Patch 2024.09

September 2024 proposals

This month’s proposals would change insurance, expand charter schools, ban disposable vapes, protect victims from prisoner contact, toughen sentencing, and allow remote lottery gambling.

• Proposal to change insurance contract rules — Would set policyholder information duties, insurer remedies, contract rules, and clearer ways to understand and compare insurance.
• Proposal to expand charter schools — Would create charter schools, allow some state-school conversions, remove ECE network approval, and set rules for attendance data.
• Proposal to ban disposable vapes — Would ban disposable vapes and limit how vaping products are sold and displayed, with tougher penalties for sales to minors.
• Proposal to protect victims from prisoner contact — Would require Corrections to protect victims and people under protection orders from unwanted contact by prisoners and others it supervises.
• Proposal for tougher sentencing rules — It would give victims’ interests more weight in sentencing and add new factors for some offences.
• Proposal to allow remote lottery gambling — Would let licensed class 3 operators run lotteries remotely, including taking payments through phone or internet banking.
• Proposal to change freshwater rules — It would change environmental rules affecting farming, mining and other primary industries, aiming to reduce their regulatory burden.
• Proposal to tighten overseas fishing rules — It would change rules for New Zealand-flagged vessels overseas and high-seas fishing permits to help combat illegal fishing.
• Proposal to change customary sea-title tests — It would change the tests for recognising customary marine title, including requirements for long-term exclusive use and occupation.
• Proposal to allow more petroleum exploration — It would remove the ban on new petroleum exploration permits outside onshore Taranaki.
• Proposal to expand cross-border digital evidence access — It would align New Zealand law with the Budapest Convention and improve cross-border access to digital evidence.
• Proposal to simplify non-pistol range rules — It would create different regulatory requirements for pistol and non-pistol shooting clubs and ranges.
• Proposal to hide directors’ home addresses — It would let company directors with serious safety concerns replace their public home address with an address for service.
• Proposal concerning gangs — It would introduce changes concerning gangs.
• Proposal to allow more overseas building products — Would make it easier for overseas building products and standards to be used in New Zealand buildings.
• Proposal to recognise Taranaki Maunga settlement — It would recognise collective redress for eight Taranaki iwi and establish Te Kāhui Tupua around Taranaki Maunga.
• Proposal for extra government spending authority — It would give the Government extra financial authority for spending and capital injections through 30 June 2025.
• Proposal for technical law changes — It would make various technical changes across several laws, including moving some ACC notices from newspapers to its website.
• Proposal to add a District Court judge — Would increase the maximum number of District Court judges by one, to help manage the court’s workload.
• Proposal to update Parliament’s operating rules — Would combine and update laws covering Parliament, including rules for parliamentary security officers.