Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs the Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson, (3rd from right) speaks to media representatives about the Bahamas Laws Online Website. Also shown is Danya Parker, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs (2nd from left); the Hon. Damian Gomez, Minister of State for Legal Affairs, (4th from left) and Tina Roy, Director of Law Reform, (5th from left). (BIS Photo/Raymond A. Bethel, Sr.)

NASSAU, The Bahamas – Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs the Hon. Allyson Maynard-Gibson described the re-launch of Bahamas Laws Online as a “red letter day” that offers new opportunities to take The Bahamas to another level and “celebrate” the rule of law and democracy.

The new website, laws.bahamas.gov.bs, replaces the previous website at which laws were current to 2009. The Ministry of Legal Affairs has since made the site current to December 31, 2014.

Tina Roy, Director of Law Reform, gave the media a short presentation on the upgraded website during a Press Briefing at the Office of the Attorney General, JFK, Wednesday, April 8^th. The user-friendly website provides links for Frequently Asked Questions and how to purchase copies of the Official Gazette online. The website can be accessed from the Bahamas Government website.

The Attorney General said from 2015 and beyond the Ministry of Legal Affairs plans to ensure that as laws are passed they are chronologically posted to the website under the year.

“The entire team at the office of the Attorney General has been focused on how we give persons access to the law especially in the day of people interacting with their government on their smartphones,” she said.

Mrs. Maynard-Gibson said making the laws easily accessible is a “real” demonstration of commitment in addition to a big vision that the government has for e-government. It is also her hope that the website will be a wonderful research tool.

Damian Gomez, Minister of State for Legal Affairs, thanked the members of the Law Reform Commission and the Department of Information Technology for their hard work on this project. “I hope the public will enjoy using this facility which is now available,” he added.

In addition to the Law Reform Commission -- Government Printing and the Department of Information Technology have contributed to this initiative. Members of the team include: Tina Roy; Deputy Director of Legal Affairs Danya Parker, Latoya Dean, Fern Bowleg, Aramenthea Hepburn, Rudisha Mackey, Tammy Smith and Rubin Rolle.