November 28, 2013. 25th Session of the Duma of the 5th convocation

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.

Opening the session, Oksana Kozlovskaya congratulated Georgy Meier on his 65th birthday and his taking the office of President of the Tomsk State University. On the occasion of Georgy Meier’s birthday the Speaker presented him with Duma’s commemorative award Golden Coat of Arms of Tomsk Oblast. For 18 years Georgy Meier had worked as rector of the oldest university in Tomsk. He thanked the deputies for their congratulations.

Then the Speaker gave her traditional opening address for the deputies.

HEALTHCARE BUDGET ADJUSTED
Revenues and expenditures of the Tomsk Oblast Territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund were increased by 229m rubles. Most increase in revenues (182.9m rubles) comes as a federal subsidy.

Spending on the territorial compulsory health insurance program was increased by 222.5m rubles. This amount includes 220.3m rubles for medical assistance under the program. Administrative expenses of health insurance companies were increased by 2.2m rubles.

After adjustments, the revenues of the compulsory health insurance budget total 10.4bn rubles and expenditures 10.2bn rubles. The deficit limit is at 187.5m rubles.

The deputies passed the proposed amendments.

ANOTHER DEPUTY MOVED TO MUNICIPAL OFFICE
Vladimir Khan early vacated his seat upon his appointment as deputy mayor for city’s economy.

The deputies passed a formal termination resolution and congratulated their colleague on his appointment. On his new position, Vladimir Khan will supervise development of the city’s utilities infrastructure, public transport, operation of the road network, improvement of public amenities and development of public utilities of Tomsk.

SOCIAL CONTRACTS
Social services in Tomsk Oblast will be provided under social contracts. The deputies adopted in the second reading a new law On providing social services under social contracts in Tomsk Oblast and made amendments to the effective law On social services for citizens in Tomsk Oblast.

Social contracts will be concluded with recipients of one-time social benefits in the amount of triple the subsistence minimum, and with low-income large families who received 35,000 rubles each in support of their farming activities.

This one-time social benefit approach has been proven in Tomsk Oblast. It has been implemented in each municipal entity. To date, 2,240 social contracts have been concluded.

The law will be financed through reallocation of funds for providing financial aid to people experiencing hardships under the law On social services for citizens in Tomsk Oblast. The additional law eliminates the risk of double payments of benefits on the same grounds.

In accordance with federal practice, social contract is an agreement between the citizen and the local social security body. On the one hand, the local social security body agrees that it will provide social assistance to the individual. On the other hand, the individual agrees that they will perform under the social adaptation program. In other words, they undertake to do their best to overcome their hardships.

OBLAST BUDGET INCREASED BY 232M RUBLES
The deputies adopted amendments to the Oblast budget in two readings.

Total revenues of the 2013 Oblast budget were increased by 232m rubles, total expenditures by 242.3m rubles, deficit by 10.3m rubles.

Changes in revenues come from a 10.3m rubles decrease in receipts from disposal of public property and land, and from expected non-repayable receipts of 242.3m rubles. One half of that amount comes from the federal budget and the other half is donated by OOO Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk.

Federal budget allocations were also decreased by 10.9m rubles for the payment of homeroom teacher incentives pursuant to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of September 30, 2013, based on the updated information on the actual need for such payments.

Additional receipts from donations by OOO Gazprom Transgaz Tomsk are expected in the amount of 120m rubles. This money will be spent on the engineering survey work for the project involving reconstruction of the city’s main avenue and improvement of the Ushaika River embankment.

Areas of expenditure correlate with the ones mentioned above. It is also proposed to relocate allocations by key budget owners under budget classification codes pursuant to the budget classification update and the need to finance spending initiatives.

After the amendments, total 2013 Oblast budget revenue is estimated at 46.4bn rubles, and expenditure at 50.9bn rubles.

BIG PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY ROSATOM
During the Governor’s Hour session the Oblast deputies were presented with a report on the implementation of the Oblast Agreement with Rosatom.

Tomsk Oblast Governor Sergey Zhvachkin told the deputies about a unique large-scale project which will be implemented in Tomsk Oblast under the region’s Agreement with Rosatom.

FOR THE SAKE OF CHILDREN
The deputies made amendments to three Oblast laws on social support for orphans and children deprived of parental care. They established that the amount of social support for orphans shall be the same regardless of their place of residence. The changes will affect orphaned children leaving orphan homes (they are normally paid one-time graduation benefits) and school-aged children who receive intercity transport benefits to travel to children’s holiday and health camps located in the region.

The deputies passed in the first reading amendments to the Oblast law On special-purpose housing in Tomsk Oblast. The amendments provide local governing bodies with legal grounds to exclude from the waiting list deceased orphans and individuals who had lost their status as an orphan.

Technical amendments were made to the law On providing local governing bodies with specific public authorities to create and support commissions for juvenile affairs and protection of minors’ rights. The Oblast Family and Children Department will provide methodology support to local governing bodies. Currently, the regional Juvenile Affairs Commission is supervised by an executive secretary in the office of the deputy Governor of Tomsk Oblast for social policy. In this respect, the bill stipulates that the Administration of Tomsk Oblast becomes the authorized body.

The bill was passed in two readings.

TWO AND A HALF BILLION RUBLES FOR CHILDREN
The deputies approved a methodology for calculation of pre-school education subsidies to local budgets. It includes pre-set rates for salaries, textbooks, games and toys. A special rate is set for education of challenged children in municipal pre-school education organizations. For the implementation of the new law 2.3bn rubles was budgeted for 2014. It is expected that in 2014 there will be 43,991 eligible children, including 371 challenged children.

Parents of children who do not go to nursery schools, will have access to a new service – free consultations on domestic education. The deputies adopted in two readings a bill which vests local governing bodies with authority to provide free methodology and consulting support as well as psychological advice and diagnostics to parents willing to educate their children at home. Those services will be provided in special consulting centers belonging to nursery and secondary schools. In the 2014 budget 8m rubles will be allocated for that purpose.

In 2014, the region will start implementing a new social support initiative for students with disabilities. Children who are fully supported by social welfare and who live in an educational organization are provided with free five meals a day, clothes and footwear. Children who don’t live in an educational organization should be provided with two free meals a day. The deputies vested local governing bodies with relevant authority. More than 10,000 students are eligible. More than 216.1m rubles will be allocated for that purpose from the 2014 Oblast budget.

PARTY ISSUES
At the 25th session of the Duma representatives of political parties which do not have seats in the regional parliament made their speeches. All-Russia political party Right Cause was represented by the chairman of the high council of the party’s regional office in Tomsk Oblast Andrey Pozdnyakov. Evgeny Krotov, committee chairman of the regional office in Tomsk Oblast spoke on behalf of the Patriots of Russia party.

Pursuant to federal regulation, political parties without seats in the legislative body of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation have a right to take part in the plenary session of the regional parliament twice a year. The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast has regulations on statements by political parties without representation in the Duma.

FORWARD PATH FOR INVESTORS
The deputies passed in two readings amendments to the law On government support of the investment activity in Tomsk Oblast which are meant to improve the investment climate in the region.

A set of amendments which enhance government support for investors were passed in the first reading.

The deputies passed the bill in the first reading and will continue to work on it.