Moon Hee-sang's Final Bill: Authority to 'Expel' Lawmakers and Cut Allowances for Absentee Legislators

Confirmation Hearings Should Be Divided into 'Ethics' and 'Competence'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Park Cheol-eung] On the 5th, Moon Hee-sang, Speaker of the National Assembly, announced that he had proposed a package bill for parliamentary reform on the 4th. The bill includes provisions such as holding a standing monthly parliament and reducing the allowances and activity expenses of members who are absent without special reasons. It also includes measures allowing the Speaker to prohibit members from speaking or to expel them to maintain order. Speaker Moon had suffered from the blockade of the Speaker's office and violent scuffles during the passage of the fast-track bills at the end of last year. He suggested separating personnel hearings into 'ethics' and 'capability' categories.

On that day, Speaker Moon said, "The 21st National Assembly is intended to start as a mature parliament that earns the trust and love of the people, reflecting the last wish of a six-term politician and parliamentarian."

According to the amendment to the National Assembly Act, if a member disrupts order in the chamber and does not comply after two warnings from the Speaker, the Speaker may prohibit the member from speaking or expel them. A new regulation was established to discipline violations. Additionally, except for regular sessions, a temporary session will be held on the 1st of every month (on the 10th in December), and during the session, the plenary session must be convened at least five times during regular sessions and at least twice during temporary sessions. This aims to establish a standing parliamentary system.

If a member is absent without submitting a leave request or absence report, 10% of their daily allowance and monthly activity expenses will be deducted. To prevent parliamentary paralysis or legislative delays, the Speaker is required to consult with the Steering Committee on the basic annual schedule of parliamentary operations. The bill reflects the intention to prevent the opening of the parliament from becoming a subject of negotiation among negotiating groups.

To eradicate so-called 'note budgets,' it is explicitly stated that budget bills cannot be reviewed in the form of subcommittee meetings but only in full committee meetings, and the Ethics Special Committee will be made permanent. To prevent the Legislation and Judiciary Committee from infringing on essential content, the scope of review will be clarified, and if the relevant committee objects to the systematic or wording review, the originally approved bill can be submitted to the plenary session with the approval of three-fifths of the committee members.

The bill also includes obligations to prevent conflicts of interest by prohibiting members from using official information for private purposes and requires recusal obligations, such as prohibiting voting and questioning when fair work is difficult to expect. It also specifies an obligation to pre-report family relations and property status under stricter standards than other laws such as the Public Officials Ethics Act.

Regarding the amendment to the Personnel Hearing Act, the main point is to separate it into 'Public Office Ethics Hearing' and 'Public Office Capability Hearing.' The Public Office Ethics Hearing will be held in principle as a closed session, prohibiting the disclosure of candidate information, and extending the processing period for appointment consent bills from the current 20 days to 30 days.

Additionally, the appointing authority must attach a pre-verification report when submitting appointment consent bills, and if the personnel hearing is completed, a voting procedure for adopting the review progress report must be conducted within three days.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.