The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed the Youth Basic Act (青年基本法), which defines youth as people between the ages of 18 and 35, and incorporates a legal recognition of the right to citizenship at the age of 18.
The legal recognition of the right to citizenship at 18 stipulates that the government must ensure that 18-year-olds have the legal right to exercise their voting, recall, initiative and referendum rights.
As the Constitution states that “citizens of the Republic of China who are 20 years of age or older have the right to vote,” the bill also requires that the legal framework be completed within two years from the implementation of this law.
Photo: CNA
The bill also specifies that the Executive Yuan should establish a Youth Affairs Development Council, which must meet at least once every six months.
Youth representatives should include people from diverse backgrounds, with at least half of the total members being youth representatives, and the representation of any gender must not be less than one-third.
The council should also include representatives from various ethnic groups as a principle, it says.
Regarding the establishment of a Youth Development Fund, the ruling and opposition parties did not reach a consensus during negotiations.
In the end, the opposition parties, leveraging their numerical advantage at the Legislative Yuan, passed a vote requiring the government to establish a Youth Development Fund of NT$10 billion (US$317.9 million), with annual budget allocations over the five years following the implementation of the law.
Noting the Fiscal Discipline Act (財政紀律法) clearly stipulates that legislative amendments must not increase expenses, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Yi-chin (林宜瑾) criticized the opposition parties for “recklessly spending national funds,” arguing that the public would collectively reject such behavior.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko Ju-chun (葛如鈞) said the Budget Act (預算法) stipulates that special funds could be established and managed through legislation.
Therefore, the Youth Basic Act stipulating that a Youth Development Fund “should” be established is not only legal, but also has both policy and fiscal legitimacy, he said.
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