INTRODUCTION 16.    The Law Commission Act 1985 (“Law Commission Act”) was passed 15 years ago.  The Long Title states that it is “an Act to establish a Law Commission as a central  advisory  body  for  the  review,  reform,  and  development  of  the  law  of New Zealand”.  The purpose of the Law Commission Act as set out in section 3 is  “to  promote  the  systematic  review, reform,  and  development  of  the  law  of New Zealand”.    17.    In  the  15  years  that  have  passed  since  the  passage  of  the  legislation  the  Law Commission has produced much valuable work.  It has also spent, over the past ten years, $36.8 million.   18.    The need to evaluate the Law Commission may have been raised in the mind of the  Government  by  the  1999  Ministry  of  Justice  Post-Election  Briefing  for Incoming Ministers (“1999 Briefing Paper”).  The 1999 Briefing Paper stated that dissatisfaction with the legislative process had increased over the years, that the volume of legislation was greater than Parliament could manage, and that there  was  a  frustration  that  routine  technical  Bills  could  not  get  passed  (para 6.1).    19.    The  1999  Briefing  Paper  observed  “…  very  little  resource  is  attached  to prioritising and quality control of lawmaking”.  It also observed that of the 71 Bills carried over from the old Parliament to the new one after the election in 1999, 17 were justice sector Bills.    20.    The  1999  Briefing  Paper  made  a  number  of  observations  about  the  Law Commission itself.  It reported that the Law Commission regarded as its highest priority   the   development   of   an   improved   process   for   implementing   Law Commission Reports:    However,  there  has  been  an  historical  disjunction  between  Commission  and Government   priorities.      Government   priorities   have   not   often   yielded   the resources  and  time  to  consider  Commission  policy  recommendations  or  the legislative drafting resources required to implement recommendations.  This has raised fundamental questions about the role of the Commission and the status of their Reports, given the $36.8 million spent in funding the Law Commission over the past ten years.