The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would take legal action against Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) today if he does not transfer the three bills that recently passed amendments to the executive branch in line with the Constitution.
Amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) were approved by the Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20, after hours of brawls between lawmakers from the opposition and the DPP.
Changes to the Public Officials Election and Recall Act stipulate that those proposing a recall and those signing petitions must provide a copy of the front and back of their national IDs, and amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act require 10 judges to attend court sessions and nine judges to agree before legislation can be declared unconstitutional. Meanwhile, changes to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures were to increase funding allocations to local governments.
Photo: CNA
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Dec. 21 said that the passed amendments were “difficult to implement” and that the Cabinet would seek “remedies” under the Constitution.
Article 72 of the Constitution states that “statutory bills passed by the Legislative Yuan shall be transmitted to the President of the Republic and to the Executive Yuan. The President shall, within ten days after receipt thereof, promulgate them; or he may deal with them in accordance with the provisions of Article 57 of this Constitution.”
The DPP caucus yesterday said that the Legislative Yuan only sent the amended Constitutional Court Procedure Act to the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers Hsu Hsin-ying (徐欣瑩) and Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍), conveners of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee and Finance Committee respectively, have asked Han to halt the transfer of the other two bills to the executive branch.
“It is part of the KMT’s strategic goals to obstruct and delay” recalls from being held, he said.
If Han does not swiftly handle the matter, the DPP caucus would file a judicial complaint against him, Legislative Yuan Secretary-General Chester Chou (周萬來), KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁), Hsu and Chen, Ker said.
Separately, the KMT caucus yesterday told the DPP caucus to cease blaming Han, saying that Han, despite being a KMT member, has been neutral when handling issues at the Legislative Yuan since assuming the speakership in February.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Szu-ming (林思銘) said that the KMT caucus requested Han to postpone the transfer of the other two bills because it wanted to avoid giving the DPP the chance to use the time gap in the process to ask the Constitutional Court to order a temporary suspension of the two bills.
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