And it seems that we may be on the home stretch, as Dr. Brown tabled the draft bill in the House of Assembly last week.  It will be voted upon in the coming weeks.

Of course, in true Bermuda fashion, the transparency law is not widely available to the public.

It makes you wonder how competent Government is to make public information accessible, when they don’t even make the PATI law accessible!

So, courtesy of a reader:  Bermuda Public Access to Information Act 2010 (pdf)

PS:  would it kill them to let us know what changed since the consultation draft?

A successful public access to information law (PATI) would represent a significant step ahead in Bermuda’s development, so I encourage  all Bermudians to read through it and to participate in the consultation.

Bermuda PATI Draft law [pdf]

Bermuda PATI Consultation Handbook [pdf]

I’ll post my thoughts here once I have properly read them, and compared them to model laws used elsewhere.  I will say that I have to admire Premier Brown’s supreme chutzpah by 1) making PATI fall under his direct responsibility, 2) suggesting that it will take 2-3 years to implement after the law is passed, and 3) that the law will only apply to information gathered by Government from that point on (also known as AIR or “after I retire”).

Apart from that, the Premier’s speech was a yawner.  He blames it on the recession.  And when he said “unity” did he mean “impunity”?