The Cabinet is to prioritize economic bills, an anticipated revision to the Mining Act (礦業法) and military pension reform during the new legislative session beginning tomorrow, placing more than 100 bills at the top of the agenda.
The bills also include revisions to the Company Act (公司法), the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例) and tax reduction proposals, among others, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday.
There are also government budgets, appointments and restructuring bills to be considered, and the exact list of the priority bills would not be finalized until the coordination meeting between the Executive Yuan and DPP Caucus, which is to be held today, Ker said.
Military pension reform and economic proposals — such as revisions of the urban renewal and company acts, which would streamline building reconstruction process and improve compliance with measures against money laundering and flexibility in company management — might be urgent, but while “people like to ask which bills are of the highest importance, personnel appointments and budgets are also very important,” Ker said.
Other economic proposals include extending the 50 percent reduction in day-trading transaction taxes by three more years, a tax reform package that would change personal deduction rules and a proposal to revise the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) with the aim of improving the financial health of local governments.
The Cabinet is also to review bills pertaining to “smart” industry, “green” energy, cultural policies, social welfare, social justice, government efficiency and cross-strait relations.
Some bills have been pending for several legislative sessions, including amendments to the Mining Act that would improve environmental protection mechanisms and Aboriginal rights, a number of plans to merge or upgrade government agencies, an information security bill, a non-profit organization management act and a bill on establishing an oversight mechanism for cross-strait agreements.
The Air Pollution Control Act (空氣污染防制法) has been branded a priority bill by all of the caucuses, while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus plans to prioritize reviewing food safety rules, the New Power Party wants to address the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) and the People First Party has proposed establishing a high-level disaster-prevention agency.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it