THE STANDING Orders Committee of the Senate is to consider a resolution aimed at having meetings of the Upper House start one hour earlier.
Currently, sittings of the Senate begin at 11:00 a.m. but the resolution brought by Jamaica Labour Party Senator, Anthony Johnson, last Friday, seeks to shift the meeting time to 10:00 a.m.
The move, which has been contemplated by Senators for a long time, seems to have the full support of both parties.
There have been constant complaints that the 11:00 a.m. starting time makes it difficult for the Senators to get much work done before the Senate is scheduled to end its sitting at 1:30 p.m. This leads to the Leader of the Senate having to move a motion for the time to be extended to allow the business of the day to be completed.
Another complaint of Senators is that the 11:00 a.m. starting time often leads to long delays in lunch as the they push to complete the business of the day before the scheduled end of the sitting. Some sittings now last beyond 3:00 p.m.
