Breakthrough urgently needed for continuing impasse over Legislative Council House Committee
8 December 2019
|
The 2019-2020 session (the current session) is the last session of the current term of the Legislative Council (LegCo). With limited time available (just over seven months) for LegCo to deal with the long list of outstanding items between now and the end of the term (i.e. July 2020), the Government is highly concerned about the continuing failure to elect the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the House Committee and its serious impact on LegCo business.
The House Committee serves a fundamental role in the Council’s constitutional functions. It prepares for meetings of the Council and considers matters relating to the Council’s business, including monitoring the scrutiny of bills.
The nine House Committee meetings held since October this year, with a total meeting time of over 20 hours, have failed to elect the Chairman and Deputy Chairman. As a result, the House Committee has ceased operation and is unable to function properly. This unprecedented situation is absolutely unsatisfactory and deeply regrettable.
According to the LegCo Secretariat, the House Committee cannot conduct its business unless the Chairman and Deputy Chairman have been elected. In other words, for the time being, the House Committee:
- cannot make a decision on the arrangement for the Debate on the Motion of Thanks for the 2019 Policy Address;
- cannot decide whether committees/subcommittees will be formed to scrutinise Government bills and subsidiary legislation;
- cannot listen to the reports of Bills Committees to prepare for the resumption of Second Reading debates on bills; and
- will not listen to the reports of the subcommittees formed to study subsidiary legislation or policy issues.
As at 5 December 2019, three Government bills1 have been passed since the current session commenced on 16 October 2019. Yet, all these bills were already included in the agenda of the Council in the last session and were originally scheduled to resume their Second Reading debates in July this year.
Apart from the three bills mentioned above, another 18 bills have been introduced into the LegCo by the Government. Eleven of these bills have been read the first time in the last session and are under scrutiny, while seven have just passed first reading in the current session. For those seven bills, as a result of the current impasse of the House Committee, no decision can be made as to whether Bills Committees should be formed to proceed with the scrutiny. For the 11 bills under scrutiny after first reading, at least five have already been considered by Bills Committees but cannot be submitted to the Council for resumption of Second Reading debates because the House Committee has yet to elect its Chairman and Deputy Chairman. Moreover, the Government is going to introduce into the LegCo another 14 bills, many of which are closely related to the economy and people’s livelihood, such as improvement of fire safety in buildings, combat against unlicensed hotels and guesthouses as well as extension of statutory maternity leave from the current 10 weeks to 14 weeks.
The LegCo is expected to complete the scrutiny and passage of the 32 bills mentioned above by the end of its current term (i.e. July 2020), failing which all these bills will lapse. If the bills are to be re-introduced in the next LegCo term, all the Council procedures will have to be gone through again. It will be a waste of time and resources for LegCo, the Government and even the whole community. As such, if the House Committee continues to cease operation, all the policy efforts made by the Government, LegCo and various stakeholders will be in vain, seriously impeding the development of our economy, society and people’s livelihood.
I sincerely hope that Members of LegCo, instead of putting politics before the interests and well-being of the people, can take a pragmatic stance and break the impasse by electing the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the House Committee as soon as possible, so that LegCo can resume its business and perform its constitutional functions under the Basic Law, thereby enabling the bills to be taken forward.
There is also a huge backlog of funding proposals requiring immediate attention of the Finance Committee (FC), while dozens of funding proposals involving benefitting initiatives are ready for inclusion in the FC agenda. In fact, among the series of relief measures for alleviating the public’s financial burden and supporting local enterprises announced by the Government since mid-August 2019, quite a number require FC’s approval for early implementation to assist the citizens and small and medium enterprises in riding out the storm.
As this is the last session of the current LegCo term, the Government will spare no effort in rendering its full support to the LegCo in its scrutiny of legislation. It is hoped that Members will, with the well-being of the public in mind, focus on people’s livelihood and make the most of the remaining meetings to complete the scrutiny of the numerous outstanding bills and funding proposals.
This week coincides with the International Human Rights Day. The rule of law, human rights, freedoms, judicial independence, inclusiveness, openness and pluralism constitute the core values of Hong Kong, while prosperity and stability are the cornerstones of our success. All of them are expressly and fully safeguarded under the Basic Law.
According to The Human Freedom Index 2018 co-published by the Cato Institute in the United States, the Fraser Institute in Canada and the Liberales Institut of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom in Germany, Hong Kong ranked third in the world for human freedom. Besides, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2019 placed Hong Kong second in Asia and eighth in the world for judicial independence. These rankings demonstrate that Hong Kong’s institutional strengths have been maintained over the years and should be dearly cherished by all of us.
I earnestly hope that any procession and assembly can be held in a peaceful, orderly and rational manner today and in the days to come.
