When the Private Bills Committee meets today they will have before them three potentially controversial items to consider.

The eight committee members will be debating private bills put forward by The Bank of Bermuda, Belco (Holdings) Ltd., and Bermuda Properties Ltd.

The bills put forward by the bank and Belco could be seen by critics as an erosion of Bermuda's legislation ensuring that foreigners don't hold controlling interests in the local economy.

The third bill could give environmentalists -- if they can get enough MPs on their side -- another chance at stopping Bermuda Properties Ltd. from building on Ship's Hill, and elsewhere on the company's Tucker's Town land.

It's up to the committee to recommend to the House of Assembly whether a particular bill should be passed or not. The committee, a mix of MPs and senators, is made up of four UBP members, three PLP members, and one independent. They get advice from technical officers, including those from the Finance Ministry, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the Attorney General Chambers, and the Registrar of Companies.

It's at committee meetings that all differences, if any, are hammered out before the bill is put before Parliament. Companies putting forward private bills, usually for incorporation or amendments to their incorporating acts, don't want to spark off a debate in the House which turns the spotlight on them.

The companies also don't want a dissenting report written by a member of the committee who disagrees with the majority vote. This rarely happens. Instead the company will usually make the changes required to smooth the bill's eventual passage.

The Bank of Bermuda's bill should be a cause for some debate however. The bank is seeking exemption from the Island's law prohibiting foreign ownership above 40 percent in a local company.

The bank is seeking to get an exemption as a necessary step to a secondary listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Bank executives argue the listing would give the bank access to capital it needs for international development and help boost the share price. The bank is currently listed on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

Critics are worried that by passing the bill, Parliament would set a precedent which would open the gate for other local companies to seek exemption and bring in foreign ownership.

Already the Bank of N.T. Butterfield and Son Ltd. has made the suggestion that it would also consider such a move once the Bank of Bermuda had received an exemption.

The bank has been lobbying UBP and PLP members to emphasise how important the bill is to its international ambitions.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons, while not openly supporting the grant of exemption, has said he believes the bank has a good argument for not having the 60/40 rule applied to it.

Another bill which could be seen to chip away at the protectionist policies, is the Belco private bill seeking exemption from a rule limiting a company from holding equity in a local company.

Under the legislation only a company classified as "Bermudian'' can own shares in a local company. The legislation defines a "Bermudian'' company as one 80 percent or more owned by Bermudians.

The legislation is designed to prevent foreigners from gaining a controlling interest in a local company through cross holdings.

Belco wishes to be exempt from this 80/20 rule so that its majority ownership of local telephone company Quantum Communications Ltd. is not jeopardised.

Bermudians currently hold 81.7 percent of Belco's stock, president and chief executive officer Garry Maderios said.

Mr. Maderios said the amendment was necessary because the company has no means of requiring foreign shareholders divest themselves of stock if the Bermudian ownership falls below 80 percent. "We have no tools to prevent that from happening,'' he said. "We are a publicly traded company. However, we are not at risk at this period. I just don't want it to be a risk factor.'' Only the 60/40 legislation, as embedded in companies' memorandum of association, would require companies to force foreigners to divest themselves of shares if the 40 percent limit on ownership were breached.

The three banks are exempted from the 80/20 rule.

"This is not a precedent,'' Mr. Maderios said.

The Bermuda Properties bill might also be a cause for some debate. If passed the bill would allow the company to sell or dispose of its Tucker's Town land.

Bermuda Properties (BPL) general manager Peter Parker told The Royal Gazette that when the foreign-owned company came into existence in 1958 Government placed restrictions preventing it from making a "disposition'' of its land.

Controversial private bills to be scrutinised "There was no Planning Department at the time,'' Mr. Parker said. "There needed to be some insurance that when the land was sold to BPL that the golf course would remain intact.'' Mr. Parker said the bill was necessary for the further development of the property. BPL is currently courting a foreign investment partner and needs the restriction lifted to close the deal.

The company plans on spending $65 million to build 13 houses with swimming pools, 13 two-storey town houses, a communal pool, four tennis courts and a water tank on Ship's Hill which is adjacent to the Marriott Castle Harbour Resort.

The Development Applications Board granted approval of the plan last month over the objections of environmental group Save Open Spaces. The organisation opposes BLP's plan, arguing that the development would harm the cave system under Ship's Hill. SOS has since appealed the Board's decision.

The company's environmental impact report states that damage to the cave system would be minimal.

BPL also wants to revamp the Castle Harbour golf course, develop a second residential community at Tucker's Point and redevelop the resort -- parts of which were built over 60 years ago -- and bring it up to an up market level.

Key to BLP's plan is the inclusion of foreign investor, merchant bank Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette, which with the company has signed a letter of intent.

Mr. Parker said passage of the private bill would enable the setting up of a joint venture under which the land would be held by both BPL and Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette.

"We would transfer the land into the joint venture which would be considered a disposition,'' he said. "We are currently not permitted to make a disposition.'' He said the joint venture agreement "hinges'' on Parliament passing the private bill.

The members of the private bills committee are chairman Stanley Lowe, John Barritt, Trevor Moniz, Grace Bell, Stanley Morton, Senator Larry Scott, Senator Terry Lister, and Independent Senator Alfred Oughton.

Stanley Lowe HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY HOA