The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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September 26, 2013. 23rd Session of the Legislative Duma of the 5th convocation
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 (Summary of the Speaker’s speech).
DUMA FULLY STAFFED
At the 23rd Session the deputies accredited new deputies of the Legislative Duma Tatiana Solomatina and Alexander Borger.
In the elections of September 8, Tatiana Solomatina won over 62% of votes in the single-member constituency No. 7. Alexander Borger won the elections in the Strezhevoy single-member constituency No. 12 with over 65% of votes.
TIMELY NOTIFICATION
The Oblast Duma deputies brought in compliance with the federal legislation the Oblast law On safeguarding the population and territories of Tomsk Oblast in natural and man-made emergency situations. The amended law authorizes the Oblast Administration to develop and maintain in readiness the emergency alarm system, and collect and exchange information for the purposes of safeguarding the population and territories of Tomsk Oblast in emergency situations.
Chairman of the Duma Legislation Committee Vladimir Kravchenko delivered the Committee’s proposal to appeal to the executive bodies with a request to initiate a program to reconstruct the regional emergency alarm system.
The deputies unanimously voted to pass the amendments in two readings.
CHANGES IN BUDGET
The Duma adopted changes to the Oblast budget in two readings. Total revenues of the 2013 Oblast budget were increased by 710.5m rubles, total expenditures by 989m rubles, deficit by 278.5m rubles.
Non-repayable receipts from the federal budget now total 716.7m rubles.
The federal funds will be used to:
– Finance the upgrade of the regional pre-school education system (451m rubles)
– Support small and medium business enterprises (127.9m rubles)
– Support agricultural production (93.6m rubles)
– Finance the sub-program Housing for Young Families (25.9m rubles)
– Support socially-oriented non-profit organizations (14.1m rubles)
– 200m rubles will be spent on engineering, construction and equipment of the Tomsk Oblast Science and Technology Museum (this money will be allocated from the remaining portion of the dedicated allotment in 2011).
– 24.5m rubles will be used to prepare Tomsk Oblast for participation in the project Exposition of Russian Regions in the Olympic Park in Sochi
– 11.5m rubles will be spent to provide one-time compensations to medical workers coming to small towns to fill vacant positions in staff-deficient healthcare institutions (Asino, Kedrovy, Kolpashevo, Strezhevoy)
– 11.9m rubles will be spent on engineering surveys and development of design and estimate documents for the Tomsk Information Technology College project which involves creation of a regional educational center dedicated to a specific industry
– 21.5m rubles will be used to provide a balancing subvention to the budget of the City of Tomsk
– 2.9m rubles will be spent on self-propelled disinfection units which will be used to prevent the spread of the African swine fever and other extremely dangerous diseases in the territory of Tomsk Oblast.
The revenues of the amended 2013 budget now total 45.7bn rubles, including tax and non-tax revenues of 37.2bn rubles; non-repayable receipts of 8.4bn rubles; expenditures of 50.2bn rubles; and deficit of 4.5bn rubles.
The deputies also adopted amendments to the law On Oblast budget expenditure to support investment and innovation activity in Tomsk Oblast in 2013 which increase spending on the investment and innovation activity by 1.4bn rubles to total 6.6bn rubles.
NEW AGENCY GETS NEW AUTHORITY
The deputies passed amendments to the Oblast law On special protection areas in Tomsk Oblast. In 2013, reorganization of the Tomsk Oblast Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection resulted in the detachment of the Tomsk Oblast Hunting Agency. The amendments to the law vest the Agency with the authority to organize and maintain the functioning of national faunal reserves in the region.
HOUSING FOR LARGE FAMILIES
More large families will be able to improve their living conditions. The deputies passed in two readings amendments to the Oblast law On special-purpose housing in Tomsk Oblast. The amendments extend the look-back period for large families registered as in need of housing. The extended look-back period will cover 29 families in the Oblast which were registered as in need of housing before December 31, 2012.
The 2014 Oblast budget includes 63.1m rubles for this initiative.
RIGHT TO A LAND PLOT
In the second reading the deputies passed amendment to the law On provision and withdrawal of land plots in Tomsk Oblast. Current legislation allows building a house on a land plot dedicated to private farming. The amendments cancel eligibility of owners of such land plots for a free land plot for housing construction. However, the amended law is not retroactive and keeps the right of owners of such land plots who had been registered for a free land plot before the amended law came in force.
SUPPORT FOR FISHING INDUSTRY The deputies considered three laws concerning support for the fishing industry in the region. The new law On fishing and preservation of aquatic biological resources in Tomsk Oblast will regulate the fishing industry in the Oblast. The law was passed in the first reading.
Two more bills will provide tax concessions for fishing and fish processing companies. The Oblast Law On setting uniform tax rates applied in Tomsk Oblast under simplified taxation system was amended in two readings. The amendments provide a 7.5% uniform tax rate reduction for fishing, fish farming and fish processing companies which use the simplified “earnings minus expenses” system. Experts believe, these support measures will streamline the development of the region’s fishing industry.
A new law On reduced profit tax rate for fishing industry companies in Tomsk Oblast was adopted in two readings. The new law reduces the profit tax rate for fish processing and related services companies to 13.5%.
MISCELLANEOUS
The deputies approved the package of legislative initiatives submitted by the Tomsk Oblast Prosecutor’s Office. Amendments to the Oblast law On requirements to passenger transportation by taxi cars in Tomsk Oblast were passed in two readings. The amended law grants taxi service providers a right to contract sole proprietorships for pre-route and post-route medical examination of taxi drivers.
The deputies amended the law On protection of rights and legitimate interests of citizens investing in participatory construction of apartment blocks in Tomsk Oblast. They extended the scope of authority of the region to regulate and supervise the participatory construction sector. From July 24, 2014 the regulatory agency will recognize as affected citizens who invested in participatory construction and whose rights were violated, and include such citizens in the Register of Affected Investors in Participatory Construction in accordance with the procedure established by the Russian Ministry of Regional Development.
Section 2 of the law On subsoil use in Tomsk Oblast was amended in the second reading. The current version of the law was brought in compliance with the updated federal legislation which specifies the scope of authority of regional governing bodies in subsoil use regulation. Previously, the regular payment rate for subsoil use for a specific subsoil site was established by either the federal agency or the regional governing body. The amended law provides the right to establish such rates for local subsoil sites to regional executive bodies. It was proposed to grant the Oblast Administration the authority to review and approve basic engineering plans on mining commonly occurring minerals, and other engineering and design documents related to local subsoil use. The Oblast Administration will also keep territorial reserve balance sheets and mining inventories, and keep records of subsoil sites which are used for construction of non-mining subsurface structures. After a detailed discussion it was decided to create a dedicated work group which will study all related issues in detail.
Amendments were made to the law On hunting and preservation of hunting resources in Tomsk Oblast in accordance with the updated federal law which requires that the workers of legal entities entering into hunting resources management agreements pass knowledge tests in the dedicated regional government agencies. Those who pass the test successfully will be provided with standard certificates and pins.
The deputies passed amendments to the law On municipal service in Tomsk Oblast based on the Prosecutor’s Office of Tomsk Oblast recommendations on improving the regulatory environment for municipal service. The amendments will ensure a more complete scope of regulation in this area.
FAMILIES FOR ABANDONED CHILDREN
Following changes in the federal legislation, the Oblast deputies made amendments to two Oblast laws – On foster care and guardianship in Tomsk Oblast and On providing local governing bodies with specific public authorities in foster care and guardianship in Tomsk Oblast.
The scope of authority of Tomsk Oblast foster care and guardianship agencies in relation to minors was expanded to include the following functions.
– Inform people who wish to adopt a child of different forms of adoption stipulated by the family law
– Create awareness on possible forms of adoption, special aspects of specific forms of adoption, and paperwork procedures for various forms of adoption; and provide assistance in the preparation of necessary documents
– Provide assistance to foster parents of minors in the enforcement and protection of the rights of the children in their ward
– Provide temporary placement in foster care institutions for abandoned children in case of a lack of adoption opportunities pending their placement in a foster family.
