Amendments to the Senior Citizens’ Welfare Act (老人福利法) were passed by the legislature yesterday to flesh out legal backing for services for the elderly as the nation’s percentage of senior citizens keeps rising.
The amendments eliminated a clause mandating that the elderly have to have lived in a city or county for a certain time before being eligible to apply for subsidies, while clearing the rules that all subsidies are to be given in cash and cannot be detained, given away or used to pay bail.
Local governments have placed restrictions on elderly residents applying for subsidies for daily living costs and caretaking services, mandating that they must have a registered address within the city or county for at least six months to a year.
While local governments have been building public housing, this has not benefited the elderly, as they still face being sidelined by society, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chieh-ju (陳節如) said.
The elderly find it difficult to rent accommodation because landlords are unwilling to lease to them or they are unable to afford the rent being asked, Chen said, adding that the amended laws have included a clause in Article 3 that local governments must provide more rented accommodation for the elderly and task a specific unit with helping the elderly to renting such accommodation.
Article 33 of the amended act states that local governments should seek to promote social housing to clear any obstacles the elderly might have renting a home, Chen said, adding that local governments can also offer subsidies to landlords so that they can make repairs and offer their property for rent to the elderly.
The legislature also passed an amendment to the Customs Import Tariff Act (海關進口稅則) to lift all tariffs on vehicles dedicated to transporting disabled people.
The amendment allows imported vehicles purchased by local governments to transport disabled people and approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to be free from import tariffs.
In addition, in accordance with decisions made by regional leaders at a 2012 APEC meeting in Vladivostok, the amendment also lowers the tariffs on four types of wind power and renewable energy generators to 5 percent.
The goal of the amendment is to show the international community that Taiwan is serious about clean sources of energy and to stimulate the domestic market for renewable energy in the hope of cutting greenhouse gas emissions, officials said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
A NT$39 receipt for two bottles of tea at a FamilyMart was among the NT$10 million (US $312,969) special prize winners in the January-February uniform invoice lottery. FamilyMart said that two NT$10 million-winning receipts were issued at its stores, as well as two NT$2 million grand prizes and three NT$200,000 first prizes. The two NT$10 million receipts were issued at stores in Pingtung County and Yilan County’s Dongshan Township (冬山). One winner spent just NT$39 on two bottles of tea, while another spent NT$80 on water, tea and coffee, the company said. Meanwhile, 7-Eleven reported three NT$10 million winners — in New Taipei
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
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