B.C. Lt.-Gov. Wendy Cocchia gave royal assent to eight pieces of legislation on Thursday (Oct. 30), including a bill to strengthen penalties for the non-consensual release of intimate images.
Another will alter driver licensing requirements, dispensing with the second road test.
Other bills include one requiring post-secondary institutions to create a sexual violence policy, a bill expanding the types of child-care facilities that can be built on school properties, one tightening rules that allow the government to recover money for the health-care costs associated with negligence and one establishing October as Korean Heritage Month.
Two of the bills are omnibus-type pieces of legislation that enact or alter a slew of regulations, ranging from rules related to how the province acquires land to the minute details of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act.
The Korean Heritage Month bill is the only non-government piece of legislation. This was a private member’s bill introduced by NDP MLA Paul Choi.
Most of the new bills come into force as of Thursday, though some will require a cabinet order.
The Intimate Images Protection Act passed with unanimous support. It will alter protections for victims of non-consensual intimate image distribution by upping the penalty from $5,000 to $75,000, and allowing plaintiffs to go through a civil tribunal, rather than having to go to court.
It was amended in the committee stage at the urging of B.C. Conservative MLA Misty Van Popta, who used her own daughter’s experience of having an intimate image shared to convince the government to strengthen the bill further.
Those changes extended the window of time someone can make a complaint from two to four years.
“In our family’s experience, even though she was a minor, and if I look at other victims, whether they’re minors or adults, the time of recovery from a traumatic experience like this often goes beyond two years, in my opinion,” Van Popta said in committee, after Attorney General Niki Sharma agreed to the amendment.
The Motor Vehicle Act changes to alter driving test requirements also passed unopposed.
This removes the requirement for a second Class 5 licence test, but creates a new 12-month minimum restriction period, in which new drivers must demonstrate safe driving before they are granted full privileges.
The government hopes this will reduce wait times for tests while also improving safety by increasing experience requirements.
The bill also creates a new motorcycle licensing program that includes longer learning and restriction stages.