BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Deputies and delegations to the Tenth
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.