The ruling Grand National Party is pushing its timetable on laws relating to health and welfare issues without holding a single public hearing on them, saying it will pass them before the year is out, giving rise to the possibility the legislation will remain controversial even after being passed.
The GNP has asked the National Assembly speaker to invoke his authority to circumvent committee processes and send bills directly to the main floor on no fewer than 85 pieces of legislation. Four relate to health and welfare, including the Act on Organizations Receiving Social Welfare Donations (
Sahoe Bokji Gonddong Mogeum Hoe Beop) and the National Pension and Local-Occupational Pension Linkage Act (
Gungmin Yeongeum Gwa Jigyeok Yeongeum Gan-ui Yeongye-e Gwanhan Beop).
The Act on Organizations Receiving Social Welfare Donations is mainly about expanding the scope of institutions that are recognized by the government for their unique status as social welfare fundraising structures. Private fundraising groups and members of academia are strongly criticizing the legislation, saying that the Lee Myung-bak administration is moving to take control of those private groups and that the bill is being pushed along without any public hearings on the part of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee.
“Ten years ago, before the creation of the Act on Organizations Receiving Social Welfare Donations, the government would collect donations from the Korean people as ‘end-of-the-year donations for the needy’ only to use the money for social welfare projects at its discretion,” said Lee Tae-su, a professor at Kkot Tongnae Hyundo University of Social Welfare. “This is highly suspicious for being a move by the government to gain control of as much as 300 billion won in financial resources, which it can then use to support groups that are friendly to the administration.”
Despite the fact it would be an entirely new law, the National Pension and Local-Occupational Pension Linkage Act is the subject of criticism because the GNP has left out any process of gathering public opinion on the matter, such as a public hearing, at the related committee. If passed, the act would allow people to receive pension payments after twenty years of participation in both pension programs, calculating combined years of membership from either. While the opposition parties and civic groups agree on the need to help those who are neglected by the pension system, they criticize the process, calling it “hasty legislation” (
jolsok ipbeop) for eliminating discussion about who qualifies and how much they should then receive.
“We agree with the spirit of the bill, since the Democratic Party also made this a campaign promise, but there needs to be discussion about how much is appropriate for people to receive as income in their elder years, and to go beyond just resolving the issue of people being outside of the system,” said Heo Yun-jeong of the Democratic Party’s Health and Welfare Advisory Board. “They haven’t even decided whether people who receive one-time payments (
banhwan ilsi geum) in the form of accumulated severance pay (
toejik geum) qualify or not, so this law is going to cause problems after it takes effect next year.”
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