Chapter 16 - Committees
Appropriations and Staffing Committee
Standing order 19 provides for the
appointment of a Standing Committee on Appropriations and Staffing whose role
is to inquire into:
-
proposals for the annual
estimates and the additional estimates for the Senate;
-
proposals to vary the staff
structure of the Senate, and staffing and recruitment policies; and
-
such other matters as are
referred to it by the Senate.
The committee is responsible for determining the amounts for inclusion
in the parliamentary appropriation bills for the annual and additional
appropriations for the Senate and for reporting to the Senate on its
determinations prior to the Senate’s consideration of the relevant
parliamentary appropriation bill. In relation to staffing, the committee is
responsible for making recommendations to the President and reporting to the
Senate on any matter. It is required to make an annual report to the Senate on
the operations of the Senate’s appropriations and staffing and related matters.
The committee also oversees the funding and administration of security measures
affecting the Senate.
The President, the Leader of the Government in the Senate and the
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate are ex officio members of the
committee. The Leader of the Government in the Senate may nominate another
Senate minister as a representative, thereby ensuring that the government
retains a presence on the committee to represent its views. The Leader of the
Opposition in the Senate may also nominate a representative. There are six
other members, three nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate
and three nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or by any
minority groups or independent senators. Originally, the committee had seven
members but the number was increased to nine when the committee was
re-established in May 1983 (11/5/1983, J.80).
The President is the committee’s chair and has the power to appoint a
deputy chair from time to time. The chair, and deputy chair when acting as
chair, has a casting vote when the votes are equally divided (SO 19(7)). Senators who
are not members of the committee may attend and participate in its
deliberations and question witnesses but may not vote (SO 19(8)).
Unlike the other domestic standing committees, the Appropriations and
Staffing Committee has power to appoint subcommittees (SO 19(5)). Like the
Committee of Privileges, it also has power to summon witnesses and to require
the production of documents.
See also Chapter 5, Officers of the Senate: Parliamentary
Administration, under Senate’s appropriations and staffing, and Chapter 13,
Financial Legislation, under Parliamentary appropriations.
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