those of us who are waiting for the answers to
do so—and to do so with some speed, because we
need to know. We deserve to know. We have the right to know what this means.
So, Madam President, thank you for letting
me get that off my chest. It has been bothering me.
And I raise it today because, for the sake of the co mmunity, our doctors, our Government and our insur-ance companies and health insurance companies need to work together so that there can be an i mproved system of health care for everyone in Berm uda.
Thank you, Madam President.

The President: Thank you, Senator Michelle Si mmons.
Would any other Senator care to speak on the
motion to adjourn?

Sen. Jarion Richardson: Yes, Madam President.
Myself, Jarion Richardson.
The P resident: Senator Jarion Richardson, you have
the floor.

BERMUDIANS ADVISED
TO CONSIDER FINANCIAL FUTURE
Sen. Jarion Richardson: Thank you, Madam Pres ident. And thank you, everyone.
I have been a part of a few conversations in
Bermuda recently where people were trying to come
to grips with our financial situation. And given the
number of other conversations that I was having, just
walking along, I mean, I do not think young people should be running around like the sky is falling. But I
do not see a lot of interest in our financial situation,
certainly not to the extent that I would have thought.
And just some rough numbers of the things that we
are looking at right now. I mean, we are expecting anywhere from a 7 [per cent] to 12 per cent retraction
in GD P. We are looking at a shortfall in revenue of
$200 [million] to $300 [million], $250 million; customs revenues down 16 [per cent] to17 per cent; payroll tax
down 10 per cent.
But our expenses are going to go through the
roof. And on top of all that, we have to borrow to fund
what is a very poor financial position. We are in such
a poor financial position that there are those amongst
us who now have to take money from their individual
futures —which is their pension —to fund their today.
And that just leaves a chasm in the future.
Now, it is obviously necessary that we do this.
But we are in a very, very bad financial situation. And I
will leave it to the economists and those better than
me at this to describe in detail how this works. But I
am very conscious that with the increasing cost of li ving, reduced birth rate, increased [population of] seniors, the demographics are not working out on our
side at all.
With tourism obviously taking a very severe
blow right now and the new normal such that we act ually have to amend legislation or our very parliamentary processes to allow for elections to take place, we
are looking at a very different Bermuda than I think we
are having conversations about. I note, for example,
that we had a conversation in the community about a
boat coming in at 2:00 am, or something like that. And
then we had another conversation, just all of these bits and pieces. And I just keep wondering, do we actually know how bad this is? Is anyone actually paying
attention?
I think that people ar e, because the Minister of
Finance has spoken frequently to this point. And I
have spoken to one or two other people who have
raised these points. But it does not seem like all of us
are on the same page. We are in a deep hole. It is
only going to get deep er, from our forecast. And we
do not seem to have a ladder. We do not even seem to know that we need one. So to that end, I am wondering, how many of
us in Bermuda in the listening public are aware of just
how deep a hole we are in and just how much we do
not have a ladder? And to that end, maybe our conversation can stop revolving around bits of entertai nment and [move to] something a little bit more substantive, something a little bit more helpful, because
Senator Vance Campbell noted a number of congrat ulations for the young people who have accomplished a
great deal. And I obviously echo his congratulations.
But we are not setting them up for a good game. We
are setting them up for some real disasters that they are going to have to figure out.


Bermuda Senate And it i s likely that all of us who are sitting in
here will have . . . well, a couple of us will still be participating in the recovery, but a few of us might not
have to deal with the consequences of these actions.
And so to that end, I strongly advise the peopl e of
Bermuda to consider their financial futures and the
future of the country not just in a sense . . . not just in
a theoretical or academic sense, but in a very real -
world sense that right now we are in a poor financial position, one that is not going t o be easy to get out of.
And we should be having a lot more conversations
about climbing out of this hole than we are [having]
right now.
Thank you, Madam President.
The President: Thank you, Senator Jarion Richar dson.
Would any other Senator care to s peak on the
motion to adjourn?
No.
Then, Senators, the Senate stands adjourned
until next week, Wednesday, the [29
th] of July. Thank
you.

[At 4:00 pm, the Senate stood adjourned until
10:00 am, Wednesday, 29 July 2020.]

1108 22 July 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda Senate



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