Almost half of the laws adopted in the spring session were initiated by United Russia

United Russia (ER) will sum up on July 25 the results of its work in the spring session of the State Duma. Secretary of the General Council of the party Andrei Turchak and head of the faction in the lower house Vladimir Vasilyev will discuss with the deputies at a meeting of the faction the laws adopted by the State Duma at the suggestion of United Russia. In total, according to the party, 452 laws were adopted in this session. Almost 40% of them were initiated by ER. Among them are several dozen, which United Russia members designate as “socially significant”, including laws that relate to support for participants in a special military operation and their families.

In particular, the press service of the party gives an example, the State Duma fixed a five-day period for receiving insurance payments for the military, simplified the procedure for recognizing citizens who participated in a special operation as missing and dead – in order to receive social and insurance payments and provide social support measures to family members. For the same category, the right to credit holidays is granted to all co-borrowers of a special operation participant. And in the event of his death or recognition as a disabled person of group I, the loan obligations of parents and co-borrowers are terminated. The law extended the status of a veteran and invalid of military operations to persons who took part in hostilities as part of the forces of the DPR or LPR from May 11, 2014. Volunteer formations will have the same status. They received the opportunity to undergo free medical and psychological rehabilitation. In addition, volunteers and members of their families are exempted from the accrual of penalties for utilities.

The second block of socially significant laws adopted in the spring session concerns support for families with children. Legislators have increased the maximum tax deduction for child education expenses to 110,000 rubles, for educational and medical services – up to 150,000 rubles. And families with two or more children were exempted from paying personal income tax when selling land, provided that the funds are used to improve housing conditions. Graduates of schools in the regions adjacent to the special operation zone got the opportunity to enter universities without passing the exam. In addition, school buses are exempt from toll roads.

As political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov notes, “parties are generally in the background of the voter’s attention”: “He sees that on key issues they act as a united front and, in fact, are part of the government.” But “United Russia” partly “privatized” the topic of the special operation, support for veterans and their families, this is now the main topic on the information agenda, the rest will simply “dissolve” in it, political scientist Alexander Nemtsev believes. United Russia had to make unpopular decisions related to conscription, the expert noted.

However, these areas of work, apparently, correspond to the perceptions of voters about the United Russia. For example, how wrote Vedomosti in November 2022, 45% of ER voters talk about a request for support for participants in the military operation and their families. This is the main requirement for the party.

In the autumn elections in the regions, it is premature to use the topic of a special operation, Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the political technologies committee of the RASO, believes. Other social initiatives can cause the greatest response within the current election campaign, he believes: on the safety of children’s summer holidays, increasing the amount of material assistance to students by eliminating personal income tax, increasing the tax deduction to 110,000 rubles. for educating children and banning vapes. “That is, everything that in one way or another worries families with children. They become the basic electoral group with which United Russia works,” the expert concluded.

The last plenary session of the State Duma will take place on July 26.