THE Parliamentary Service Act came into force on July 1.

The Davis administration released a statement yesterday calling it a landmark addition to the country’s laws, a “transformative and necessary buttress to our democratic style of government.”

The law aims to enhance Parliament’s independence by placing the legislature under the Parliamentary Service Commission, an autonomous body.

It empowers the commission to provide administrative personnel and necessary facilities to the House of Assembly and the Senate. It also allows Parliament to manage its administrative and financial affairs.

The commission’s functions include providing financial resources and the necessary administrative, technical and support services; determining and hiring necessary staff; managing all matters related to the legislature; and managing Parliament’s real and personal property.

The commission’s first members are House Speaker Patricia Deveaux, Senate President LaShell Adderley, Deputy House Speaker Sylvanus Petty, MPs Fred Mitchell, Wayne Munroe, Myles Laroda, Pia Glover-Rolle, Adrian White, and Michael Pintard, senators Michael Halkitis, Darren Henfield, Ryan Pinder and Michela Barnett-Ellis, and parliamentary clerk David Forbes.