The decision to recommence the hearings was reached by majority members of the House on Thursday following a unanimous vote to endorse a motion calling for the body to mandate its Budget Committee to resume the process.

In keeping with the mandate to reconvene hearings into the 2016/2017 National Budget, members of the House also agreed to notify the Ministry of Finance and the Legislative Budget Office to work with the committee during the hearings.

It appears that the ongoing rift between two opposing groups of lawmakers may prevent the budget committee from reaching a quorum to adequately continue the hearings, as members of the committee are on both sides of the divide.

However, in an effort to prevent such situation, the majority members of the House also agreed to notify all members of the Budget Committee to be present on Monday for recommencement of the hearings, with a warning that absentee or delinquent members of the committee will be replaced.

It can be recalled that on June 20 the Joint Budget Committee of the Legislature began hearings into the revenue component of the budget for fiscal year 2016-17.

Hearings into the expenditure component began weeks later but could not continue as a result of the prevailing recusal battle involving House speaker Alex Tyler and over 39 lawmakers of the House of Representatives who want Tyler clear himself of criminal charges emanating from an alleged bribery scandal.
LINA WSG/TSS/PTK