Cannabis, ride hailing and T-Rex fossil among bills passed during Sask. spring session

The spring sitting of the legislature, which closed last week,saw bills passed on everything from school choice protection to ride hailing and even fossil naming.

In all, 59 bills were passed in this sitting of the legislature.

Here are a fewnotable:

Bill 73 - The Insurance Amendment Act

This bill was prompted bychanges to the law on medical assistance in dying. The amendments include making sure insurance money is paid to someone who receives medical assistance in dying. Also if they died as a result of the illness, disease or disability they are entitled to receive that assistance.

Bill 89 - The School Choice Protection Act

The bill amended The Education Act, to provide certainty that the government can continue funding students who attend Catholic separate schools regardless of their religious affiliation.

Last November, the province introduced a law to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The government said it would use the notwithstanding clause to defy a court order related to funding non-Catholic students into Catholic schools.

The province appealed the court's ruling.

Bill 99 - The Interpretation Amendment Act

Bill 40 was introduced and passed under Premier Brad Wall in Apr. 2017. It defined privatizationof a crown corporation, allowing for 49 per cent public ownership and not requiring a referendum to sell. TheNDPand the province's unions fought against it.

Bill 99 repealed Bill 40 to further defineprivatization, which does not include a"winding up and dissolution."

Bill 107 - The Provincial Emblems and Honours Amendment Act

Thebill established the Tyrannosaurus rex as the official fossil emblem of the province of Saskatchewan.

Scotty, a T. Rex whose skeletal remains were discovered in the province back in 1991, won the vote in a popularity contest held by the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, which waslooking to name an official provincial fossil.

Bill 114 - The Vehicles for Hire Act

The new act requires drivers with any ride-booking companies to have a Class 4 licence, get yearly vehicle checks by SGI, and to have a criminal record check. Municipalities will be responsible for further bylaws before services like Uber and Lyft are operational.

Bill 121 - The Cannabis Control Act

The federal government's decision to legalize cannabis prompted provinces to get to work on their own laws governing age of purchase and who can sell. Bill 121 set 19 As the legal age to buy in Saskatchewan and limited customers to 30 grams.

Bill 126 - The Energy Export Act

This bill came after the Alberta government drafted and passed its own bill to limit energy products to British Columbia in the wake of the debate over the Kinder Morgan pipeline project.

Saskatchewan did not have to use this legislation as the federal government purchased the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.