The pan-blue and pan-green camps yesterday reached a consensus to prioritize the government's budget for the 2008 fiscal year on the agenda for this week's plenary session before the legislature goes into recess on Friday.
The budget bill topped the agenda proposals of both camps at a meeting of the legislative Procedure Committee.
The remainder of the agenda was set only after debate and a vote, in which the pan-blue camp's agenda proposal won with a vote of 16-7.
The pan-blue camp placed a draft amendment to the Organic Law of the National Communications Commission (
The draft stipulates that commission members should be nominated by the Cabinet after a review committee, whose members should be recommended by each party according to their number of legislative seats, reviews their qualifications at public hearings. Candidates for the commission should be recommended by the Cabinet and legislative caucuses.
The commission's members have said they will resign at the end of next month.
Other bills prioritized by the pan-blue camp include a draft amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Law (
Topping the Democratic Progressive Party's agenda proposal was a bill allocating funds for anti-flood measures between next year and 2010; a review of the nation's free-trade agreements with El Salvador and Honduras; and an amendment to the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (
In related news, the legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Criminal Code (刑法), raising the fine for drunken driving five-fold.
Under the amendment, driving under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances is punishable by one-year imprisonment or a fine of NT$150,000.
The amendment, supported by some 50 legislators across party lines, originally sought to introduce jail sentences of between six months and three years for people who repeat the offense more than three times. That part of the bill was dropped during negotiations.
A similar amendment to the Military Criminal Code (
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