June 26, 2012. 10th Session of the Duma of the fifth convocation

The 10th session of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast of the fifth convocation took place on June 26, 2012. The session was broadcast online. The agenda of the session and the bills submitted for consideration by the deputies were published on the Duma website beforehand.

Oksana Kozlovskaya, Duma Speaker opened the session with her traditional address to the deputies (Full text of the Speaker’s speech).

DEPUTIES’ STATEMENTS

At the beginning of the session some deputies made their statments.

Vitaly Ogleznev, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party faction and Chairman of the Duma Commission for Culture brought up the issue of the lack of financing for cultural activity in rural areas and asked the deputies to take that into consideration during the budget part of the session.

Natalia Baryshnikova, leader of the Communist Party faction called the deputies’ attention to the bill “On Governor elections in Tomsk Oblast.” She said that the bill is a clear reflection of the processes that are currently taking place in Russia. She stressed that the bill in itself discredits direct elections and that the definition of the governor election principle is totally undemocratic.

Vladimir Kazakov brought to his colleagues’ attention the problem of an increasing municipal debt of the city of Tomsk and the issues related to financing expensive projects launched by the city’s administration.

Valery Osiptsov talked about further improving the anti-alcohol legislation in the Oblast. He expressed his concern that some entrepreneurs had found loopholes in the law and sell alcohol in breach of the legislation and called the representatives of all branches of power to work together to reinforce the enforcement of the Oblast and federal legislation to fight exposure to alcohol.

REGIONAL MATERNITY CAPITAL FOR HOUSING IMPROVEMENT

The deputies passed amendments to the Law “On social support for citizens with dependent children” in the second reading. Now the regional maternity (family) capital can be used, apart from the purposes defined by the law, to purchase or build a housing unit, rebuild one’s house, pay out a mortgage loan, renovate one’s housing and connect it to gas networks.

Igor Chernyshev, Chairman of the Duma Labor and Social Policy Committee presented the amendments. He explained that they allow families to improve living conditions not only by means of purchasing new housing but also by rebuilding their current homes, which is more relevant for the families in rural areas. The living conditions can also be improved by means of renovation and connection to gas networks.

The amended law covers families who will have the third (or more) child after July 1, 2012.

The deputies passed the amendments in the second reading.

CHILD ALLOWANCE AS A TOOL TO INCREASE BIRTH RATE

The deputies passed in two readings draft amendments to the Law “On social support for citizens with dependent children.” The Law was brought in compliance with the Presidential Decree “On measures to implement population policy in the Russian Federation.” A proposal to introduce another measure of social support for the families who have their third (or more) child after December 31, 2012 was submitted for the deputies’ consideration. The monthly allowance will be provided to low-income families after their child reaches the age of three. The procedure to determine the eligibility of families will be defined by the Governor of Tomsk Oblast.

The amount of the monthly allowance will be equal to the living wage. Preliminary estimates have shown that this measure could be provided to 1,104 children. If the law is adopted, it will become effective on January 1, 2013. The amount of the monthly allowance for 2013 is 7,871 rubles; for 2014 – 8,561 rubles; and for 2015 – 9,263 rubles. The amount of budget funding in 2013 will be 57.047m rubles.

The amendments were passed in two readings.

ALLOWANCE FOR PARENTS OF DECEASED SERVICEMEN

From January 1, 2013 the parents of servicemen who died as a result of a disease occurred while in military service will receive a 500 rubles higher pension supplement, that is their monthly allowance will be 1,500 rubles. The deputies approved the amount of the allowance and its annual readjustment starting from January 1, 2014 by amendments to the Oblast Law “On individual pension supplements for the parents of servicemen deceased as a result of a disease occurred while in military service.” Currently, 29 pensioners are eligible for the individual pension supplement. The amount of budget funding in 2013 will be 522,000 rubles.

The deputies unanimously backed the bill.

SPENDING ON MEDICINE

The majority of the deputies backed the bill “On execution of the 2011 budget of the Tomsk Oblast Territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund.” The revenues of the Fund’s budget in 2011 totaled 6,994.102m rubles (102.3% vs plan), 148.8% vs 2010. The expenditures in 2011 totaled 6,886.8m rubles (99.6% vs plan), 148% vs 2010. The 2011 budget of the Fund was executed with a 107.3m rubles surplus. As of January 1, 2012 balances on the Fund’s accounts totaled 190.6m rubles.

The document was approved by the majority of the deputies.

2011 BUDGET EXECUTED AND APPROVED

The deputies adopted the Oblast Law “On 2011 Oblast budget execution.”

The revenues of the Oblast budget in 2011 totaled 42,881.6m rubles (97.8% vs plan), 125.5% vs 2010. Tax and non-tax revenues totaled 27,319.6m rubles (96.9% vs plan), 120.7% vs 2010; non-repayable receipts totaled 15,562.0m rubles (99.5% vs cash plan), 134.7% vs 2010.

The expenditures in 2011 totaled 41,886.0m rubles (91.6% vs plan), 123.2% vs 2010.

The 2011 Oblast budget was executed with a 995.7m rubles surplus vs budgeted surplus 2,122.6m rubles.

As of January 1, 2012 the national debt of Tomsk Oblast was 6,942.7m rubles, a 0.3% reduction vs January 1, 2011. National debt payments in 2011 totaled 466.2m rubles, a 20.4% reduction vs 2010.

According to the report on the 2011 Oblast budget execution, the limiting values of the key budget items established by the budget legislation such as deficit, national debt, and national debt service expenses were not exceeded.

The bill was passed in two readings.

The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast

June 26, 2012. 10th Session of the Duma of the fifth convocation