When the Charter came into force in 1982 as part of the "Constitution Act, 1982", section 53 of the "Constitution Act, 1982" repealed section 20 of the "Constitution Act, 1867". The difference was that section 5 merely requires a sitting of Parliament at least once a year, whereas section 20 had required not only a sitting but also a session of Parliament every year. Every session must begin with a Speech from the Throne, and moreover, bills that had not been passed when a session comes to a close must be introduced again, after a new session is initiated, if it is still desired to become law. Hence, governments sometimes prefer that sessions last longer than the twelve months that had been prescribed by the Constitution Act, 1867. Writing in 2000, political scientist Rand Dyck observed that while sessions even now usually last a year, they "often spilled over to two or even three years." Even before 1982, governments sometimes extended session lengths to give more time to parliamentary committees to work, even though the House of Commons of Canada and Senate of Canada would stop working.