Lawmakers yesterday elected nine members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), six members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and one member of the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) as conveners of the eight legislative committees.
Under the Legislative Committee Organization Act (立法院各委員會組織法), each committee must elect two conveners.
NPSU Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) — who often cooperates with the People First Party and KMT caucuses — was elected convener of the Education and Culture Committee after securing the KMT caucus’ support and winning four votes in the committee election.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
She is to cochair the committee with DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃).
Chin was originally tied with DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) after the vote, but emerged the victor after winning in a draw.
It was the first time a member outside the KMT and DPP caucuses was elected as a committee convener since the nation’s ninth batch of legislators assumed office in February 2016.
DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米) and KMT Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) are to cochair the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, which is in charge of reviewing budget requests from the Presidential Office and the Transitional Justice Commission.
DPP Legislator Shih Yi-fang (施義芳) was ousted by KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) in the Finance Committee election by only one vote after DPP Legislator Karen Yu (余宛如) selected the wrong candidate — herself.
Her error was due to her carelessness, for which she apologized to her colleagues, Yu said, adding that she would accept any disciplinary measures by the DPP caucus.
Lai is to cochair the Finance Committee with DPP Legislator Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋).
The DPP caucus dominated the Transportation Committee after DPP legislators Chen Ming-wen and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) beat KMT Legislator Chen Hsueh-shen (陳雪生).
The Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee Committee is to be headed by DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) and KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君).
The Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee is to be cochaired by DPP Legislator Wu Kuen-yuh (吳崑裕) and KMT Legislator Arthur Chen (陳宜民), who was tied with DPP Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), but was selected via a draw.
The Internal Administration Committee is to be cochaired by DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
The Economics Committee is to be coconvened by DPP Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and KMT Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明).
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS