The House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature is expected to reconvene for Special Session for two months, beginning October 18, 2021 and ending December 18, 2021.
The Certificate of Reconvening was signed by over 20 representatives, which is more than 1/4th of the total membership of the Honorable House of Representatives. The reconvening of the Legislature is done in accordance with Article 32(b) of the 1986 Constitutions.
According to Article 32(b), at least one-fourth of the total membership of each House can extend a regular session of the Legislature.
The Reconvening of the House of Representatives is intended to receive and act on the 2022 Fiscal Budget in accordance with the new Public Financial Management (PFM) Law, which has set the budget year from January 1 to December 31 (replacing July 1 to June 30) budget year. The President of the Republic of Liberia shall submit the proposed budget and accompanying documents to the Legislature not later than two months before the start of the fiscal year, thereby requiring the Legislature to be in session in October.
The Certificate to Reconvening states, “We, the below listed members of the House of Representatives of the 54th Legislature, having acknowledged that due to the Amendment and Restatement of the Public Financial Management (PMC) Act approved October 30, 2019, changing the fiscal year from July to June of the same year, which gives the Executive Branch two (2) months to submit the National Budget to the Legislature prior to its enactment, do hereby affix our signatures in pursuant to Article 32(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Liberia, to reconvene in a Special Session of the 54th Legislature commencing October 18, 2021 and ending December 18, 2021 to deliberate on the National Budget and associated instruments as a matter of national emergency and concern.”