The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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March 27, 2014. 29th 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, Duma Speaker Oksana Kozlovskaya reminded about an anniversary date for the region - 20 years ago, on March 27, 1994 the first elections to the regional parliament were held.
Back then it was the Tomsk Oblast Duma with 21 seats. Today, in this hall are present four of the first Duma deputies: Boris Maltsev, Nikolay Vyatkin, Gennady Sergeyenko, and Aleksander Fedenev. Today’s deputies cheered their colleagues who actually pioneered building a regional legislative branch of power.
Summary of the Speaker’s speech
INCREASES TO REGIONAL BUDGET
The deputies approved amendments to the law on the Oblast budget. Revenues were increased by 630.7m rubles, expenditures by 642.6m rubles, deficit by 11.8m rubles.
The revenues grew through receipts from the federal budget - 372.8m rubles; a 25m rubles transfer from the budget of the Tomsk Oblast Territorial Compulsory Health Insurance Fund; receipts from the budget of the state-owned corporation Fund for Assistance to Housing and Public Utilities Reform - 232.8m rubles.
New receipts will be used to:
- Provide pharmaceutical benefits to the federal social security beneficiaries - 208.2m rubles
- Provide high technology medical services - 4m rubles
- Provide governmental support to agricultural production - 160.6m rubles
- Provide one-time 1m rubles compensations to medical professionals moving to small towns and villages to work - 25m rubles
- Finance relocation of people from unfit housing - 232.8m rubles
- Pay out prizes to Tomsk Oblast athletes, participants of the 2014 Olympic Games, and their trainers - 7m rubles in total for investing in the construction of housing. The list was approved by the Oblast Administration on August 24, 2012.
With the adopted amendments the Oblast budget revenues in 2014 total 48.9bn rubles; non-repayable receipts 8.4bn rubles; expenditures 52bn rubles; and deficit 3.1bn rubles or 7.68% of the revenues without taking into account non-repayable receipts.
The deputies also revisited the debt ceiling of Tomsk Oblast due to an increase in the budgeted 2014 deficit. As of January 1, 2015 the debt ceiling of Tomsk Oblast will be 17.5bn rubles or 43.6% of revenues without non-repayable receipts. As of January 1, 2016 it will be 19bn rubles (44.4%). As of January 1, 2017 - 20bn rubles (42.6%).
The total amount of spending on the investment and innovation activity was increased by 231.9m rubles and now totals 5bn rubles, including 232.9m rubles received from the federal budget.
IN DEFENSE OF TRUE CHILDHOOD
Tomsk Oblast Ombudsman for Children Ludmila Eftimovich received 1,140 requests in 2013. Most of them point at violations of rights to favorable living standards for proper development of children. Those are rights to housing, timely payment of alimony, compensations under court rulings, proper nourishment and qualified legal assistance.
Ludmila Eftimofivh noted that divorces are becoming more often, so issues of securing housing to children are gaining importance. There are a growing number of requests for assistance in resolving conflicts in schools. Here, school conciliation committees should help.
BENEFITS FOR GEOLOGISTS
The deputies passed a bill on providing additional tax benefits to organizations functioning and investing in Tomsk Oblast.
The bill is aimed to promote investments in hydrocarbon production by extending developed areas in Tomsk Oblast.
It is proposed to enhance additional property and corporate profit tax benefits to cover investors implementing oil and gas development projects.
Additional benefits will stimulate development of payback sensitive investment projects and make them more attractive for investors. Currently, the Oblast Administration has under review oil and gas development projects worth 33bn rubles.
The bill was passed in the second reading by a majority of votes.
AMENDMENTS TO ELECTORAL LEGISLATION
The Election Commission of Tomsk Oblast introduced a bill bringing the regional electoral legislation in line with the federal law On basic guarantees of electorate rights and the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to participate in a referendum.
Amendments will be made to Oblast laws On election of deputies to the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast, On Governor elections in Tomsk Oblast, and On municipal elections in Tomsk Oblast. Changes were made to the procurement procedures for ballots and special stickers (stamps).
One of the key novations is a new requirement to stationary ballot boxes. They should be made of transparent or semi-transparent material in accordance with standards approved by the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. Local election commissions should also be provided with enough transparent or semi-transparent portable ballot boxes.
The number of signatures required to register a candidate in a single-member constituency should be at least 0.5% of the number of voters registered in the constituency but no less then 10 signatures.
For Governor elections candidates should provide information about themselves so they could be vested with authority of a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Federal Assembly.
The deputies passed the bill in the first reading.
YOUTH WINS
Summarizing results of the 2013 Duma Award contest, the deputies approved an additional monetary award of 20,000 rubles in the Young Scientists category. Chairman of Labor and Social Policy Committee Leonid Glok explained that the additional award was proposed by independent experts who assessed submitted works.
Initially, there were 15 awards for young scientists and 20 awards for young hopefuls. With an additional award, there will be 20 young hopeful laureates and 16 young scientist laureates in 2013.
The 2013 contest gathered 263 young scientists, university students, and school students.
Participants divided into categories as follows.
Young Hopefuls - 123 participants
Natural Sciences - 43 participants
Technical Sciences - 53 participants
Humanities - 44 participants
Geography of the contest covers many districts and cities of Tomsk Oblast. In 2013, applications came from Bakcharsky, Asinovsky, Zyryansky, Pervomaisky, Tomsky, Teguldetsky Districts, from Tomsk, Seversk, Strezhevoy, and Kedrovy.
The contest is 11 years old. Over its history it gathered 2,350 participants. More than 300 winners became Duma Award Laureates. The Award of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast has become a desired and high-prestige prize. Winners of the contest are justifiably proud of their status. Many laureates acknowledge that their victory was an important milestone in their career and helped them grow.
