Lay Judges Bill Might Be Railroaded on 7/20 with No Consensus on Nearly 100 Articles

Lay Judges Bill Might Be Railroaded on 7/20 with No Consensus on Nearly 100 Articles

Source: UDN

July 19, 2020

Legislative Speaker Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃) convoked consultations over the Lay Judges Bill with caucuses of the ruling and opposition parties on July 3 and 6. However, after about 18 hours of deliberations, the caucuses could not reach consensus on nearly 100 out of the current 113 articles in the Bill, not even the Bill’s title. Yu planned to hold consultations again on July 20 for the caucuses to continue the deliberations on the Bill, article by article. Moreover, once the consultations failed to produce positive results, the Bill’s voting procedure in the plenary session of the legislature would be decided.

If the caucuses made no progress in the consultations, and each caucus should propose amendments to the Bill, article by article, once voting on these amendment bills should take place, the legislature might stage a scorched-earth battle. If the legislature should only vote on the version of the Bill introduced by the DPP, thus the Bill might be rammed through the plenary session on July 20.

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