"Stop Wild Passing"... United Party Proposes Bill to Prevent Ruling Party's Solo Legislation

Assemblyman Gu Ja-geun Proposes '30-Day Guarantee' Bill for Agenda Adjustment Committee
Assemblywoman Yoon Joo-kyung Proposes Bill to Prohibit Standing Committee Chairs from Holding Party Membership

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] The United Future Party has consecutively proposed bills to check the ruling Democratic Party's legislative dominance. The intention is to prevent situations like the recent real estate-related bill process, where the opposition was bypassed and the bill was passed within half a day.

On the 31st of last month, Ku Ja-geun, a member of the United Future Party, proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act to guarantee a minimum one-month activity period for the National Assembly's Agenda Coordination Committee.

Currently, during the standing committee's bill review process, if there are sharp disagreements between the ruling and opposition parties requiring adjustment, the matter is coordinated through the Agenda Coordination Committee. If more than one-third of the total members request, the committee must be convened, serving as a system for minority members who lose in the standing committee vote.

However, although the Agenda Coordination Committee is guaranteed a 90-day activity period, if four out of six members (two-thirds) agree, the adjustment and consultation procedures can be skipped, and the bill can be immediately decided. Considering that the Justice Party, classified as part of the ruling coalition, is mostly assigned to key standing committees, the United Future Party judges that even if the Agenda Coordination Committee is convened, the adjustment process is likely to be skipped. The Justice Party also participated in the recent real estate-related bill process.

This is also why the United Future Party did not request the Agenda Coordination Committee despite the ruling party's forceful bill processing. Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, recently said in a radio interview, "Why wouldn't we have considered the Agenda Coordination Committee?" and added, "The Democratic Party can select members within the opposition who will support them for the committee, so the Agenda Coordination Committee can also decide within a day," revealing its limitations.

In response, Representative Ku proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act that requires at least 30 days to pass after the Agenda Coordination Committee is convened before a decision can be made. Ku stated, "The Agenda Coordination Committee is a system to derive the best results through sufficient deliberation and discussion between the ruling and opposition parties regarding bills," and explained the background of the proposal, saying, "It is necessary to legally guarantee at least a one-month deliberation and consultation period to supplement institutional vulnerabilities."

Meanwhile, on the same day, Representative Yoon Joo-kyung proposed an amendment to the National Assembly Act to prohibit standing committee chairs from holding party affiliations, similar to the Speaker of the National Assembly. This is a measure to assign responsibility for conducting meetings from a neutral position. While the Speaker, representing the National Assembly, is currently prohibited from holding party affiliation to ensure neutrality under the National Assembly Act, this does not apply to the chairs representing each standing committee.

Yoon explained, "Although the current law specifies that the chair must set the agenda and meeting times in consultation with the ruling and opposition floor leaders, there was an incident during the recent bill process where the agenda was unilaterally handled without bipartisan agreement," adding, "This aims to secure fairness in conducting proceedings."