Regulations in relation to Municipal Government and Procedures

The following regulations are related to how municipalities conduct their business under Part 5 – Municipal Government and Procedures of the Community Charter.

• The Bylaw Revision Regulation (B.C. Reg. 367/2003) establishes parameters for councils undertaking comprehensive revisions of municipal bylaws, sets out the legal effect of revised bylaws, and provides for the correction of revision errors. These matters were previously dealt with in sections 280.2 to 280.6 of the Local Government Act, and the provisions of this regulation are substantively the same. This regulation is authorized by section 140 of the Community Charter.
   
• The Disposal of Property in Police Possession Regulation (B.C. Reg. 366/2003) establishes rules for property that comes into custody and possession of the police, focusing on how that property may be disposed of and the proceeds from that disposal dealt with. These matters were previously dealt with in section 521 of the Local Government Act. The noteworthy changes in this regulation, authorized by sections 67 and 282 of the Community Charter, are the application of the Community Charter public notice requirements to the proposed sale of property and a reduction from one year to six months in the holding period before the proposed sale of property may proceed.
   
• The Local Government Elections Regulation (B.C. Reg. 308/93) sets out the oath of office for local elected officials, classes of election expenses for the purposes of campaign finance disclosure statements and classes of documents that may be accepted as evidence for the purposes of elector registration. This regulation is substantively unchanged, although it was amended by B.C. Reg. 365/2003 to add a reference to the provisions of the Community Charter in the oath of office provision, as authorized by sections 120 and 282 of the Community Charter.

Please direct questions or comments to Advisory Services Branch.