A new legislative session began yesterday, with the Cabinet pledging to prioritize 30 bills, including a basic law on artificial intelligence (AI) and amendments to protect underwater infrastructure, while opposition parties outlined their own agendas.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) met in the afternoon with key Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials and lawmakers to plan for the session. Attendees included DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), newly elected caucus secretary-general Chen Pei-yu (陳培瑜) and chief executive Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱).
Cabinet spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told reporters after the meeting that the priority package covers measures such as an AI basic law, new rules to bolster coastal defense and law enforcement against subsea cable sabotage, amendments to the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act (企業併購法) and a draft revision of the Commodity Tax Act (貨物稅條例).
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Of the 30 bills, 20 are aimed at spurring economic growth, improving livelihoods, and supporting young people and disadvantaged groups, Lee said.
Amendments to budget allocation laws, promoted by opposition parties last year, have steered more resources toward major northern cities, such as Taipei, New Taipei City and Taichung, but widened disparities for southern regions, Lee said, adding that the Ministry of Finance would need to address the imbalance.
Cho urged attending DPP legislators to promote the Cabinet’s 30 priority bills in their constituencies so the public can better understand the government’s legislative agenda, she said.
He also emphasized the need for better collaboration between the executive and legislative branches, and expressed hope that budget allocation disputes could be resolved, she added.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the KMT has a duty as the main opposition party to supervise the government.
“We will support necessary government spending, but will closely scrutinize the budget to expose items that are wasteful, inflated to embellish policy results or funneled to DPP allies,” Lo said. “On such items, we will propose cuts to protect taxpayers’ money.”
“The KMT’s foremost priority is to propose amendments to reverse the government’s cuts to pensions for retired civil servants and educators,” KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) told reporters.
Separately, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in a statement said its priorities include amending the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) to remove provisions allowing detention based on the risk of collusion with accomplices or witnesses.
The TPP also said it would push to amend the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) to legalize surrogacy and safeguard the rights of infertile couples.
Other proposals include legislation to safeguard the rights of food delivery workers employed by online platforms, a bill to standardize nutrition and safety standards for school lunch programs and amendments to allow public referendums to be held on the same day and at the same polling stations as national and municipal elections, it said.
Additional reporting by Liu Wan-lin
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