The legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday approved a motion filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) demanding government agencies present a bill within a month to create a pension for lawmakers.
The pension would require the government and lawmakers to share the cost.
Wu said many legislators were reluctant to touch on the issue for fear that the public would mistake the bill as self-serving.
“But it does not make sense that legislators don’t have retirement benefits, while their city and county counterparts do,” Wu said.
The motion, endorsed by Wu’s party colleagues, was filed yesterday as the committee debated a political appointee bill and a bill on political appointees’ salaries proposed by the Examination Yuan.
Committee members later decided to conduct a more thorough review of the two bills at an appropriate time.
Under the bill of political appointees, the Presidential Office would be allowed as many as 21 political advisers and the Executive Yuan 17. Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉) had said that the Presidential Office could shelve it because it ran counter to President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) plan to streamline government.
The bill would require potential political appointees to undergo loyalty and morality checks before their nomination or appointment. Those involved with national security or other “significant interests” could go through “special examinations,” details of which would be specified in separate decrees, it said.
Political appointees should step down if found guilty of having made poor decisions or a decision that caused major losses to the country or its people, it said.
They should also leave their post if they failed to supervise the implementation of policies they were responsible for and that had seriously impacted on the public interest.
Those who have problems performing their duties because of bad health or other reasons or whose conduct negatively affects their reputation or the image of the government should also resign, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said the bill should require those who fail to deliver on their promises to resign.
The bill on political appointees’ salaries also has some controversial articles.
The bill has been criticized because it would increase the pay of the Presidential Office secretary-general and the National Security Council secretary-general.
Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) yesterday dismissed the criticism, saying that the two positions only received salaries on a par with those of the heads of other government branches.
The legislature resolved in 2004 to lower the pay of the Presidential Office secretary-general and the National Security Council secretary-general to the level of government ministers.
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