PiS Proposes Law Requiring Voivodeship Assembly Consent for Session Adjournments

07/12/2018

11:31

Michał Olech

- Under the current legal framework, the Act on Voivodeship Self-Government does not address the issue of chairpersons of voivodeship assemblies declaring breaks in sessions. Consequently, these competencies are determined by the statutes of individual voivodeships, which allow chairpersons to make decisions regarding declaring breaks and setting their duration. Such broad powers of chairpersons can lead to the paralysis of the assembly's work, for example, in situations where a chairperson, not wanting to put a motion for their own removal, the appointment of a deputy chairperson, or the election of the voivodeship board to a vote, repeatedly declares breaks, thereby preventing the continuation of session deliberations and the election of the voivodeship self-government authorities - it was stated in the justification for the project proposed by PiS, which was submitted to the Sejm today. This most likely concerns the situation in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. - The competencies of the chairpersons of voivodeship assemblies should be further defined to prevent actions such as the failure to implement the agenda, persistent declarations of breaks to prevent the consideration of specific agenda items, or the closure of sessions despite the lack of consideration of all agenda items. Preventing such destructive practices by introducing the requirement of voivodeship assembly consent for declaring a break should be considered consistent with the public interest. Thanks to this, the adjournment of deliberations will depend on the consent of the majority, not on the unilateral decision of the chairperson - argue the initiators.

Michał Olech