Today, Wednesday, Parliament is scheduled to handle, among other things, a law to amend the National Ordinances on General Old Age Insurance AOV, on General Widows and Orphans Insurance AWV, on Minimum Wages, on Health Insurance and on Accident Insurance. This is being done to change the reference period for the price index of household consumption dated June 9, 2023.
As the obvious intent is to adjust the country’s lowest incomes to the increased cost-of-living, opposition factions are likely to cooperate by helping to form the necessary quorum in the continued absence of Parliament President and coalition member Sidharth “Cookie” Bijlani for medical reasons. Whether a majority also supports the proposal by United People’s Party (UP Party) leader Rolando Brison may to some extent depend on its quality.
When bills are initiated by elected representatives, they usually require tweaking. That might seem contradictory for “lawmakers”, but it is partly due to a lack of legislation-drafting capacity at that level of government, certainly compared to the executive branch.
This is why most laws come from the Council of Ministers. Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Grisha Heyliger only recently asked for a meeting to approve a legal and other expert advice policy.
Some may wonder why paid full-time faction assistants can’t provide such, but their salaries are not competitive in the (para)legal sector. So, unless specific knowledge is hired from the outside this will remain an issue.
How to cover related expenses is another matter, but that also goes for the afore-mentioned indexation. One way could be speeding up efforts to get more from so-called home-sharing.
Airbnb alone lists 3,105 properties in Curaçao (see related story). In mid-July St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) reported 1,303 short-term rental units with 3,357 rooms, compared to respectively 3,368 and 4,262 at traditional resorts.
The latter clearly shows the extent of this new industry, which should indeed contribute its fair share to collective facilities and services as soon as possible, also to ensure a level playing field.
