Downsizing bill in legislative limbo

"If we fail to pass the bill this Friday, then we may not be able to elect National Assembly representatives together with the legislators, and we may need to spend NT$200 million to NT$300 million extra to hold a stand-alone election ..."

Yu Ching, Democratic Progressive Party legislator

The legislative caucuses yesterday failed to reach an agreement on when to pass a bill to downsize the legislature.

The possibility of electing National Assembly members -- who must vote on a constitutional amendment on downsizing -- when the year-end legislative elections are held appears dim.

The amendment was originally slated to get its third reading on March 19 after the caucuses reached an agreement, but the Alliance of Independent Lawmakers introduced a motion to have the amendment undergo negotiations at the last minute. So the amendment is still stuck in the negotiating process, which can take up to four months.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus has failed to send anyone to participate in the negotiations on the bill.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus pointed out that if the amendment did not pass this Friday, then it would be not possible to save money by holding an election for the National Assembly together with the Legislative Yuan elections.

By law, National Assembly representatives must be elected within three months of a constitutional amendment being passed by the legislature and being promulgated by the president for six months.

"We failed to produce a concrete bill today because the KMT and the People First Party [PFP] failed to send representatives to the negotiations. If we fail to pass the bill this Friday, then we may not be able to elect National Assembly representatives together with the legislators, and we may need to spend NT$200 million to NT$300 million extra to hold a stand-alone election," DPP Legislator Yu Ching (尤清) said.

Yu was one of the DPP repre-sentatives in the negotiation.

The pan-blue caucuses blamed the failure on the DPP.

"It was the Alliance of Independent Lawmakers which proposed to return the bill for further negotiations, and now the four-month period of negotiations is not up yet," said PFP caucus whip Hsieh Chang-chieh (謝章捷).

"If the DPP wants to pass it according to its own schedule, the DPP will need to resolve the problem itself," Hsieh said.

"All the caucuses have agreed on the contents of the amendment, so there is no need for further negotiation. It was the Alliance of Independent Lawmakers who proposed further negotiations," KMT caucus whip Liao Feng-te (廖風德) said.

"The DPP should just ask the alliance to withdraw its proposal and then the problem would be solved," Liao said.

Only KMT, PFP and DPP caucuses participated yesterday in the negotiations for the draft statute to establish the March 19 shooting incident truth investigation special committee.

Although some initial agreements were reached, which included the president of the Control Yuan heading the 11-member independent committee, it was still unknown whether the group can really be established, since the pan-green camp has said the proposed statute would violate the Constitution.