When former Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler presented the Adoption of Children Bill in the House of Assembly in December 2006, he told MPs how badly the legislation was needed.

It was the first time Bermuda was to have updated its laws regarding adoption since 1963 and would bring the Island into line with international standards, he promised.

Mr. Butler persuaded his colleagues in the House that the law would improve the life of youngsters and they approved it unanimously. "This is a part of Government's social agenda, which is to provide better opportunities for our children," he said.

Four years on, the law is not in force — meaning, it appears, that the adoption of children is still controlled by legislation passed almost 50 years ago and which parliamentarians have agreed needs improving.

It's impossible to say that with 100 percent certainty, though, because the Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation didn't provide an answer last week when asked why the law had yet to be brought into effect.

The Ministry of the Environment was similarly tight-lipped about the dormant Dogs Act 2008.

The Royal Gazette reported in July that year that the law was "rushed" through Parliament a week after first being tabled, despite protests from Opposition MPs that further consultation with the community was needed.

The Dogs Act was to bring in mandatory micro-chipping, a dog owners' register, stricter vetting of those applying for dog licences and the prevention of over breeding, among other new measures for controlling dog ownership.

El James, then Environment Minister, told the House: "The Dogs Act 1978 was amended in 1985 and 2000 and, as a result, the 1978 Act has begun to resemble the roof of an old house which has undergone too many touch-ups, and a new roof is needed."

That "new roof" is still not in place, according to a list of laws not in force compiled by the Attorney General's Chambers and published on www.bermudalaws.bm.

Nor is another law from the same Ministry — the Bermuda National Parks Amendment Act 2009.

Mr. James's successor Glenn Blakeney told the House in February last year that the legislation — updating the National Park Act 1986 — would mean people who abused national parks would get on-the-spot tickets issued by parks officers.

The existing law, said the Minister, lacked the ability to dissuade people from anti-social behaviour such as vandalism and dumping rubbish.

Mr. Blakeney, who is still Environment Minister, said his bill would ensure parks were policed, "provide an effective tool to defend our parks system" and create a host of new parks.

Yet last week, neither the Minister, his permanent secretary, nor a Ministry spokesman could shed any light on why the Act appears to have been shelved.

John Barritt, the United Bermuda Party's spokesman on legislative and public administration reform, said all three bills were presented to MPs as absolutely necessary pieces of legislation.

"You've heard the expression 'the law is an ass'," he said. "Government is doing its best to make the Legislature look like an ass. Rushing these laws up there, telling us they are absolutely required and then not doing anything about them."

The AG's Chambers says almost 450 Acts have been passed by Government and given the Governor's assent since 2000.

The list of laws not in force stretches to 23 items — and, in some cases, it is clear why the legislation has not come into effect.

The Hotel Concession Order granted for Wyndham Beach and Spa Resort in 2006, for example, is presumably not needed until construction starts on the development.

The long promised Public Access to Information Act 2010, meanwhile, will be implemented over the next two to three years, according to Premier Ewart Brown.

The controversial Municipalities Reform Act 2010 is being phased in — with several sections not due to come into force until April 1 next year.

But it is less apparent why other Acts, some dating back nine years, have been passed and then not brought into force.

The Road Traffic Amendment Act — legalising the use of speed cameras on the roads — was given the Governor's assent on December 27, 2001, but has never been given an "operative" date.

The same goes for the Traffic Offences Procedure Amendment Act 2001, also tabled by Transport Minister Dr. Brown and dealing with the issuing of summons for speeding offences caught on camera.

The Act can only "commence" or come into operation when the Minister publishes a notice in the Official Gazette — but he never has.

The Ministry of Tourism and Transport's permanent secretary said last week she would provide information on why; it had not been received by press time.

Nor had answers on why the Traffic Offences Procedure Amendment Act 2010 — modernising the parking ticket system — is not yet operative.

Mr. Barritt said: "I think it is incumbent on the Government to explain to us why some of the legislation is not in force. We have spent a great deal of time and effort in Parliament working our way through this legislation and passing it.

"Not only do we deserve an explanation, but the public does as well."

Shadow Health Minister Louise Jackson said she was disturbed that last year's Pesticide Safety Act — ensuring only authorised individuals ship pesticides into Bermuda and that those handling commercial pesticides have proper training — was not in effect.

"It really makes a mockery of the process," she said. "The purpose of the Act is to safeguard the public from pesticides that are not safe and put guidelines on what the pest control companies can and can't do.

"The thing that burns me up is that we stand there in the House of Assembly all day long. I do, as do other Members of Parliament, hours and hours of research on these things. Then it's passed and we all go away, the whole country goes away, thinking it's done. Now we realise it isn't."

Health permanent secretary Warren Jones said the Pesticide Safety Act could not be enacted until an amendment was made to the Pharmacy and Poisons Act.

"This work is presently under way," he said. "We anticipate tabling this in the upcoming session."

Another Health item — a section of the Bermuda Health Council Act 2004 dealing with the licensing of health service businesses — is not in force yet but will eventually be, according to the council's CEO Jennifer Attride-Stirling.

"It is a very important thing but there were other bigger things to worry about," she said. "It's about scheduling things in a systematic way."

Attorney General Kim Wilson explained that when laws are passed they become operational upon one of three events: on the assent of the Governor, upon notice in the Official Gazette or on a date set in the Act itself.

She cited administrative delays and ministerial shuffling as the likely reasons many of the laws are not in force.

But Mark Pettingill, Bermuda Democratic Alliance's justice spokesman, said that wasn't good enough.

"There is a process that needs to take place," he said. "In typical fashion, I'm sure that the Government will have a plethora of reasons and excuses as to why these things have not occurred as they should.

"The voters of the country should candidly be outraged with their Government. In no other country in the world would a government be able to sustain itself in an election with that type of record."