A review of past Cabinet attempts to reject Legislature law revisions

Taipei, June 6 (CNA) The Executive Yuan is preparing to ask the Legislature to reconsider recently passed amendments aimed at improving the latter's ability to oversee the government, which would mark the 14th time the executive branch has declined to accept bills or resolutions passed by the Legislature.

The Cabinet said on Thursday that it planned to ask the Legislature to reconsider revisions to the Law Governing the Legislative Yuan's Power and the Criminal Code in the coming days, pending the president's approval.

The amendments were pushed through on May 28 by opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) lawmakers, who have a majority in the Legislature, despite opposition from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Article 3-2 (2) of the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that if the Executive Yuan finds a bill passed by the Legislative Yuan "difficult to execute," it can, provided it has the president's approval, request the Legislature reconsider a bill within 10 days of receiving the bill.

Within 15 days of receiving the Cabinet's request, the Legislature is required to vote on whether to uphold the passage of the bill.

It requires the consent of more than half of all sitting legislators, or a minimum of 57 votes in the current Legislature, to uphold the bill.

If the Legislature fails to reach a decision within this period, the bill will become invalid.

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Since the promulgation of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947, the Executive Yuan has returned 12 bills and one resolution approved by lawmakers to the Legislature for reconsideration.

One of the bills sought to form a special task force to probe the shooting of former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) on March 19, 2004, and the resolution was intended to halt the construction of the Lungmen Nuclear Power Plant, also known as the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.

Of the Cabinet's previous attempts to reject the Legislature's measures, six were successful, with the Legislature vetoing its previous adopted bills, three failed as lawmakers upheld the passed bills.

There was one occasion where the Executive Yuan withdrew its request and another in which lawmakers were unable to reach a consensus within a designated period, thus invalidating the measure.

The remaining two requests for legislative reconsideration, proposed in December 1948, were shelved because the then KMT-led Republic of China government was losing the civil war against the Chinese Communist Party, and they were thus marked simply as "unresolved."

If a minimum of 57 lawmakers support the bills, they will be returned to the Cabinet. The president will then be required to sign them into law, although in the current situation, the government is likely to seek a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the revisions.

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