A cross-party consensus has been reached to suspend legislative meetings next week to reduce risks of a COVID-19 cluster infection, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) said yesterday, adding that plans are under way for lawmakers to hold meetings by videoconferencing.
The decision to cancel next week’s meetings was made after cross-party negotiations earlier yesterday, following reports that a cleaner at one of the Legislative Yuan’s buildings had been infected with COVID-19. However, that turned out to be a false alarm after a medical exam found that the female worker’s respiratory symptoms were due to tonsillitis.
There were also reports that a Ministry of Labor officer in charge of liaison with lawmakers had tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday last week, but a data check showed that he had not visited the legislature since May 11.
Photo: CNA
In the face of a recent surge in domestic infections, the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition parties agreed on measures to reduce transmission, such as setting up plastic barriers between seats in the meeting rooms, registering and verifying all names of participants at meetings, including legislative assistants, staffers and members of the media, and observing social distancing during interviews with the media.
The DPP also advocated switching to videoconferencing to allow lawmakers to participate in meetings without attending in person.
You said the hardware is in place for holding videoconferences, including providing each lawmaker with an iPad and supporting electronics devices.
Several opposition parties supported the proposal, but the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) opposed it.
The KMT does not support the idea because of security concerns, as the electronic devices might come with hidden wiretapping and surveillance programs, Lai said.
Asked about the proposal, You said that lawmakers would test the videoconferencing system today.
“Lawmakers can use their iPad to sign in, address the session, confer with each other and with government officials, engage in questions and answers, and vote on legislative bills — all done remotely,” he told reporters.
Asked about the KMT’s suspicions, the DPP said that the iPads and telecommunications system were installed and tested for security clearance by information technology staff at the legislature, and were scanned for viruses and malware.
For the in-person meeting today, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) urged opposition parties to approve proposed amendments to the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例).
The DPP will place the proposal on the priority agenda for today, and hope to get it approved by a roll-call vote.
The proposal would raise the government budget to up to NT$630 billion (US$22.5 billion) for industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
If it is not passed today, the DPP would try to have it approved on May 31, the last day of the current session, as the current bill is set to expire on June 30, Ker said.
Passage of the amendments would extend the act to June 30 next year, he said.
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