The final day of the legislative session was a satisfactory one, the Democrat-ic Progressive Party (DPP) declared, with the passage of a one-year extension for the Financial Restructur-ing Fund (金融重建基金) and the Special Statute for Increasing Investment in Public Construction (擴大公共建設投資特別條例).
The Laborers' Pension Law (
Legislators settled for a law in which employers must deposit no less than 6 percent of employees' monthly salaries into individual employees' retirement fund accounts.
The law also stipulates that for for funds that would have been incurred in the five-year period before the law becomes effective, the employer must deposit an equivalent amount into a common retirement fund managed by the government.
The Financial Restructuring Fund passed as expected after the Ministry of Finance agreed to KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao's (
With the passage of the public construction statute, the government can circumvent the debt ceiling and can make a special budget of up to NT$500 billion for the 10 Major Infrastructure Projects.
The budget for the Taipei and Kaohsiung mass rapid transit (MRT) systems can also be prepared using this budget.
The caucuses had reached agreement on all the articles of the statute except Article Five before the session started yesterday, and when it came to voting in the afternoon, all of the legislative caucuses -- with the exception of a few rogue legislators -- voted for the same version, which allowed the MRT systems to secure their funding from the special budget.
The legislature also passed a new amendment to the Tap Water Law, which increases fees for the use of tap water, and a new Securities Investment Trust and Counsel Law (
The legislature also passed the Organic Standard Law of the Central Government Agencies (
The new law regulates that the Executive Yuan can only have 22 departments: 13 ministries, 4 commissions and councils and 5 independent institutions.
The new law also gives the legislature the right to approve the heads of the five independent departments, including the Central Election Commission.
The Executive Yuan must now revise the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan (
The organic laws of other departments which conflict with the new law will need to be reviewed by the legislature within one year of the adoption of the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan.
According to the law, the head of an independent institution will be nominated by the premier and approved by the legislature through a simple majority of the legislators present at the sitting.
An amendment to the Financial Holding Company Act (金融控股公司法) was also passed to stipulate that a subsidiary with shares in its parent company will not be able to exercise most of its shareholder's rights, including voting at shareholders' meetings.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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