National Assembly to lose non-essential regular staff

The legislature's Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday approved the first reading of bills to deprive the National Assembly of regular staffers, effective May 20 next year.

The National Assembly, once the nation's highest legislative body before being reduced to a task force by a constitutional amendment in 2000, had sought to retain 30 workers with an annual budget of NT$40 million.

Now it can only convene to confirm constitutional reform bills proposed by the legislature and is not allowed to alter the contents of those bills, according to the National Assembly organization and power draft laws.

KMT lawmaker Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said he failed to see the need of keeping any regular staffers, as the Assembly will be an ad hoc organ in nature.

The 2000 constitutional amendment also requires the legislature to pass laws to adjust the Assembly's structure and functions before May 20 this year.

Currently, the Assembly has 28 employees, including drivers, janitors, and clerks, many of whom have little to do. National Assembly Secretary-General David Chen (陳川) had lobbied hard to preserve their employment, but to no avail.

The draft bills stipulate that when the Assembly is in session, it will consist of five divisions whose staffers will be provided by the legislature.

A two-thirds approval is necessary for the Assembly to ratify a Legislative Yuan proposal to impeach the president or the vice president, whose office will immediately terminate once the requirement is met.

The same threshold also applies to proposed changes to the nation's territorial claims, whereas a majority consent will suffice for other constitutional reform bills.

The legislation also states that the party with the most seats may appoint a 11-member group to preside over future Assembly meetings. All its outlays will be paid by the Cabinet's reserve fund.

The committee also passed a resolution that allows the two bills to skip further cross-party talks but to proceed directly to full meetings of the legislature for their second and third readings.