Deputies and delegations to the 10th National People's Congress
(NPC), or China's parliament, have put forward 1,006 motions on
legislation during its fourth session, with more than half of them
focusing on administrative and economic laws, a senior official
with the legislature said Monday.
"Of all the motions, 33.1 percent are about government
functions, concerning the boosting of sci-tech development and
education; 20.1 percent are related to economic legislation
involving rural development, resources saving and environmental
protection," said Sheng Huaren, deputy secretary-general of this
NPC session.
Reform of government functions, building a new countryside and
innovation-oriented country are also on top of the next five-year
plan for economic and social development now still under discussion
during this session.
As provided by law, a valid motion should have at least 30
signatures of individual NPC deputies or be put forward by a
provincial delegation. Of all the motions, 1,003 come from deputies
and three from delegations.
According to the motion list seen by Xinhua, many were on the
formulation of the same piece of legislation, such laws on the
promotion of sci-tech development, promotion of transfer of sci-
tech results, innovation, revisions to and formulations of the
education law, compulsory education law and law on educational
investment.
For the promotion of rural development, deputies also propounded
legislation on rural communal economic organization, agricultural
investment, irrigation facilities, according to the list. Of all
the motions, eight were on formulation of the law on rural communal
economic organization.
Other laws proposed to be made or revised were on social
security, protection of disadvantaged social groups, organization
of courts and prosecution offices and protection of intellectual
property rights.
"NPC deputies have paid more attention to motions they put
forward, and the bills are of higher quality and more feasible,"
Sheng said. Of all the motions, 541, or 53.9 percent, are
appendixed with law drafts.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a
circular in May last year on promoting the role of NPC deputies,
which was followed by NPC Standing Committee regulations on
services to deputies in terms of motion submission, said Sheng
Huaren, also vice-chairman and secretary general of the NPC
Standing Committee.
Sheng pledged that the NPC Standing Committee will "seriously
consider their law drafts and absorb their contents" in making
relevant laws. Deputies should also be invited to attend meetings
on formulation of the laws to which they have made contributions,
he said.
Lawmakers presented 991 legislative motions during last year's
annual session. Some have been turned into laws and regulations,
including the high-profile legislation on lifting the threshold of
personal income tax levy from 800 yuan to 1600 yuan.
(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2006)