President William Lai (賴清德) on Tuesday approved the Cabinet's request to return a set of contentious legislative reform bills to the legislature, which could hold a final vote on Tuesday next week at the earliest.
The changes to the Act Governing the Legislative Yuan’s Power (立法院職權行使法) and the Criminal Code were passed by opposition lawmakers voting in the majority on May 28.
The Executive Yuan on Thursday last week formally decided to return the legislation to lawmakers for reconsideration pending approval from the president, a power afforded to it under the Additional Articles of the Constitution.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Lai at 11am on Tuesday sent the approved proposal back to the Cabinet, while the Presidential Office secretary-general notified the Legislative Yuan of the decision, office spokesperson Kuo Ya-hui (郭雅慧) said.
The president carefully considered the Cabinet’s reasoning and decided to approve its constitutionally afforded right to return the legislation, Kuo said.
He hopes all parties will carefully scrutinize the content of the bills and reach a consensus that is legal, constitutional and prioritizes national interests, Kuo added.
Article 3-2 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution stipulates that if the Executive Yuan finds a bill passed by the Legislative Yuan difficult to execute, it can within 10 days of receiving it request the legislature to reconsider the bill, provided it has the president’s approval.
The legislature is required to convene at most seven days after receiving the request and vote on whether to uphold the passage of the bill within 15 days.
More than half of all sitting legislators — or a minimum of 57 votes in the current legislature — must vote yes to uphold the bill.
If the legislature fails to reach a decision within this period, it would become invalid.
The soonest the legislature could reach a conclusion is on Tuesday next week.
Additional reporting by CNA
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Passengers aboard Korean Airlines Flight KE189 arrived in Taichung safely yesterday after a scare the previous day encountering uncontrolled decompression, which injured 13 passengers. Flight KE189 departed from Incheon at 4:45pm on Saturday bound for Taichung with 125 passengers on board. The flight was above Jeju Island when a fault in the pressurization system occurred 50 minutes after takeoff. Online flight tracker Flightradar24’s data show that the plane dropped more than 8,000 meters within 15 minutes, before it returned and landed back at Incheon Airport at 19:38pm. Thirteen passengers on board had a headache or earache due to the incident and were hospitalized. A different
China might seek to isolate Taiwan and weaken its economy through a “quarantine,” which would make it difficult for the US to respond and force Taipei to negotiate on unification, CNN reported on Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) “increasingly bellicose actions” toward Taiwan have heightened concerns that Beijing would use its military against Taiwan, it said, citing a report by think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). However, China might choose to initiate a quarantine, rather than a military invasion of Taiwan, to avoid US involvement, it said. “A quarantine [is] a law enforcement-led operation to control
A new message broadcast on the Taipei MRT’s Wenhu (Brown) Line urging passengers to yield their seats to those in need, not necessarily elderly people, would be extended to other MRT lines and public transportation in the capital, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday. Chiang was responding to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of a news conference at Taipei City Hall promoting healthy walking. Several disputes over priority seats on public transportation have recently been reported, sparking debate about who qualifies to sit in them, as most of the cases involved elderly people asking young people to give up their