Legislature approves 11 amendments

As a complementary measure to the halving of the number of legislative seats, the legislature on Friday passed 11 amendments to internal regulations.

It also passed an attached resolution limiting government subsidies for individual legislators and party caucuses to NT$400,000 and NT$500,000 per month respectively, as well as limiting overtime and other fees to NT$80,000 and NT$100,000 per month respectively.

Other that were passed included the Amendment to Some Articles of the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Amendment to Article 53 of the Budget Act (預算法).

The amendment to regulations for organizing a legislative party caucus states that the five parties with the highest number of elected legislators among all parties with at least three elected legislators will be allowed to establish party caucuses.

If two or more parties have the same number of legislators, lots will decide which parties will be allowed to establish caucuses. It also specifies that five is the highest allowed number of legislative caucuses and that if there are less than five caucuses, a group of four or more legislators will be allowed to establish "political caucuses."

Acknowledging bad behavior of legislators often leads to disputes, an amendment regulating the suspension of legislators was added to the organizational regulations for the Legislature's Discipline Committee (立法院紀律委員會組織規程) in an attempt to strengthen self-discipline in the legislature.

If two-thirds of all legislators agree, a legislator may be suspended for between three and six months, and during this time he or she will not receive the annual salary and government subsidies, currently NT$180,000 per month. In addition, the legislator may not enter the legislative floor or legislative committees, while his or her voting rights and rights to be elected may also be suspended.

The number of legislative committee members will also be reduced, from between 108 and 120 members to between 88 and 96 members. Anyone who has served in the legislature for 20 years and is over the age of 50 can retire and choose to receive the retirement fund in one payment or in monthly installments, and this will not be bound by the regulations in the Civil Servant Retirement Law (公務人員退休法施行細則).

Anyone voluntary retirement from Feb. 1 can get seven months' salary in severance pay, and for each month they stay on, that severance pay will be reduced by one month.

For anyone taking up another government job within seven months of retirement, the hiring agency shall deduct pay for the corresponding number of months for which severance pay was received.