Draft Referendum (Adoption of Central European Time) (Jersey) Act 200-
REPORT
Background
The States decided on 19th June 2008 to hold a referendum on the question of adopting Central European Time (CET) and requested the Chief Minister to implement the necessary steps. The Proposition P.62/2008 set out the text of the question and specified that referendum shall take place on Wednesday 15th October, being the date of the Senatorial Elections.
The Referendum (Jersey) Law 2002 requires that the States may by Act resolve to hold a referendum. This Law sets out inter alia the matters that the Act shall or may provide.
Proposals
A key objective is to ensure that the referendum is seen to be conducted in a fair and impartial manner, and that appropriate arrangements are in place for –
(a) postal voting and pre-election voting;
(b) conduct of the referendum at the same polling stations and at the same time as the Senatorial poll;
(c) counting of votes in a similar way as, but separately from, the election votes;
(d) reporting the referendum returns to the States Greffier, who will inform the Chief Minister of the outcome.
The Act applies certain provisions of the Public Elections (Jersey) Law 2002 with appropriate adaptations, modifications and exceptions.
Resources
There will be resource requirements arising from a referendum which have not been budgeted. It is estimated that it will be necessary to employ one person for approximately 2 months and the administration costs may be in the order of £10,000. These costs will be borne by the Chief Minister’s Department.
Explanatory Note
This Act provides for the holding of a referendum on the question of whether Jersey should adopt Central European Time as its basic time.
