Draft amendments to funding law approved following lawmakers' brawl

Taipei, Nov. 6 (CNA) Amendments to an act relating to the allocation of funding between central and local governments completed an initial review on Wednesday following physical altercations between lawmakers in the Legislature.

Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍), chairperson of the Legislature's Finance Committee, announced that the proposed amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures had completed the initial committee review process, paving the way for them to be discussed in the Legislative Yuan in the coming months.

If passed by Taiwan's Legislature, the 22 separate proposed amendments to the act, which regulates the distribution of fiscal resources between central and local authorities, would be the first update to the law in more than 25 years.

The current dispensation of government finances favors the central government, with 75 percent allocated to the center compared with 25 percent for local governments.

Since national elections in January, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not commanded a majority in the Legislature. Under this minority government situation, the two largest opposition parties -- the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) -- have pushed changes to the law.

"The DPP is delaying the amendments and concentrating power and wealth," said KMT lawmaker Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) on Wednesday, suggesting that the Ministry of Finance has delayed producing a counter-proposal as a deliberate tactic aimed at delaying updates to the law.

TPP lawmaker Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) said she "looks forward" to the government's response to the lawmakers' proposed amendments.

Despite both advocating changes to the act, the KMT and TPP -- which together command a majority in the Legislative Yuan -- have not revealed their final proposed versions of the amendments, suggesting a lack of consensus between the opposition parties as well as between ruling and opposition lawmakers.

According to the Legislative Yuan's standard procedure for reviewing amendments, the Finance Committee's proposed amendments will next be discussed in inter-party caucus negotiations before they can be openly reviewed by the full Legislature.

However, if no consensus on the draft amendments has been reached by the party caucuses within a month, the amendments will be directly sent to the Legislature.

Adding to uncertainties about the future of the proposed amendments, Chen announced the completion of the initial review of the changes and adjourned the Finance Committee just three minutes into the meeting, after physical altercations between DPP and KMT lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan.

"The KMT and TPP brutally and forcibly sent the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures out of the committee in three minutes today," wrote DPP Spokesperson Wu Cheng (吳崢) on Facebook on Wednesday, referring to the physical altercation between opposing lawmakers that occurred at the meeting.

"The purpose is to drain the central government's funds, weaken the government's capability to govern, and paralyze Taiwan," he added.