The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast


July 28, 2011. LI Session of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast

LI Session of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast

The LI Session of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast was broadcast on the website of the Duma. The annotated agenda of the session and wordings of all documents submitted for consideration by the deputies were published beforehand.

Speaker Boris Maltsev opened the session and outlined the issues on the agenda (Full text of the Speaker's speech).

After the Speaker, the deputies made their statements.

On increasing wages in educational institutions
The deputies adopted a number of amendments to the Oblast Laws, concerning an increase in salary pool for education workers. From September 1, 2011, average teacher’s salary increases by 30% with indexation effective June 1, 2011, applied.

Additional funding stipulated by the amendments to the Law “On providing subventions to local budgets to support state guarantees to citizens for generally accessible and free pre-school, elementary general, basic general, secondary (complete) general, and further education under general education curricula in municipal general education institutions” will be 177m rubles from September 1, 2011.

Tax laws revised
In two readings, the deputies made amendments to two Oblast Laws: “On preferential taxation in Tomsk Oblast” and “On corporate property tax.” The revised law on preferential taxation now stipulates tax preferences for organizations who improve energy efficiency. The amended law on corporate property tax now does not oblige organizations qualifying for tax benefits to deliver additional documents to the tax authorities.

State-owned property management rules should be governed by law
The deputies reviewed the report on Oblast-owned property management in 2010. In 2010, the average number of employees of Oblast state institutions was 18,396 people. Average worker salary in Oblast state institutions grew by 9.2% ¬to make 18,544 rubles; average manager salary grew by 6% to make 49,930 rubles.

As of January 1, 2011, there are 268 organizations wholly or partially owned by the Oblast.

Boris Maltsev suggested regulating all outstanding issues concerning Oblast property by a legal act.

“We have a million square meters of real estate. However, the Oblast does not have any procedure or a system to manage this property. When should routine and major repairs take place? How are maintenance expenses approved? It would be reasonable to instruct the head of the Oblast property management department to develop and submit to the Duma a regional law on usage, maintenance, and major repairs of property owned by Tomsk Oblast.”

Education, Pushkina junction, and agriculture – 2011 budget revisited
Total revenues of 2011 Oblast budget were increased by 1.8bn rubles, total expenditures by 2.3bn rubles, deficit by 435m rubles.

This money is mainly federal subsidies, subventions, and transfers for healthcare, education, rural development, construction, road infrastructure, entrepreneurship, and housing for orphans.

The amount of 330m rubles the Oblast collected as corporate profit tax.

The amendments to the 2011 budget were adopted in two readings. Taking into account the amendments, spending on investment and innovation-related activity in 2011 will grow by 205m rubles to make 3.9bn rubles.

Taxi by the rules
Amendments to the Oblast Law “On requirements to passenger transportation by taxi cars in Tomsk Oblast” were passed in the second reading. The amendments stipulate that taxi companies and sole proprietors must have a relevant permit.

Deputies adjusted the “youth” law
The power to create advisory boards, coordinating councils, and other deliberative bodies related to youth policy, was given to Tomsk Oblast Administration. The Law “On youth policy in Tomsk Oblast” was adjusted accordingly.

Volunteer firefighting
A new Law of Tomsk Oblast was passed – “On voluntary fire guards.” According to the originators of the bill, volunteer firefighting does not develop well because of the poorly developed regulatory framework and lack of statutory incentives and benefits for fire prevention and fighting volunteers.

The new law is intended to provide a regulatory framework for firefighting actions undertaken by volunteers and non-specialized organizations in Tomsk Oblast.

Speaker’s press conference
Boris Maltsev dwelt upon the set of bills on increasing salary pools in educational institutions effective September 1, 2011.

“We are among the few regions where salaries are increased not only for teachers but also for other employees of educational institutions. And those “others” make up to 40% of all people working in schools.”

At the press conference Boris Maltsev again brought up one of the topics of his opening speech, regulatory bodies.

The Speaker also answered the journalists’ questions on tax benefits for energy-saving efforts and the bill on deputy recall.

Land for farms
The deputies approved amendments to the Law “On rotation of agricultural land in Tomsk Oblast.

The document defines a procedure for gratuitous provision of agricultural land to farming enterprises for indefinite use.

Flats for the military
The deputies delegated to the local governing bodies the authority to provide housing to citizens discharged from military service and manage the relevant funds. Financial support is provided to the citizens discharged from military service upon attainment of the mandatory retirement age, for medical reasons, or as a result of staffing measures. A qualifying person must have served in the military for at least 10 years in total, and have been registered as in need of housing before January 1, 2005.

Tomsk Oblast received a 8.4m rubles subvention from the federal budget to finance provision of housing for citizens discharged from military service.

E-government
In two readings the deputies adopted the Law “On specific organizational issues related to provision of federal and municipal government services in Tomsk Oblast.” While the federal law defines requirements to procedures for provision of federal and municipal e-government services, the regional law addresses specific organizational issues such as issuing and servicing all-in-one smart cards. The regional law also defines requirements to tendering procedures for selection of the bank which will support provision of e-government services via an electronic application.

Nuclear and radiation safety
During “A Governor’s Hour” the deputies were presented a report on safety compliance at the Siberian Chemical Combine.

Deputy head of Seversk Office of Russian Federal Nuclear and Radiation Safety Inspectorate of Russian Federal Service for Ecological, Technological and Nuclear Supervision “Rostekhnadzor” Olga Fursova reported on the Inspectorate’s work and on its safety audits to identify compliance failures and prevent emergency situations.

The deputies asked Ms Fursova questions such as control over liquid waste disposal and whether it poses any threat to water intake by the Oblast. Ms Fursova answered that the disposal site meets all safety requirements and standards. There was a question whether the Inspectorate would oversee construction of Seversk Nuclear Power Station to ensure quality of construction and safety of future operation. The answer was affirmative.

Meeting international standards
A number of changes in the documents regulating electoral law are intended to secure rights of physically challenged voters and referendum participants.

For example, a poor-sighted person coming to a polling station can ask the chair of the electoral commission or any member with a deciding vote for help.

Any Russian citizen at the polling station can help, except for electoral commission members, candidates, candidates’ authorized representatives, and observers. Previously, such obligation did not exist. Now the documents are brought in compliance with international standards.

Coat of arms of the Oblast allowed
According to the amendments approved by the Oblast Duma deputies, Tomsk Oblast coat of arms can be placed in blazons (emblems, etc.) of Oblast state institutions, unitary enterprises, and other non-profit organizations established by Tomsk Oblast government. A proposal was put forward to place the coat of arms of Tomsk Oblast in the letterhead of Tomsk Oblast Ombudsman for Children’s blanks (similar to the blanks of the Ombudsman of Human Rights in Tomsk Oblast). This law does not require any additional spending from the Oblast budget.

Timeframe changed
The deputies approved amendments to 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” which extend the time frame for creation of a regional television and radio broadcasting organization until December 31, 2011.







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