An aggressive legislative agenda is planned by the Taipei City Government as this year’s City Council session approaches, records show.
Records of this Tuesday’s weekly city government policy meeting obtained by the Taipei Times show several bills have already been approved to be sent to the council next month.
Four bills were approved on Tuesday, with the most prominent defining the role and responsibilities of the city’s borough wardens.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has promised to push through the “Taipei City Borough Warden Self-Governance Regulations” (臺北市里長自治條例) as part of efforts to improve relations between the city government and the borough wardens, who are elected neighborhood officials and assist the city in completing many administrative duties.
The legislation defines the relationship between borough wardens and the municipal government, and stipulates the direction and supervision of district administrators’ within Taipei’s Department of Civil Affairs.
The other bills had been sent to the council under the administration of former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), but failed to win approval before the end of the last legislative session.
The policy meeting moved that the bills were particularly urgent and should be resubmitted without modification as soon as the new council session begins.
New self-governance regulations covering illegally constructed architecture were the most prominent of the resubmitted bills, with an appended impact analysis calling the bill was necessary to ensure that city can fine owners of illegal constructions the full cost of removing the structures.
Ko has made the removal of illegal construction a priority, with 226 structures facing removal beginning next week.
Self-governance regulations for funds gathered from the city lottery and funds used to manage city burial facilities were also among the bills approved.
Missing from the proposed agenda is a draft bill to establish a rental corporation to govern the thousands of public housing units the city is set to begin renting out in April.
Department of Urban Development executive secretary Lo Shih-yu (羅世譽) said the bill was still being drafted and would be submitted before the City Council’s session opens next month.
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