Thursday’s morning session is over
03 October 2019, 15:01
The Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov opened Thursday’s plenary session.
The morning section
371 parliamentarians have registered to attend the plenary meeting.
The Chairman gave the floor to representatives of the parliamentary factions and groups to make their announcements, statements, reports and proposals.
The Verkhovna Rada carried the agenda of the current meeting.
The current agenda:
1. The Verkhovna Rada plans to see into an array of draft resolutions, including “About holding a parliamentary hearing on ‘Formation of Living Wage in Ukraine: Challenges and Problems’ (scheduled on December 18, 2019) and awarding the 2018 Verkhovna Rada Youth Prize for developing parliamentarism and local self-government.
- First reading
2. A revised version of the draft law “On amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the capital of Ukraine – the Hero-city of Kyiv’ (the bill No.2143, including the bills Nos.2143-1, 2143-2 and 2143-3 as the alternates).
3. The draft bill No.1233 “On amendments to the Labour Code of Ukraine (regarding elimination of regulations infringing the rights and legitimate interests of Ukrainian employers”).
- Second reading
4. The draft bill No.1031 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine regarding confiscation of illicitly acquired assets of politically exposed persons and punishment for acquiring such assets”.
5. The draft bill No.1046 “On concession”.
6. The draft bill No.1055-1 “On lease of state and communal property”.
7. The draft bill No.0893 “On amendments to Article 133-1 of the Administrative Offences Code of Ukraine to bolster accountability for unfounded refusal of concessionary transportation for some categories of citizens”.
8. A number of military-related laws and amendments to the Verkhovna Rada Regulations are also proposed for consideration on the second reading.
9. The parliament shall re-consider some laws carrying presidential proposals, including the bill No.0978 “On the Electoral Code of Ukraine” and the Law of Ukraine No.0977 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine to enhance responsibility for crimes against minors, underage or pre-pubertal persons” as well.
MPs proceeded with the business of the day.
Laws, bills and resolutions passed
On parliamentary hearing
--Draft resolution No.2167
By 338 ayes the parliament passed the draft resolution “About holding a parliamentary hearing on ‘Formation of Living Wage in Ukraine: Challenges and Problems’”. The event is slated for December the 18th, 2019.
On VRU youth prize
--Draft resolution No.2156
This award has not been granted for some reason in recent years. A fresh list of young people has just been submitted for the 2018 awards. Among them are those who actively participated in preparation of bills, projects, candidates of sciences, a champion of Paralympic Games, heads of youth public organizations. The youth committee believes that adoption of the bill will be an important signal of supporting youth by the new parliament and will help involve the young in lawmaking and establishing parliamentarism in our country. The paper was confirmed by 335 votes in favour.
On Ukraine’s capital city
--Draft bill No.2143 (including the bills Nos.2143-1, 2143-2, 2143-3 as the alternates)
The bill was initiated by 39 parliamentarians. Extremely large power is concentrated in the hands of the mayor, while the city’s districts feel quite weak in the hands. This power concentration has not justified itself - there are too many unresolved problems in the city as yet.
The bill proposes to restore district councils and split the positions of a mayor and a city council chief. The first reading of the bill was backed by 244 members of parliament.
On Olympics and Paralympics --Draft resolution No.2130 292 parliamentarians confirmed the second reading of the
draft resolution No.2130 “On provision of effective preparation and participation
of Ukraine’s national teams in the 2020 XXXII Olympics and XVI Paralympics”. On changes in Ukraine’s labour code --Draft bill No.1233 “On amendments to the Labour Code of Ukraine
(regarding elimination of regulations infringing the rights and legitimate
interests of Ukrainian employers”). The bill is aimed at waiving wages in
envelopes (aka ‘grey salaries’). To achieve
this, it is proposed to reduce pressure on businesses by
reducing fines. The instrument is
thought to be incentive by nature, not
punitive. Therefore, the line committee
proposes to adopt the bill on the first reading. The
parliament carried the bill by 288 ayes. About concession in Ukraine --Draft bill No.1046 The paper provides for non-pecuniary governmental aid
to investors, a tender selection of concessionaires to improve the quality of contenders.
The bill was backed by 257 ayes on the second reading and in tote. On construction norms and regulations --Draft bill No.1052 The bill aims at improving the quality of
building codes and reducing the number of unjustified mandatory
requirements. In particular, it is
envisaged to use a parametric method of standardization of construction works,
which is widely used in developed countries. The second reading of the draft bill No.1052 “On
amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On construction norms” regarding the improvement
of construction standardization” was confirmed by 259 members of parliament. On state & communal property lease --Draft bill No.1055-1 The second reading of the draft bill No.1055-1
“The Law of Ukraine “On lease of state and communal property” was approved by 263
parliamentarians. The paper is to introduce a single transparent auction system
for leasing state and municipal (communal) property. On more transparent ownership of digital TV providers --Draft bill No.2035 By 248 ayes there was carried the second reading
of the draft bill No.2035 “On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine
regarding ensuring ownership transparency of providers of nationwide
multi-channel digital terrestrial broadcasting networks”. On protection of property rights --Draft bill No.1056-1 The main purpose of the bill is to provide
additional guarantees of property rights protection in Ukraine. This will be achieved by amending a number of
legislative acts containing outdated and inefficient regulations. The bill provides for the elimination of major
legal loopholes that cause the sea of problems to property and business owners.
Provisions of the draft law provide for the termination of activities of
accredited entities (bodies), the introduction of
mandatory notarization for agreements on the alienation of corporate rights,
the introduction of the principle of synchrony between notarization and state
registration of rights procedures, and increasing responsibility for violation
of the relevant registration procedures. The second reading of the draft bill
No.1056-1 was backed by 284 members of parliament. On material liability of servicemen --Draft bill No.1225 The draft bill No.1225 “On material liability of
servicemen and some other persons”. At present, the issue of material liability
of servicemen is governed by a Soviet-era decree that is still in force. This
bill regularizes this issue. In the draft law, the amount of liability is
dependent on the damage caused, not income of the responsible person. It protects the rights of military personnel.
The second reading of the bill was backed by 276 parliamentarians. On military duty and service --Draft bill No.1227 The second reading of the draft bill No.1227 “On
amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On military duty and military service”
regarding refining some issues of military service for citizens” was approved
by 287 members of parliament. The first deputy speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk announced the creation of inter-factional parliamentary
associations “Vinnychyna”, “Odeshchyna”, “Prykarpattia”, “Pivden Ukrainy”, “Bukovyna”
and “The Parliamentary Platform for Fighting Tuberculosis”. The Chairman
of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Razumkov closed the morning plenary
session.