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The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
March 26, 2009. XXVI Session of the Tomsk Oblast State Duma
 31 issues on the agenda, including 24 bills. The deputies acknowledged the deputy powers of Maxim Kormashov. On March, 1, Mr. Kormashov won by-elections to the Tomsk Oblast State Duma in Vostochny single-member constituency No.10.
In the first reading the Oblast Duma voted to increase subsidies to municipal entities which will be spent to finance municipal special pre-school and general educational institutions, as well as sanitary educational institutions for children requiring continuous care. Before the second reading the deputies and the Tomsk Oblast Educational Department are to find a consensus for methods to calculate expenditures of special educational facilities.
The deputies voted to increase financing of ungraded schools. The volume of subsidies allocated for municipal entities were increased due to indexation of labor compensation fund for education employees by 5 % and material expenditures of educational institutions by 9.5 %. The pattern of school expenditures was revised. The terms of subsidies distribution were ascertained between schools to finance the activities of pre-school groups – ways of their financing and quality of the educational services will be considered. To calculate total volume of subsidies, the deputies revised the list of financing norms per one student in ungraded primary village schools in communities with population less than 3,000 people. According to Leonid Glok, Head of Tomsk Oblast General Education Department, all general education institutions of Tomsk Oblast shall move to normative financing per capita.
The Oblast deputies adopted amendments to the Law "On 2009 Oblast Budget and Planning Period of 2010 and 2011". The amendments were triggered by increase of grant federal financing for 1,086,000 rubles. 126m rubles were allocated directly from the federal budget, 960m rubles – from Support for Reforming Housing Utilities Fund.
960m rubles will be spent on complete overhaul of housing and relocation of citizens from unfit and hazardous housing. 126m will substitute earlier capital investments (120m are aimed at covering budget deficit, and 6m will be spent on gas distribution networks of Kolpashevo).
Considering the amendments, the Oblast budget revenues will estimate 31,335,000 rubles, expenditures – 33,381,000 rubles, the Oblast budget deficit – 2,046,000 rubles or 9.5 % to the Oblast budget revenues excluding financial support from the federal budget.
Owing to amendments to the Budget Code of the RF, the deputies amended the procedure of granting governmental guarantees to Tomsk Oblast. The RF regions are given a right by January 1, 2011 to independently set the collateral value of regressive claims of a guarantor to a principal. In Tomsk Oblast the collateral value will estimate 100 %.
In its second reading the Law "On setting uniform tax rates applied in Toms Oblast under simplified taxation system" was adopted. Reduced rates were introduced for organizations and businessmen operating under such system. For residents of the Tomsk Technical Innovation SEZ – 5 %, for all the rest – 10 %. According to a forecast, maximum losses of the Oblast budget after implementation of concessional tax rates may total 50m rubles in 2010. It is worth reminding that under the Federal Law the RF constituent entities are able to set differential tax rates within 5 % to 15 % in relation to categories of tax payers who chose the incomes less expenses as a tax object. Many regions have chosen to reduce the tax burden for tax payers working in certain industries. The Tomsk Oblast Administration initially introduced to the Oblast Duma a bill with quite a number of tax reduction conditions. However, in deputies’ opinion, multiple restrains contradicted the federal initiative to provide the regions with a chance to support business in times of crisis. Therefore, the bill was revised to the deputies’ content.
In the first reading the deputies adopted the bill "Anti-Corruption Law of Tomsk Oblast". The bill defines basic notions such as anti-corruption monitoring, anti-corruption expert review of regulatory acts and their bills; corruption-generating regulatory acts; corruption-generating factors; corrupt practices, etc. Some of the deputies believe that the bill has certain shortcomings which have to be eliminated before the second reading. A working group and the Legal Committee of the Duma shall once again consider all amendments to the document and prepare it in a reviewed and approved version.
In the first reading the deputies adopted the bill "On transparent regulation of prices (tariffs) for goods, works, and services in Tomsk Oblast". The bill embraces housing tariffs, transport fares, drug prices markups, etc. This bill is unique in the Russian regulatory framework.
The law implies that an organization providing services or manufacturing goods covered by the law, shall at least a month in advance report the change of a tariff through mass media. The same applies to the intentions to change forms of payment documents used by the people to pay for goods, works, and services. All this provides a possibility to conduct a timely expert review and give an economic opinion concerning pricing intentions.
If proposed tariff changes interfere with the interests of the population of a municipal entity, the proposal will be discussed by means of a public hearing. If pricing changes cover two or more municipal entities of Tomsk Oblast, a decision will be taken by a tariff committee of the Tomsk Oblast Administration consisting of officials, deputies, and members of the public. Publicity and transparency are key for keeping the public involved in tariff setting and protected against arbitrary tariff increase.
Boris Maltsev, Speaker of the Tomsk Oblast State Duma, held a traditional press-conference for journalists during the break
The Speaker commented on a number of the bills considered at the session.
‘You all remember a heated dispute around the Law "On setting of uniform tax rates applied in Tomsk Oblast under simplified taxation system"previous session. My major point then was whether we are really going to support small businesses in the crisis circumstances or just create the appearance of help. In the initial version of the document there was nothing but appearance. And today we are considering a revised version and I hope that we will finally adopt the mechanism (reduced and graded tax rates of 5% and 10%) which will really be a helping hand to small business. It will create a little budget deficit (50m rubles) but on the other hand it is real help’.
Among other bills the Speaker pointed out the bill "On prevention of offences in Tomsk Oblast".
‘It is a very seasonable law. In the crisis circumstances the criminal situation is getting worse, which gives rise to various offences. This law is aimed at reducing risks of offence. We are also adopting an important anti-corruption law which is unique in the Oblast’.
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