The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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April 28, 2015. Speaker Oksana Kozlovskaya speaks at legislators council session
In her speech, Oksana Kozlovskaya noted that in the last three years the work of the Council of Legislators had acquired absolutely new and specific meaning.
On April 27, a traditional annual session of the Russian Council of Legislators dedicated to the Day of Russian Parliamentarism took place in the Tauride Palace, St. Petersburg, the headquarters of the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States (IPA CIS).
The session was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Federation Council and IPA CIS Council Chair Valentina Matvienko, State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, Duma Committee chairmen, senators, State Duma deputies, and members of legislative assemblies of the constituent entities of Russia.
Vladimir Putin greeted the leaders of the Federal Assembly and members of the Legislators Council and congratulated the participants on the Day of Russian Parliamentarism. He said that in the last few years the political heft of the legislative assemblies in Russia had grown significantly.
“The Council of Legislators is regularly updated on the current needs and demands of the regions and the most pressing concerns of people. This information also contains an update on enforcement of laws. The regulatory framework of the entire country is visible. Without any doubt, this helps respond to the needs of individuals, professional and social groups, and businesses,” he said.
Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko thanked Vladimir Putin for paying attention to the work of the Council of Legislators and said that “lately, the communication between the federal and regional legislators has acquired new meaning.” She emphasized that initiatives supported by a significant enough number of regions must be provided with additional preferences to move forward.
State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin talked about the ongoing sanctions against some of the legislators. He also noted that parliamentary diplomacy will always play an important role in the work of the Russian Parliament.
Speaker of the Tomsk Oblast Legislative Duma and leader of the Legislators Council Commission for Science and Innovations Oksana Kozlovskaya said in her speech that in the last three years the work of the Council of Legislators had acquired absolutely new and specific meaning.
“When we were starting, the initiatives submitted by the regions to the State Duma and Federation Council would often get stuck in the committees. The situation has dramatically changed now. We propose including in the Regulations on the Russian State Duma a provision under which all initiatives that had passed through the Council of Legislators will have to be included in the agenda of the committee. It will help significantly boost legislative activity at the regional and municipal levels.
Oksana Kozlovskaya also reported on the performance of the Commission for Science and Innovations of the Council of Legislators which she manages.
“Last year, for the first time ever, the regions worked together to produce a model law on innovation activity. It was approved by the work group overseen by State Duma Speaker Sergey Naryshkin, passed the review by the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Education, and the Legal Department of the Russian State Duma. It is an important step towards a much better quality of documents for review, also at the regional level, and even more important is that these documents are aligned with the federal law. Today, another step forward has been made as the Council of Legislators has virtually approved the model law on the Public Chamber in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.”
Among the key barriers to the development of innovations she named “lack of funds for development in today’s regional budgets”.
“Honestly, we are endlessly thankful for the decision that you made together with the Government of the Russian Federation, she said to the President, to increase funding for publicly funded loans which will substitute market loans. Yet, conditions are difficult to comply, and not all regions are capable to qualify. Something has to be done there, too.”
In conclusion, Oksana Kozlovskaya shared her impressions from the visit to Smolensk Oblast for the Memory Watch campaign.
“When I was there, the team from Tomsk unearthed the remains of 12 soldiers. They opened the locket and found the name of a soldier from Krasnoyarsk. What the searchers are doing merits a lot of attention and, perhaps, recognition from the government because it is a genuinely disinterested effort made in very harsh conditions. It is a striking example of patriotism which all of us need so much today.”
