The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday blocked a government-sponsored amendment to the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) that would have cut the 0.3 percent stock transaction tax in half to boost the stock market.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus planned to get the bill passed yesterday after placing it on the agenda for a second reading last Friday, even though it hadn’t received a preliminary review from the legislative committee.
But the DPP caucus proposed a motion that would refer the bill to the legislature’s Finance Committee for preliminary review — a regular review process that bills are supposed to go through — meaning the bill will have its second reading next month at the earliest.
The legislative session passed an amendment to the Gender Equality in Employment Law (性別工作平等法), raising the punishment for employers in violation of regulations on adopting precautionary measures against sexual harassment.
Fines were increased from between NT$10,000 and NT$100,000 to NT$100,000 and NT$500,000.
An amendment to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法) requiring the government to set up disabled-friendly facilities in voting stations was also passed.
The legislature passed the Organic Act of Taiwan Financial Holdings Co, Ltd (台灣金融控股有限公司條例) to give legal status to the state-owned corporation.
The act states that the amount of the corporation’s government-owned capital shall be no less than 90 percent of its registered capital, while the number of executives sitting on its 13-to-15-member board who are foreigners or hold dual nationality shall not exceed two.
Meanwhile, the legislature yesterday scheduled a review session for President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) nominee for president of the Examination Yuan, John Kuan (關中), and the nominee for vice president of the Control Yuan, Chen Jinn-lih (陳進利), for next Friday.
The legislature also passed an amendment to the Statute Regulating Firearms, Ammunition, Knives and Other Deadly Weapons (槍砲彈藥刀械管制條例) that means people who illegally obtain such weapons will have their punishment increased by up to one half.
Under current regulations, people possessing such weapons without permission can recieve the death penalty, a life sentence or a seven-year sentence and a fine of up to NT$30 million (US$1 million).
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS