Premier Ewart Brown is today expected to tell MPs that his controversial media council bill will not be taken up by Government this parliamentary session.

The draft legislation prompted widespread condemnation when it was tabled in May and spurred local news organisations into forming their own self-regulating watchdog, which should be up and running by mid-September.

Dr. Brown will say in a statement to the House of Assembly that "the steps taken [by the media] thus far are positive ones and must be encouraged".

A dozen media outlets have already signed up to a code of practice written by a working group comprised of Inter-Island Communications, DeFontes Broadcasting, Bermuda Broadcasting, the Bermuda Sun and The Royal Gazette.

The independent media council will deal with complaints about breaches of the code.

In his statement today, Dr. Brown will urge those involved in setting up the council to continue to communicate with the public.

He will call for ownership of the code "to be fostered through ease of access and a committed public relations campaign to ensure that the public is well informed of its rights".

The House is likely to break for the summer at the end of this week and though the Media Council Act 2010 will remain on the order paper, it would have to be reintroduced by a new session of the Legislature if it was to be taken up in the future.

MPs will meet twice this week to deal with items remaining on the order paper, including public access to information and a motion proposing that they themselves adopt a code of conduct.

According to party whips, today's session is likely to include debate on two uncontroversial pieces of legislation from the Ministry of Finance.

The first is the National Pension Scheme (Financial Hardship) Regulations 2010. Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards explained that these rules will determine how Bermudians suffering hardship can dip into their private pension funds, under a law passed in March.

He said it was vital to be "strict and careful" about letting people tap into those pension plans.

The second item is the Insurance Companies (Special Fees) Act, which deals with increasing the fees paid by some insurers on the Island to the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

A third item expected to be dealt with today is the Proceeds of Crime Regulations (Supervision and Enforcement) Amendment Act 2010.

If approved, it will allow a watchdog to be set up to regulate lawyers and accountants to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism in Bermuda.

Bermuda Democratic Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell said last night that it had become "very chaotic" towards the end of the parliamentary session.

"We have had about two or three sessions when not much was debated and we were finished early in the day and now we are seeing this rush towards the end," he complained.

"It doesn't give us as legislators sufficient time to really wrap our minds around bills that are being proposed so that we can go in there and have an informative debate. I don't think this does the country justice."