The reason why Taiwan's legislators are fighting is because the Legislative Yuan wants to expand its power, which infringes on the interests of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Currently, the Taiwan government is controlled by the DPP, while the courts are independent, but the Legislative Yuan is controlled by the Kuomintang (KMT) and the People's Party. Because in the past eight years, the DPP also controlled the Legislative Yuan, leading to the Legislative Yuan completely following the government's orders, losing its supervisory function. The KMT and the People's Party drafted an expansion of powers bill, allowing the Legislative Yuan to check and balance the government, but it infringed on the DPP's interests. However, the rules of the Legislative Yuan are that the side with more votes wins, and the side with fewer votes loses. The DPP cannot use legitimate channels to stop the vote, so they want to use violence to solve the problem. Therefore, the fighting began.
What are the contents of the Legislative Yuan Reform Bill 5?
1. Normalizing the President's National Intelligence Report: The President should submit the National Intelligence Report to the Legislative Yuan before February 1 each year and make a report before March 1. The new President should submit the National Intelligence Report within two weeks of taking office and make a report within one month. That is to say, if the bill passes before May 20, the new President, Lai Qingde, will have to go to the Legislative Yuan for a National Intelligence Report before June 20.
2. The Legislative Yuan's investigative powers and the right to hold hearings: The Legislative Yuan adds two new chapters, "Exercise of Investigative Powers" and "Exercise of Hearing Powers," which clearly define the rights of legislators to investigate and summon related persons. Can exercise investigative powers and the right to review for bills or matters of major relevance.
3. Contempt of Congress: Legislators, in exercising their investigative powers, may require government agencies, units, corporate bodies, and groups to provide relevant documents, books, and other materials within five days, and may question related personnel as necessary or order them to testify. Serious government officials may be referred for impeachment or disciplinary action, and those who make false statements may be sentenced to up to one year in prison, detention, or a fine of less than NT$200,000.
4. Strengthening the Legislative Yuan's consent power: When the Legislative Yuan exercises its consent power, it does not go through discussion and is submitted to the plenary session of the committee for review. After the review, it is proposed to the plenary session for a roll-call vote, and if more than half of the total number of legislators agree, it is passed.
5. The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Yuan are elected by a roll-call vote of legislators.