Legislative Duma Activity Report – 2010
Over a thousand resolutions were passed by the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast in 2010, including 342 Oblast Laws and 148 new Basic Laws.
In 2010 the Budgetary and Financial Committee considered 175 issues, developed for consideration by the Duma 115 resolutions, developed final versions of 52 laws. Head of the Committee
Vladimir Ponomarenko told about some of the laws:
“The year 2010 was at the same time challenging and productive for the Budgetary and Financial Committee because we had to adjust to the impacts of the post-crisis situation which we had to take into account when developing and considering laws. The Committee handles the budget legislation issues in the first place. The most important law – the Law “
On the budget” – took us three months to develop. This is always the most complicated issue to be considered. The second important issue is the budget of Tomsk Territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund which influences those who use the healthcare services in the region. Another important area for us is management of regional property. At the Committee meetings we review basic issues related to granting free use of property rights. We request that the tenants inform us on what will be done for the citizens of Tomsk Oblast. We also maintain close cooperation with the Audit Chamber. Together we handle tax legislation issues. For the year 2011 we halved the transport tax rates. Deputy initiatives which mainly deal with simplifying administrative barriers we forward to the Federal Assembly.”
The Legal Committee in 2010 kept on improving the legislation on nation-building and local government. Head of the Legal Committee
Irina Nikulina said that she was impressed by the numbers characterizing the performance of the executive team of the regional parliament and the Legal Committee in particular.
“During the reporting period the Committee held 20 meetings and passed 212 resolutions. Over the past year the Committee developed in total 495 resolutions out of 1,143 resolutions passed by the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast in 2010 including 199 resolutions to adopt laws of Tomsk Oblast. Faceless numbers speak of the intense efforts of the executive team of the Legal Committee which has only 4 people in it. The Legal Committee has continuously worked on improving the electoral legislation, the Administrative Code of Tomsk Oblast, the Charter of Tomsk Oblast, the regulatory framework for the activity of magistrates, and other issues.
Among the Basic Laws two are worth mentioning – the Law
“On guaranteeing equality of political parties represented in the State Duma of Tomsk Oblast when their activity is covered by the regional television and radio channels”and the Law
“On keeping dogs and cats in Tomsk Oblast.” The Committee appointed 29 magistrates; 14 representatives of the Oblast Duma were appointed to the Public Chamber of Tomsk Oblast. Nelly Krechetova was appointed Ombudsman of Human Rights in Tomsk Oblast.”
In 2010 the Labor and Social Policy Committee of the Oblast Duma considered around 2,000 documents including over 500 bills. Over the past year the Committee held 16 meetings. All seven commissions of the Committee worked hard. The Committee has always put forward proposals on improving the legislation on health care, education, charity, patronship, sponsorship; support for charity and non-profit organizations in the Oblast; social security; promotion of children and youth sports, patriotic education, and healthy lifestyle. Head of the Committee
Igor Chernyshev told about the most important laws.
“Voters expect more support from the Duma and our Committee in particular. It is difficult to name any specific results of the past year because we did not manage to reach a number of goals in improving the wellbeing of our citizens but on the other hand we were able to keep what we had achieved before given aggressive budget conditions, and move forward on a number of issues. The deputies on the Committee passed around 360 resolutions over 2010 which is twice as much as over the previous year. Not all issues concerned the voters of Tomsk Oblast. Interesting laws were adopted in culture; we also adopted the law on non-profit organizations and the law on the Ombudsman for Children. I hope that the initiatives on education employees adopted by the Governor will be implemented. Many existing problems of our society have emerged from neglect of general education.”
The Economic Policy Committee passed 124 resolutions in 2010. The deputies on the Committee developed for consideration by the Duma 5 new Basic Laws, among them the Law
“On requirements to passenger transportation by taxi cars in Tomsk Oblast”, Laws
“On forecasting activity”,
“On hunting and preservation of hunting species and lands in Tomsk Oblast”,
“On energy saving and energy efficiency in Tomsk Oblast”.
Head of the Committee
Aleksander Kupriyanets said that despite the challenges the regional government faced in 2010, all commitments were fulfilled. This success is shared by the Economic Policy Committee:
“I believe that the Committee made a fair contribution in implementation of the 2010 plans. We did not suspend road building and repairs activity in 2010 and kept on developing the infrastructure. We are gradually climbing out of the economic crisis. We continued working on the tasks the Committee is in charge of. We worked on the conciliation committee which refined the 2011 budget. An important result of the previous year was the socioeconomic development program for the Oblast. We had revisited a number of times the program for development of small and medium business. In 2010 we raised in total 300 million rubles including the federal funds to finance the program. We should not forget about the achievements in the forest industry. At the end of the year a new wood processing facility LPK Partner-Tomsk was started in Tomsk Oblast. That is a great result. Since mid-2010 the Duma has been receiving inquiries on management companies. The deputies adopted the law on housing policy. We are currently reviewing a bill on protection of rights of shared construction participants.”
