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The Legislative Duma of Tomsk Oblast
30.07.2009. XXX Session of the Tomsk Oblast State Duma
 46 items on the agenda, including 29 bills.The deputies approved appointment of Aleksey Anikin to the position of the head of the Tomsk Oblast Public Property Management Departement. Previously, Mr. Anikin headed the Public Contract and Pricing Policy Department of Tomsk Oblast.
The deputies made changes to the executive structure of the Tomsk Oblast Administration. They established a new Committee on Nuclear Power Industry Development. As Oksana Kozlovskaya, Deputy Governor of Tomsk Oblast, noted, so far as allocations from the federal budget have shrunk, the issue of construction of a nuclear power station in Tomsk Oblast has gained critical importance.
The deputies supported a proposal to amend the Oblast Law ‘On allocation of inter-budgetary transfers’. The amendments concern the purchase of nine school buses financed from the regional and local budgets (under co-financing terms). The current school bus demand is 25 buses. In handling this issue the region can rely only upon its own resources since the national project which provided opportunities to buy school buses for federal money has terminated. Vladimir Ponomarenko, Chairman of the Budgetary and Financial Committee of the Oblast Duma, assured the deputies that the necessary sum is available in the regional budget.
In the second and final reading the bill ‘On patronage’ (On charity, patronage, and sponsorship in Tomsk Oblast) was passed. The bill defines the procedure and purposes of charity, patronage, and sponsorship in Tomsk Oblast as well as measures of state support in this area. There was a proposal to establish special Tomsk Oblast awards and other incentives for charity providers, patrons, and sponsors.
The Law ‘On museums and museum management in Tomsk Oblast’ was adopted by the Duma in the second and final reading. The Law lays down the powers of the local authorities in the sphere of museum-keeping; its purpose is to provide a clear and coherent framework for preservation of museum pieces and collections.
Amendments were made to the Oblast Law ‘On social benefits to citizens for purchase (construction) of housing in Tomsk Oblast’. Also, the Oblast Law ‘On improvement of housing conditions of public sector workers in Tomsk Oblast’ was restored. Those two Laws shall be enforced to provide conditions for public sector workers in need of housing to take out mortgage loans for housing construction.
The Oblast deputies made certain amendments to the regional laws concerning support for the veterans of the Great Patriotic War (World War II). Recently, the federal authorities have given an order to increase the total area of a housing unit provided to the disabled servicemen and veterans from 22 to 36 sq m in order to determine the amount of the social benefit paid to that category of population. Accordingly, amendments were made to the Oblast Law ‘On social support forms and procedures in provision of housing to veterans, disabled citizens and families with disabled children’. Aleksandr Gusev, Head of the Oblast Civil Construction Department, reported that 61 veteran of the Great Patriotic War are currently registered on the waiting list to be provided with the social benefit. To that end, the federal authorities allocated 83.7m rubles to Tomsk Oblast. Before December 10, 2009 the regional authorities should provide housing to all veterans on the waiting list.
The Oblast deputies extended the list of categories of citizens having the right for free land plot for private housing construction. Vladimir Kravchenko, as a deputy, put forward an initiative to complement the list with combat veterans and disabled, as well as widows of those lost. The deputies encouraged their colleague by entering in two readings the relevant amendments to the Oblast Law ‘On grant and confiscation of land plots in Tomsk Oblast’. Currently, over 6,500 combat veterans, several hundreds of disabled servicemen maimed or given serious disease during military service live in Tomsk Oblast. As of February this year, nearly 390 combat veterans and disabled are registered as in need of improving housing conditions in Tomsk Oblast. Part of them could resolve this problem by participating in private housing construction.
Amendments to the Oblast Laws concerning people holding public positions, in particular, civil officers, were passed in the first reading. By the Presidential Edict regulating the procedure for declaring income and property details of public officers and members of their families, the regions were recommended to provide such regulations at the local level. Besides, along with those already holding such positions these innovations concern also the contenders. According to Grigory Shamin, the Tomsk Oblast Duma Law Committee Chairman, the amendments are passed in the first reading for the moment. The point is that the Presidential Edict recommends applying these regulations to executive and legislative bodies as well. To avoid mixing of powers of these two branches, we must complete the issues regarding the procedure for declaring details of public officers. The similar amendments were passed in the first reading to the Oblast Anti-Corruption Law.
Amendments to the Law ‘On leasing and gratuitous use of Tomsk Oblast public property’ introduced by the Oblast Administration provoked quite a number of remarks. A. Anikin, Head of the Public Property Management Department, clarified that the amendments were aimed at regulation of the Oblast authorities powers related to taking decisions on property matters and extend the Duma right thereof. However, the deputies did not share that point of view. G. Shamin, Chairman of the Tomsk Oblast Duma Law Committee, remarked that the Law not only presupposed the auctions and tenders, but also allowed to avoid them. Meanwhile, all similar exceptions are already covered by the Federal Law. According to the majority, the bill is excessively and unfoundedly complicated. It was decided to postpone its adoption until the August session. A dedicated task group was proposed to improve the bill.
Within ‘A Governor’s Hour’ the deputies were familiarized with the information on implementation of the Oblast Target Program ‘Development of Small and Medium Business in Tomsk Oblast for 2008-2010’. Andrey Trubitsin, Head of the Department for Development of Entrepreneurship and Real Economy Sector of Tomsk Oblast, told about main measures of the Program and amount of its financing. Despite financial challenges, support for small business increases: compared to 2008, when 153m rubles were spent for that end, over 321m rubles are provided in 2009. The activities intended to develop business and create new jobs include holding of tenders for the first-time entrepreneurs, establishing of business support centers in municipal entities, Tomsk Oblast Guarantee Fund, etc. These measures allow creating and stabilizing almost 5,000 lobs during 2009.
Boris Maltsev, Speaker of the Duma, believes that more importance should be attached to creation of new jobs at the existing enterprises rather than to efforts on support for emerging small businesses. The wisdom of such an approach is already being contemplated in the government.
Vladimir Zhidkikh, representative of the Tomsk Oblast State Duma in the federal government, asked a question about the share of innovative enterprises in the total host of small business entities. According to Andrey Trubitsyn, among the winners of the contest ‘Business-Start’ in 2009 innovative companies were holding a 15% share, and efforts are currently being taken to push that number higher.
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