The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said that legislation concerning the enforcement of disaster prevention-related laws should be the legislature’s top priority and asked the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to stop playing politics by placing a presidential transition of power bill at the top of its legislative agenda.
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) of the DPP yesterday said that he would try to obtain a consensus between the parties to put the transition of power bill at the top of the agenda.
Su’s proposal on the arrangement followed a New Power Party caucus’ statement on Monday that called for an early end to a question-and-answer session, which is to begin tomorrow and is expected to last until the end of next month, in order to process the transition of power bill as early as possible.
The KMT caucus did not approve of the “rush,” with KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) questioning the need to expedite the transition bill.
“Past transitions went pretty smoothly. Is there really an urgent need to pass the bill?” Lin asked, adding that while Su proclaimed that he would be a non-partisan speaker, “he is now proposing to make the transition bill the top priority.”
“The legislature should focus on people’s lives and property and put politics aside,” Lin added.
KMT Legislator Alicia Wang (王育敏) said the KMT caucus, in light of the catastrophic earthquake in southern Taiwan, would propose changes to the “three disaster-prevention laws”: improving the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法); amending the Urban Renewal Act (都市更新條例) to incorporate the concept of urban renewal to prevent disasters; and revising the Building Act (建築法) to require inspections of the structural safety of buildings by a third-party authority.
Wang said the three disaster related bills would be the KMT caucus’ top priority and called for the support of all parties to ensure public safety.
Disaster-prevention legislation is “what people want,” Lin said, adding that the public is “tired of political scheming.”
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