Nearly a week after amendments to the Cable Television Law (有線廣播電視法) were passed in the Legislative Yuan, lawmakers across party lines yesterday expressed their support for reconsidering the legislation.
The law -- which would give the central government control of the nation's cable industry -- was originally passed with the strong support of KMT lawmakers. Ironically, the most vocal opponent to the amendments has been from the KMT-run Taipei City Government.
The amended law was proposed by a KMT lawmaker and received the endorsement of 52 legislators. Thirty lawmakers who helped pass the bill were KMT members, 15 were from the DPP, three from the People First Party and two from the New Party.
Spokesman for the Taipei City Government King Pu-tsung (
A survey of city and county officials conducted on Tuesday by the Government Information Office (GIO) found that 14 out of 22 local representatives were opposed to the new amendments, which transfer control of the cable industry to the central government.
Realizing that opposition to the amendments among politicians and officials was stronger than support for the new regulations, lawmakers yesterday threw their backing behind a motion to propose the cable TV law be reconsidered.
Diane Lee (
"The party held a meeting last night and decided to support a proposal to raise such a motion. What it would do is to immediately halt the implementation of the law and to allow us to revise the law again," she said.
To raise a motion to reconsider a passed law, Lee has to gather the endorsement of at least 40 lawmakers.
The motion has to be made before Jan. 17, when the legislature's speaker, Wang Jin-pyng (
The legislature is currently in recess and is scheduled to meet again on Feb. 20.
After holding a public forum on the issue yesterday, King and Lee, along with members of the DPP legislative caucus, paid a visit to Wang.
Wang has said it is a better idea for legislators, rather than the Executive Yuan, to raise a motion to reconsider the amendments.
"It makes less impact and takes less time than having the Executive Yuan call for a reconsideration because it doesn't need the approval of the president," he said. "Once the motion is made, the bill has a chance for revival."
The DPP's Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), chief executive of the DPP legislative caucus, and KMT representative Apollo Chen (陳學聖) also supported raising the motion.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
"The KMT would like to carefully handle the matter since the amendments have such a dramatic impact on consumers' rights and the essence of self-governance of local governments," said KMT spokesman Jason Hu (胡志強) after the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting yesterday.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
"It's unbelievable that the bill was hurriedly pushed through, bypassing the discussion session, not to mention the fact that opposition voiced by the public and local governments hasn't been taken into consideration," he said.
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