The Sejm Presidium has submitted a draft amendment to the House’s rules of procedure. The work in the Sejm is to be more accessible to citizens in order to increase the transparency of the legislative process and improve the quality of the law – that was justified. Previously, “Rzeczpospolita” noted that this is a revolutionary change in the rules of procedure of the chamber, and that the solutions presented by the Presidium of the Sejm must meet one of the so-called milestones.
What does the project entail?
The bill was submitted to the Sejm last week and referred to the Committee on the Rules, Deputies and Immunities for its first reading. The proposed changes are intended to limit the use of accelerated procedures to strictly defined and exceptional cases. They are also intended to expand the scope of public participation in the legislative process and fulfill one of the so-called milestones negotiated with the European Commission; it is about making it more difficult to pass laws without consultation, as is the case with parliamentary bills.
According to the proposed amendment of draft laws, before they are submitted to the first reading, opinions of experts from the Chancellery of the Sejm on the assessment of the effects of the regulations will be requested. The bill assumes that the Marshal of the Sejm, upon receipt of a parliamentary bill and before it is submitted for its first reading, orders its publication in the Sejm’s information system for public consultations. Consultations can take place on all draft laws. Participants in public consultations will submit comments on projects through the system; they have 30 days to do this.
Fast work will be possible only in exceptional cases – the President of the Sejm can order to refrain from holding public consultations or to shorten them – especially if such a request is made by the project proponent. Information on the reasons for withdrawing from public consultations, setting a different date than the one specified or ending them earlier would be made available in the Sejm Information System.
The Bureau’s proposal assumes that the first reading of the bill should take place no earlier than the seventh day from the date on which the draft form was submitted to the Members of Parliament, and the second reading – no earlier than one week after the date of submission. of the committee report on the project to the members.
Applicants must attach a statement of reasons to the submitted amendments, indicating the need and purpose of the amendment, and when tabled for second reading, the bill is referred back to the committees that considered it. Written proposed changes and their justification must also be available in the system.
In particularly justified cases, as emphasized, the procedure for bills and resolutions may be shortened. This may be decided by the Sejm with an absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least half of the legal number of deputies, or by a committee also with an absolute majority of votes.
MPs will also have more time to discuss the committee’s report – this should take place no earlier than the third day after the date of delivery of the report to MPs in the Sejm – unless the Sejm decides otherwise.
However, the Sejm may, at the request of the Marshal of the Sejm, consider a Senate resolution rejecting a bill or an amendment proposed in a Senate resolution, without referring it to a committee. The proposal would be decided by the Sejm by an absolute majority vote, in the presence of at least half of the legal number of deputies.
The Bureau also proposes to implement a solution that will increase the visibility of the public hearing. The representative of the proposer of the bill to which the hearing relates is obliged to express a position to the entities participating in it within seven days after the end of the hearing.
Public consultations will take place via an IT system
In justifying their project, the members of the Sejm Presidium emphasize that the changes they propose are intended to limit the use of accelerated procedures to strictly defined and exceptional cases. They are also intended to expand the scope of social participation in the legislative process and to meet one of the so-called milestones negotiated with the European Commission, which allowed Poland to access European funds from the National Reconstruction Plan.
The authors of the project indicate that public consultations will be carried out in an IT system that will be part of the Sejm Information System. They emphasize that due to the rules for the processing of personal data of consultation participants, and in order to prevent the posting of illegal content (for example, so-called hate speech), it will be necessary to supplement, among other things, the following: provisions of the law of 7 July 2005 regarding lobbying activities in the legislative process.
On May 8, Marshal of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia announced that the Sejm Presidium had issued a preliminary opinion on the draft changes to the chamber’s rules of procedure. He then announced that an online platform would be created that would allow every citizen to participate in legal consultations.
It will also be fully public, including: process for tabling amendments, already at committee level
– he declared.
Completion of one of the milestones
According to “Rz”, the solutions proposed by the Presidium of the Sejm are intended to increase the transparency of the legislative work.
Before the first reading, each bill will be subject to online public consultations in the Sejm system, and quick work will only be possible in exceptional cases.
– says the newspaper. All draft laws, including government ones, should be subject to mandatory consultation. Other changes would concern the obligation to create the so-called assessment of the effects of regulations and restrictions on the possibility of using the accelerated procedure in the Sejm.
The aim of the proposed solutions is to slow down the legislative process and improve its transparency.
The main idea, apart from introducing the obligation for public consultations, is to limit the fast-track legislative process to very rare situations. Of course, we must leave a loophole that can be used in exceptional cases, but its use will have to be justified in detail
– Dorota Niedziela, deputy chairman of the Sejm, tells Rz.
The solutions presented by the Presidium of the Sejm are intended to meet one of the so-called milestones negotiated with the European Commission, which allowed Poland to access European funds from the National Reconstruction Plan.
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olnk/PAP
Source: wPolityce