2002 Legislative Session: 3rd Session, 37th Parliament
FIRST READING


The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.


HONOURABLE GORDON HOGG
MINISTER OF CHILDREN
AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT

BILL 65 -- 2002

COMMUNITY SERVICES INTERIM
AUTHORITIES ACT

Contents

Section

1 

Definitions

2 

Purposes of interim authorities

3 

Establishment of interim authorities

4 

Composition of board

5 

Remuneration

6 

Management

7 

Minister's powers

8 

Directions of minister

9 

Duties of interim authorities

10 

Powers of interim authorities

11 

Officers, consultants and staff

12 

Donations

13 

Financial requirements

14 

Application of other Acts

15 

Offence Act

16 

Power to make regulations

HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Definitions

1 In this Act:

"administrative services" means the types of administrative and support services provided pursuant to the powers, functions and duties of the Minister of Children and Family Development in order to facilitate the provision of community services and includes legal services provided to that minister;

"board" means a board for an interim authority;

"community services" means the following types of services provided pursuant to the powers, functions and duties of the Minister of Children and Family Development at any time during the fiscal year beginning April 1, 2002:

(a) adoption services;

(b) services related to early childhood development;

(c) services to assist families in caring for their children;

(d) services for children and youth with special needs to assist them to live in the community;

(e) mental health services for children and youth;

(f) support services for youth in crisis;

(g) child protection and guardianship services;

(h) services for youth in conflict with the law;

(i) services for adults with developmental disabilities to assist them to live in the community,

and includes other types of services provided pursuant to the powers, functions and duties of the Minister of Children and Family Development that are prescribed by the minister;

"donation" means any gift made to the interim authority, and includes bequests, devises, other testamentary dispositions, deeds of trust, money, shares, stocks, bonds and any other property, wherever situated;

"fiscal year" means a year beginning on April 1;

"interim authority" means an authority established under section 3;

"new authority" means a corporation that is to be established under an enactment for the purpose of providing or supporting the provision of

(a) all or a portion of community services in the Province or in a part of the Province,

(b) all or a portion of administrative services in the Province or in a part of the Province, or

(c) both types of services referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b), in the Province or in a part of the Province.

Purposes of interim authorities

2 The purposes of an interim authority are, with the assistance of the minister,

(a) to prepare for the establishment and operation of a new authority, and

(b) to perform the functions necessary to facilitate a new authority providing some or all community services or administrative services in place of the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Establishment of interim authorities

3 (1) The minister, by regulation, may establish one or more interim authorities.

(2) On the establishment of an interim authority under subsection (1), the interim authority is a corporation consisting of the members of the board.

Composition of board

4 (1) A board consists of the members appointed by the minister.

(2) The minister may appoint to a board

(a) the number of voting members that the minister considers appropriate, and

(b) one non-voting member who is employed in the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

(3) A voting member of a board may be appointed for a term of up to 2 years, as set by the minister.

(4) A voting member of a board may not be appointed for more than 2 successive terms.

(5) The minister must designate a voting member of a board to be chair.

Remuneration

5 (1) The minister may set

(a) remuneration for voting members of a board, including different rates of remuneration for different members, and

(b) other conditions of appointment of a board member.

(2) An interim authority may pay a voting member of its board the remuneration set by the minister, and, in accordance with the directives of Treasury Board, an allowance for reasonable travelling and incidental expenses necessarily incurred in carrying out the business of the board.

Management

6 (1) A board must manage the affairs of the interim authority for which it is the board and may

(a) exercise the powers and perform the functions and duties of the interim authority on behalf of the interim authority, and

(b) delegate to another person the exercise of any power or performance of any function or duty conferred or imposed on the board.

(2) A board may pass resolutions and bylaws it considers necessary or advisable for the management and conduct of its affairs, the exercise of its powers and the performance of its duties and functions.

(3) A resolution in writing, signed by all the members of the board, is as valid as if it had been passed at a meeting of the board properly called and constituted.

Minister's powers

7 (1) The minister may, from time to time,

(a) provide information and assistance to an interim authority,

(b) give directions to and set objectives for an interim authority,

(c) assess interim authorities and the ability of an interim authority to carry out its powers, functions and duties under this Act, and

(d) conduct consultations for the purposes of this Act, including consultations with interim authorities respecting the provision of community services by or on behalf of the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

(2) In giving directions under subsection (1), the minister may direct an interim authority to exercise or refrain from exercising a power, or perform or refrain from performing a function or duty, under this Act.

Directions of minister

8 An interim authority must carry out its powers, functions and duties in accordance with the requests, directions and specifications of the minister.

Duties of interim authorities

9 (1) If requested by the minister, an interim authority must

(a) make recommendations to the minister respecting the provision of one or more types of community services or administrative services by or on behalf of a new authority,

(b) develop administrative services and systems necessary for a new authority to provide administrative services,

(c) consult with the persons and organizations, including aboriginal persons and organizations, that the minister specifies, respecting issues and matters specified by the minister,

(d) develop records for the purposes of this section and submit those records to the minister for approval, and

(e) carry out any other function related to the purposes of the interim authority.

(2) If requested by the minister, an interim authority must

(a) develop an annual budget and a business plan for the interim authority, and

(b) prepare a report on the extent to which the interim authority met the objectives set out in its business plan.

Powers of interim authorities

10 (1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section and sections 7 (2) and 11 (2), an interim authority has the powers and capacity of a natural person of full capacity for the purposes of carrying out its powers, functions and duties under this Act.

(2) Unless the minister gives prior approval, an interim authority may not acquire land or borrow money.

Officers, consultants and staff

11 (1) A board may appoint one or more members of the board as officers of the board.

(2) An interim authority may engage staff only in the following ways:

(a) engage, as independent contractors, specialists and consultants;

(b) with the prior approval of the minister, engage a person who

(i) is an employee, as defined in the Public Service Act, and

(ii) is seconded to the interim authority from the Province.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), the Public Service Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act do not apply to an interim authority.

(4) Subsection (3) does not affect the continued application of the Public Service Act and the Public Service Labour Relations Act to a person referred to in subsection (2) (b).

Donations

12 (1) An interim authority may solicit and accept donations from any person or source for the use of the interim authority.

(2) In addition to soliciting and accepting donations under subsection (1), an interim authority, with the minister's prior approval, may solicit and accept donations for purposes related to the provision of community services or administrative services by or on behalf of a new authority.

(3) On receipt of the minister's prior approval under subsection (2), an interim authority must designate an operations account and a donations account.

(4) Subject to subsection (6) (b), all donations received by an interim authority under subsection (2) for purposes related to provision of services by or on behalf of a new authority must be entered in the donations account of the interim authority.

(5) All donations received by an interim authority under subsection (1) for the use of the interim authority must be entered in the operations account of the interim authority.

(6) An interim authority,

(a) subject to paragraph (b), must not use the donations in the donations account, and

(b) with the minister's prior approval, may transfer donations in the donations account to a new authority.

(7) A donation transferred to a new authority under subsection (6) (b) remains subject to

(a) the condition that the donation be used for the purposes referred to in subsection (2), and

(b) the conditions imposed by a donor on the donation to the interim authority.

Financial requirements

13 (1) An interim authority must

(a) establish and maintain an accounting system satisfactory to the minister, and

(b) if required by the minister or the Minister of Finance, render detailed accounts of revenues and expenditures of the interim authority for the period or to the day designated by the minister who required the detailed accounts.

(2) All books or records of account, documents and other financial records of an interim authority must at all times be open for inspection by the minister or a person the minister designates.

(3) The Minister of Finance may direct the Comptroller General to examine, and report to Treasury Board on, any or all of the financial and accounting operations of an interim authority.

(4) At least once in every year, the accounts of each interim authority must be audited by the Auditor General or by an auditor appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council for that purpose, and the costs of the audit must be paid by the interim authority.

(5) Once in each calendar year, and after the end of its fiscal year, an interim authority must prepare, in a form satisfactory to the minister, an audited financial statement showing

(a) the assets and liabilities of the interim authority at the end of the preceding fiscal year,

(b) the income and expenditures of the interim authority for the preceding fiscal year, and

(c) a statement of changes in the financial position of the interim authority for the preceding fiscal year.

(6) The financial statement referred to in subsection (5) must be prepared in accordance with

(a) generally accepted accounting principles, and

(b) the directions of the minister.

(7) No deficit of any kind may be incurred by an interim authority without the approval of the minister.

Application of other Acts

14 (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Company Act and the Company Clauses Act do not apply to an interim authority.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council, by order, may declare that provisions of the Company Act or the Society Act apply to an interim authority.

Offence Act

15 The Offence Act does not apply to this Act or the regulations under this Act.

Power to make regulations

16 The minister may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

  
Explanatory Note

This Bill establishes interim authorities to plan for and develop administrative, fiscal and other systems necessary for the transfer of many functions of the Ministry of Children and Family Development to new permanent authorities. These new authorities will be established after March 31, 2003.


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