Source: United Daily News

 

October 17, 2017

 

At an extraordinary session of the Legislative Yuan (LY) in early September, the DPP caucus adopted the “principle of not deliberating on the same issue more than once” to block the 10,000 amendment bills introduced by the KMT caucus on the special budget bill for phase one of the Forward-Looking Infrastructure Construction Plan and passed the budget bill in the third reading. Opposition parties questioned that the principle adopted by the DPP had seriously deprived legislators’ right to introduce amendment bills, so at the end of September, the KMT and PFP caucuses officially filed a petition with the Council of Grand Justice of the Judicial Yuan for a judicial review on the constitutionality of the matter, i.e., legislative review procedure adopted by the majority caucus for the forward-looking plan budget bill. Yesterday, the LY Judiciary and Laws Committee held a public hearing on the issue.

 

Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), DPP legislative party whip, candidly stated that as the ruling party could not allow the legislative proceedings to be paralyzed by the KMT’s 10,000 amendment bills, the DPP caucus had no choice but to adopt a “non-normal” rule for  legislative procedure. As for whether the passage of the budget bill was illegal or unconstitutional as a result, Ker said, “Let’s wait for the outcome of the judicial review.”

 

Liu Chao-lung (劉兆隆), a professor of Public Affairs and Civic Education at National Changhua University of Education, pointed out that the ultimate operation of the LY depended on majority rule, adding that minority parties introduced a large number of amendment bills in an attempt to achieve their goals, which was a technical matter. The question was whether constituents would accept such a technical move.