States Meeting Summary 11 March
11 March 2026
The States Assembly began with a short proposition from the Chair of the Privileges and Procedures Committee for Members to sit late tomorrow, Thursday 12 March, in order to get through the running order.
The States Assembly voted to APPROVE the Chair’s proposal with 36 votes for, 4 votes against and 1 abstention.
This means the States Meeting will continue for an additional period, from 6pm to 8pm, with a short break after the afternoon session.
Please note: Deputy Tadier has moved the debate on P.48 Use of cash in Jersey to the 24 March sitting. The Assembly also agreed to move P.50 Rent Tribunal: appointment of Chair, Deputy Chair and Member positions forward to this sitting, and it will be included at the end of the Order Paper.
Public Business
P.5 Draft Sexual Offences (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, proposed the Draft Sexual Offences (Jersey) Amendment Law, which seeks to improve the ability of the criminal justice system to effectively respond to different forms of intimate image abuse, and strengthens existing offences relating to the sexual grooming of a child.
In particular, it will add additional offences that involve the use of technology and expand the scope of offences relating to grooming children to cover meeting that child in any part of the world.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition with 46 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 14 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.6 Draft Harassment and Stalking (Jersey) Law 202-.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, proposed the Draft Harassment and Stalking (Jersey) Law. The aims of the new Law are to improve the ability of the criminal justice system to respond more effectively to perpetrators of harassment and stalking and to strengthen the protections for victims.
In particular, the Law introduces four new, robust offences and introduces additional measures to protect victims, regardless of whether the perpetrator has been convicted.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition with 42 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 1 hour and 55 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.7 Draft Domestic Abuse (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, proposed the Draft Domestic Abuse (Jersey) Amendment Law. The main aim is to improve the protections available for victims of domestic abuse whether or not the perpetrator has been convicted.
The amendments will therefore introduce pre-conviction emergency barring notices, which are issued by the police, and pre-conviction barring orders, which are issued by the courts.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition with 42 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 20 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.8 Draft Crime (Strangulation) (Jersey) Law 202-.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, proposed the Draft Crime (Strangulation) (Jersey) Law, to improve the ability of the criminal justice system to respond more effectively to perpetrators of strangulation.
This introduces a standalone offence of strangulation following the recommendations from the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce report and is due to the very serious harms associated with strangulation, even with small amounts of pressure.
The Minister also proposed an amendment which modified the defence of consent to bring it more in line with other legislation and expands on the definition of strangulation to include deliberate actions that restrict the flow of blood to a person’s brain.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition, as amended, with 43 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 41 minutes into this morning’s recording to watch the start of the debate and from start of this afternoon’s recording to hear the conclusion.
P.9 Draft Crime (Public Order) (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-.
The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Le Hegarat, proposed the Draft Crime (Public Order) Amendment Law, which is intended to allow the justice system to better address threats of sexual harm.
The law expands the definition of a criminal threat to include threats to commit the most serious sexual offences including those which do not constitute rape.
Currently the Law only provides that for threats to meet the criminal threshold, they are to kill, rape or cause serious physical injury.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition with 44 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 18 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.10 Draft Sanctions and Asset-Freezing Law (Jersey) Amendment Regulations 202-
The Minister for External Relations, Deputy Ian Gorst, proposed an amendment to the Draft Sanctions and Asset-Freezing (Jersey) Law 2019, through which Jersey implements all United Nations sanctions and all autonomous UK sanctions.
This amendment ensures Jersey remains aligned with the UK; and seeks to require a financial institution to provide the Minister with information about a person it knows or has reasonable cause to suspect, intends to commit an offence under this law – whether that person has a connection to that institution or not.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister's proposition with a standing vote.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 35 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.11 Draft Comptroller and Auditor General (Jersey) Amendment Law 202-
The Chief Minister, Deputy Lyndon Farnham, proposed amendments to the Comptroller and Auditor General (Jersey) Law 2014 to strengthen the governance, accountability and transparency of the office responsible for auditing States accounts and the wider use of public funds.
The changes would mean that:
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The Jersey Audit Office Board of Governance would be consulted during the appointment process for a new Comptroller and Auditor General
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The existing limitations of liability relating to damages arising from the work of the Comptroller and Auditor General would be extended to that Board
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Employment contracts for Audit Office staff would clearly recognise that they are acting for an independent body
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The Chief Minister, Minister for Treasury and Resources, certain States and States-funded bodies would be consulted before any statement setting out how the Comptroller and Auditor General intends to perform their duties is published
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The Audit Office would be required to publish an Annual Report of Findings, setting out the reports and publications issued during the previous year and tracking progress against recommendations
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The States Assembly would be able to make Regulations to enable the Comptroller and Auditor General to appoint auditors or independent examiners for specified bodies.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Chief Minister’s proposition with 43 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 41 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.13 Bailiff’s Consultative Panel: Amendment to Term of Office
The Privileges and Procedures Committee asked the States to agree that, after the election on 7 June, the members of the Bailiff’s Consultative Panel will be chosen at the same meeting as that which Scrutiny Panel members are chosen, and that the term of office for Members of the Panel shall align with the election cycle.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Committee’s proposition with 42 votes for, 0 votes against and 0 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 58 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.15 Draft Health and Social Care Professionals Register (Jersey) Law 202
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Tom Binet, proposed the introduction of the Health and Social Care Professionals Register Law which would standardise the registration process for regulated health and social care professionals in Jersey.
The Law aims to address inconsistent registration requirements across the professional groups and improve oversight of healthcare professionals who are practising in Jersey.
Skip 1 hour and 2 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the Minister outline the proposal.
Deputy Tom Coles proposed an amendment which would:
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Remove references to the UK, thus enabling standards from around the world to be considered
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Insert the Professional Standards Authority in order to provide clarity and certainty around the standards framework that underpins statutory and voluntary regulation
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To reinstate Psychotherapists, associated psychotherapy occupations and to add Counsellor into the schedule of occupations, as well as setting out Qualification Requirements and identifying the Relevant Regulatory Body.
The Assembly agreed to vote on the Deputy’s amendment in parts.
Part 1: Removing references to the UK, thus enabling standards from around the world to be considered.
The Assembly voted to REJECT this part of the amendment with 11 votes for, 29 votes against and 3 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 1 hour and 13 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate on the amendment in full.
The result means the rest of the amendment falls away and debate resumed on the Minister’s proposition as proposed.
The Assembly voted to APPROVE the Minister’s proposition with 41 votes for, 0 votes against and 2 abstentions.
You can see how Members voted here.
Skip 2 hours and 2 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the debate in full.
P.16 Draft Termination of Pregnancy (Jersey) Law 202-
The Minister for Health and Social Services, Deputy Tom Binet, proposed to replace the Termination of Pregnancy (Jersey) Law with a new law. The Assistant Health Minister, Deputy Andy Howell, presented the proposition to the Assembly.
The new law would allow termination up to 21 weeks and 6 days for any reason; remove the requirement to prove ‘distress’; and reduce the mandatory number of doctor consultations prior to termination to one, amongst other changes.
Skip 2 hours and 25 minutes into this afternoon’s recording to watch the beginning of the debate.
Adjournment
The States Assembly then adjourned and will reconvene at 9:30am on Thursday 12 March 2026 to continue the debate on the proposed Termination of Pregnancy Law.
Please note, Thursday’s sitting will be in three sessions with an evening session between 6pm and 8pm.
