The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
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August 27, 2015. 44TH SESSION OF THE DUMA OF THE 5TH CONVOCATION
Opening the first autumn session of the regional Duma Speaker Oksana Kozlovskaya addressed the deputies with her traditional speech.
“At this session we will consider a large package of bills – from political ones to socioeconomical and financial. On most of them resolutions will be driven by the current situation in the country and the world.
Analysts point out that the slump in the global financial markets in August was caused by oversupply of hydrocarbons and shrinking commodity demand. Other drivers were a slowdown in Chinese growth and devaluation of BRICS and CIS currencies. The whole world is experiencing difficulties in finding money for new projects.
Russia is no exception. Lowering oil prices undermine the ruble, shrink budget revenues and real incomes. Apparently, this has to be taken into account for the development of the most important law of this autumn – the 2016-2018 budget.
Summary of the Speaker’s speech.
Budget went up
The deputies adopted in two readings changes to the Oblast budget law. The amendments increase the revenues and expenditures items by 261.2 million rubles each. They also reallocate funds across budget-funded programs.
The federal funds will be used to:
– Provide pharmaceutical benefits to the federal and regional social security beneficiaries – 116.5m rubles
– Support the agricultural sector (develop crop farming and milk processing) – 108.8m rubles
– Provide housing to young families – 19.5m rubles
– Develop e-government solutions – 16m rubles
Expected savings from servicing the national debt will be used to:
– Fund initiatives to improve conditions for the development of entrepreneurship and create new jobs in Seversk (as part of the agreement with Rosatom) – 89m rubles
– Finance 11 new departments of the Oblast Multipurpose Center providing central and local government services – 11.2m rubles
– Provide power supply to the Kozhevnikovsky orphanage – 1.8m rubles
Savings on roadmaps will help increase spending on air ambulance aviation, medical equipment, and compensations to parents whose children have to go to private nursery schools for lack of public ones.
After amendments the 2015 Oblast budget revenues total 51.2bn rubles, expenditures – 55bn rubles, deficit – 3.8bn rubles.
Business Ombudsman to become part of entrepreneurship development system
The deputies adopted in the first reading the law On development of small and medium business in Tomsk Oblast. The document brings the regional law in compliance with the federal law. Among other things, it integrates the Business Ombudsman of Tomsk Oblast into the system for the support and development of small and medium business.
The existing system includes the following participants. Oblast Duma, regional executive bodies, local governing bodies, coordinating or deliberative assemblies for small and medium business, chambers of commerce and industry, non-profit organizations, public organizations and associations, and other agencies making up the infrastructure for the support of business.
Another amendment changes the name of the Oblast Department for Development of Entrepreneurship and Real Economy into the Department for Industry and Development of Entrepreneurship.
Law on Duma
The new law On the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast will become one of the four fundamental laws defining the work of the regional parliament.
Today the deputies looked at the bill and adopted it in the first reading. The bill was initiated by Duma Speaker Oksana Kozlovskaya, deputy Speaker Aleksander Kupriyanets, and Duma committee chairmen Vladimir Kravchenko, Arkady Eskin, and Leonid Glok.
In order to bring consistency into the legal regulation of the status of the Oblast Duma the law repeats and details out specific clauses of existing laws such as the Charter of Tomsk Oblast, the law On the status of deputy of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast, and the Duma Regulations.
The new law aims to ensure sustainability and efficiency of the supreme legislative body of Tomsk Oblast. It regulates the legal status of the legislative body of Tomsk Oblast.
The document resulted from a comprehensive analysis of federal legislation. An extensive study was made on regulations applied to legislative bodies in other regions of Russia.
The new law defines only subjects concerning the status of the Duma. Other items, including procedural matters, are governed by existing regional laws and the Duma Regulations.
The new law describes the organizational structure and the workflow of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast and defines the basic constituents of the Duma status and the status of Duma officials.
Specific attention is given in the document to the supervisory powers of the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast such as supervision over legal relations in budget-related matters (including review of budget-funded government programs) and law enforcement control.
Similar laws have been adopted in more than half regions of Russia.
The bill asserts the three main functions of the Duma – legislative, representative and controlling – and describes the 70 core authorities in the scope of the Duma.
Duma to follow-up on laws for efficiency
The deputies passed a resolution On monitoring enforcement of laws adopted by the Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast in 2015-2016.
The Duma will follow-up on the following laws.
– Corporate profit and property tax preferences
– Free legal services for Russian citizens in Tomsk Oblast
– Specific organizational issues related to provision of federal and municipal government services in Tomsk Oblast
– Education in Tomsk Oblast
– Industrial policy in Tomsk Oblast
– Public-private partnership in Tomsk Oblast
