States Meeting summary: 13-14 May
13 May 2025
Question TimeQuestions with notice
This week’s States Meeting began with Ministers answering States Members’ questions with notice.
Skip to page 6 of the Order Paper to find out which questions were asked and watch from 8 minutes into this morning’s recording to hear questions with notice in full.
Questions without notice
States Members then asked the Minister for Treasury and Resources, Deputy Elaine Millar; Minister for Social Security, Deputy Lyndsay Feltham; and the Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, questions without notice for 15 minutes each.
Skip to 2 hours and 29 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch questions without notice in full.
Statement
The Minister for Sustainable Economic Development, Deputy Kirsten Morel, made a statement regarding the Future Economy Programme.
Go to the start of this afternoon’s recording to watch the statement and following question period in full.
Public Business
P.23 Road Traffic: offences and penalties
Deputy Catherine Curtis proposed that the Minister for Infrastructure create a new offence under the Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956 for failing to stop and report an accident following a serious or fatal injury. The proposition requested that penalties for such an offence include, but are not limited to, a lifetime driving disqualification.
The Deputy also lodged an Amendment, to include those who fail to stop, and help injured people after an accident and to request the Minister for Infrastructure to consult relevant stakeholders.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Deputy’s proposition, as amended, with 47 votes for, no votes against and no abstentions.
Skip to 45 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.27 Draft Elections (Electoral Registers) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-.
The Privileges and Procedures Committee proposed amendments to the Elections (Jersey) Law which will allow for Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) to be introduced with the aim of removing some of the barriers to voting.
The States Assembly agreed to refer the Proposition back under Standing Order 83 with 33 votes for, 12 votes against and two abstentions.
Skip to 1 hour and 16 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
States Meeting Summary 14 May
Public Business
P.28 Draft Elections (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-
The Privileges and Procedures Committee proposed to make further amendments to the Elections (Jersey) Law and other elections legislation. These are in response to the Report of the Jersey Electoral Authority, and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s Election Observers Mission. They include allowing all prisoners, including those sentenced to more than four years, being allowed to vote; and extending the powers of the Jersey Electoral Authority in relation to the resolution of disputes to cover complaints made by the public as well as by candidates.
The States Assembly agreed to the principles of the Proposition. The Proposition was called in by the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel for review and will return to the Assembly in due course for the second and third readings.
Skip to 6 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.29 Social rents plan to reduce rental stress for tenants
Deputy Raluca Kovacs proposed that the Minister for Housing revise housing rental policy to ensure that, from January 2027, social housing rents are set at a rate that does not put tenants in rental stress. It requests that a policy is presented to the Assembly for approval by January 2026.
The Minister for Housing, Deputy Sam Mézec proposed an amendment, seeking to get agreement on the aims of the Proposition, in principle, but allowing more time for a comprehensive review of the current model, with options delivered to the Assembly by Jan 2026.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister’s amendment with 32 votes for, 12 votes against and two abstentions.
Skip to 27 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
The States Assembly then voted to APPROVE Deputy Kovac’s proposition, as amended, with 34 votes for, 4 votes against and 2 abstentions.
Skip to 21 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the start of the debate, which continued into the start of the afternoon recording following the debate on the Amendment.
Read the Proposition
Read the Amendment
Deputy Max Andrews proposed that the Minister for Social Security requests the Jersey Employment Forum to review the impact of any increases to the minimum wage from 2024 onwards on the recruitment and retention of trainees, and that a report is presented to the Assembly no later than September 2027.
Deputy Andrews decided to withdraw his Proposition following a short debate.
Skip to 34 minutes into the afternoon recording to watch the debate in full.
Deputy Kristina Moore proposed that the Chief Minister should be elected through an Island-wide vote, which would be held in parallel with the General Election, and that any law changes are presented to the Assembly by 28 February 2026.
The States Assembly voted to REJECT the Deputy’s proposition with 1 vote for, 43 votes against.
Skip to 1 hour and 12 minutes into the afternoon recording to watch the debate in full.
Adjournment
The States Assembly then adjourned and will reconvene at 9:30am Tuesday 3 June 2025.
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