The four legislative caucuses have reached a consensus to deliberate proposed amendments to the Statute of Open Prisons and three gender equality laws, as well as the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade, during the two-week extraordinary session, which opened yesterday.
The caucuses also agreed that Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) would today brief lawmakers on proposed amendments to the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別平等工作法), the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) and the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法), and tomorrow on the details of the US-Taiwan trade pact.
The pact would subsequently be reviewed at joint meetings of six legislative committees.
Photo: CNA
The legislative agenda during the extraordinary session was set following negotiations yesterday morning.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) said that the party proposed to tackle these three issues in view of the major events that happened recently.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Hsieh Yi-fong (謝衣鳳) said that the proposed amendments to three gender equality laws, which are designed to curb sexual harassment, would be narrow and incomplete if the legislature fails to amend the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act (兒童及少年福利與權益保障法), the Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act (跟蹤騷擾防制法) and the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act (性侵害犯罪防治法) as well.
The KMT also proposes that the “amendment to the Statute of Open Prisons stipulate that the process of selecting inmates for open prisons must be made transparent through audio and videorecording or online live broadcast,” Hsieh said.
Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Andy Chiu (邱臣遠) said that the party agrees that the process of selecting inmates for open prisons should be transparent, but those who have been sentenced to more than seven years in prison, convicted of corruption or other major economic crimes or who have not served half of their time in prison should be excluded.
In addition, those who escaped while serving in open prisons should be given an additional one-half of their prison term, he said.
To deter fraud, the Legislative Yuan should review proposed amendments to the Cyber Security Management Act (資通安全法) and the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), he said.
New Power Party caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said that the legislature should review the statute of limitations as stipulated in the Protection of Children and Youths Welfare and Rights Act, as well as the vacant house tax and whistle-blowers protection draft act.
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