The Executive Yuan said it would request a revote from lawmakers on a bill passed in January that effectively raises retirement pensions for police officers, firefighters and other members of law enforcement and the emergency services.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) in a statement yesterday said that the Cabinet would, pending President William Lai’s (賴清德) approval, ask the legislature to hold a revote on the amendments to the Police Personnel Management Act (警察人員人事條例) to overturn the legislation it regards as “difficult to implement.”
The amendments include measures raising the income replacement rate for retired police officers, firefighters, immigration officers, and personnel in the Coast Guard Administration and the National Air Service Corps to as much as 80 percent.
Photo: Taipei Times
The amendments, supported by lawmakers from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party, would be applied retroactively.
Currently, the pension plans for law enforcement and emergency services personnel are the same as other public servants, with the cap on the income replacement rate set to gradually decrease to 60 percent by 2029.
Although the amendments were adopted on Jan. 7, the legislature did not announce them until Monday last week.
The measures would “impact the financial stability” of the public service pension system, undermine its fairness, and subsequently affect the rights of acting and retired public servants, the Cabinet said.
Opposition lawmakers failed to consult with the executive body before pushing through the measures that would greatly increase government spending and contravened Article 91 of the Budget Act (預算法), it said.
The article stipulates that “legislators shall seek comments from the Executive Yuan and point out sources of complement funds” if they “propose bills that largely increase annual expenditures or decrease annual revenues.”
The government had provided additional benefits to members of law enforcement and the emergency services on account of their unique work environments and workload, Cho said.
The Cabinet request was made in accordance with the Constitution, which states that the executive body can — with the president’s approval — request a legislative revote on legislation lawmakers have passed if it considers such a law “difficult to implement,” he said.
The pension plans for law enforcement and emergency services personnel should be adjusted to levels comparable to those of the armed forces, opposition lawmakers said, citing the high pressure they face due to high-risk duties, and long and rotating work hours.
Some sections of the police force are required to carry out “military training,” so they can be deployed to protect power plants, science parks and other critical infrastructure during times of war, they said.
The Ministry of Civil Service has said that the measures would increase the financial burden facing the public service pension system, which is strained by decreased revenue.
The ministry said that the system is expected to have an estimated shortfall of NT$170 billion (US$5.12 billion) over the next 50 years, and that this amount would eventually fall on all taxpayers.
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