Sat, Sep 17, 2011 page2

• Shorter legislative session prompts call for donations

  NO WORK, NO PAY? Citizen’s Congress Watch and others do not think it is fair that legislators will be paid their normal salaries for the 12 days they will not be working

  • Staff Writer, with CNA
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  Citizen’s Congress Watch (CCW), a non-profit organization, is demanding that lawmakers donate NT$7.92 million (US$267,200) worth of “illegal salaries” to civic organizations because the current legislative session will end on Dec. 14, one month earlier than normal.

  Legislators will be violating Article 40 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which mandates that candidates can only engage in campaign activities 10 days prior to elections, because the legislature has terminated the session a month ahead of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections and will continue to pay lawmakers their salaries during that period, CCW chairman Ku Chung-hua (顧忠華) said.

  Some legislators donated a portion of their salaries to non-profit groups last year when CCW questioned the legislature’s recess for the special municipality elections, and the organization hopes all legislators will follow suit this year, Ku said.

  The combined salary for the 12 days the 110 legislators will be off work would be NT$7.92 million, based on a legislator’s monthly salary of NT$184,960 and an average daily rate of NT$6,000, said Tsai Su-chen (蔡素貞), deputy director of the National Association for the Promotion of Community Colleges.

  The Constitution clearly states the second session of the Yuan starts from Sept. 1 and should last for at least four months, Tsai said, adding that the early end of the session was aimed at helping legislators in the elections, Tsai said.

  Defending the shortened session, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said it followed precedent in ending a legislative session one month before legislative elections.

  Even after the Jan. 14 polls, there will not be many days for legislators to meet before the Lunar New Year vacation, which will start about Jan. 22, he said.

  Legislators will face a tight schedule to approve central government’s budget for next year, and the time allowed to examine bills will be compressed, he said.

  The budget has never been approved before January, Wang said.

  If the session passes the budget in December, it would be the quickest a budget bill has ever passed, he said.

  He said budget proposals would be formulated by Sept. 26, following yesterday’s discussions with the three political parties in the legislatures — an exception due to the current session.

  Besides the budget bill, there are several other items on the agenda, including bills related to indigenous people, to cutting greenhouse gases and approval of the Examination Yuan’s new vice president, Wang said.

  The speaker said he hopes legislators would spend more time in committee meetings so the bills can be passed earlier, but if a decision cannot be reached before the deadline, then the bills will be sent to the full legislature for negotiations.

  For your information

  Facts and figures

  ‧ Civil Servants Election and Recall Act states that candidates can only engage in campaign activities 10 days prior to elections. ‧ The legislatures will recess on Dec. 14, one month ahead of the legislative and presidential elections. ‧ When the legislature recessed ahead of last year’s special municipality elections, some lawmakers donated a portion of their salaries covering the recess period. ‧ Citizen’s Congress Watch is encouraging all lawmakers to do the same this year. ‧ One estimate puts the combined salary for the 12-working-day recess at about NT$8 million. ‧ Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng said there was a precedent for halting the session ahead of the legislative elections. ‧ Lawmakers face a full agenda of pressing legislation, including the central government’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year.
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