Summer corrections with a view of autumn – Kommersant

The legislative process in the State Duma continues, despite the parliamentary holidays: in almost a month since the closing of the spring session, almost fifty bills have been submitted to the lower house. Thematically, they do not stand out from the usual Duma agenda. Thus, the presidential amendments consolidate the legal gap between the Russian Federation and the Council of Europe, deputies and senators have prepared a number of new joint initiatives to support participants in a special military operation (SVO) and their families, and opposition factions are focusing on social projects. But a feature of this summer was the increased legislative activity of opposition deputies participating in the autumn elections of the mayor of Moscow.

The bills introduced during the 2023 Duma holidays by the president and the government do not require expedited consideration and are likely to be included in the agenda shortly after the start of the autumn session. First of all, this concerns the presidential amendments to the constitutional laws on the state of emergency and martial law. In connection with the withdrawal of the Russian Federation from the Council of Europe, Vladimir Putin proposed to exclude from these laws the norms requiring the Russian authorities to inform this organization in the event of the introduction or termination of martial law or a state of emergency in Russia. At the same time, the need to inform the UN Secretary General will continue.

In addition, the head of state submitted for ratification an agreement on joint logistics and medical support for the troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), as well as an agreement between Russia and Belarus on mutual recognition and enforcement of decisions on cases of administrative offenses in the field of traffic.

In turn, the government initiated amendments, according to which citizens will be able to receive social benefits for the burial of a deceased relative through the State Services. The Cabinet of Ministers also proposed to oblige state housing inspectorates to keep a register of minutes of the general meeting of owners in an apartment building regarding the decision to carry out major repairs.

As a rule, parliamentarians themselves introduce bills on the subject of SVO. So, senators Andrey Turchak and Andrey Kutepov proposed to equate to social entrepreneurs with the provision of various state benefits to employers who employ SVO participants. A group of deputies and senators submitted a draft on the termination of obligations under guarantee agreements for servicemen who died or became disabled in the NVO zone. And members of the Just Russia – For Truth faction, led by leader Sergei Mironov, advocated the establishment in the Labor Code of additional leave and increased wages for citizens working in the new regions of the Russian Federation.

Related to the topic of confrontation with the “collective West” is the factional bill on regulating research in the field of trade activities and consumer markets in the Russian Federation. As noted in the explanatory note, over the past 20 years, such studies in Russia have been carried out by companies from unfriendly countries. Therefore, the deputies propose to establish that only a Russian legal entity with a total revenue for the last calendar year of at least 30 million rubles can be the organizer of such studies. At the same time, at least 80% of the authorized capital in the organization must be owned by Russian individuals or legal entities.

Several initiatives are “peaceful” in nature, but are capable of causing serious controversy when considered. For example, another joint project of representatives of both chambers gives the regional authorities the right to impose a ban on the retail sale of alcoholic products in the provision of catering services or impose time limits on the sale of alcohol. According to the current legislation, the constituent entities of the Russian Federation have the right to establish additional restrictions, but this rule does not apply to catering establishments. Discussions are also possible about the amendments of a group of deputies headed by the chairman of the anti-corruption committee Vasily Piskarev (United Russia): they proposed to strengthen the responsibility for petty bribery and petty commercial bribery (no more than 10 thousand rubles) and classify them as crimes subject to confiscation of property.

Meanwhile, the Duma opposition, also following a long tradition, has developed several bills of a social nature, which are unlikely to have a chance of being adopted, but should attract the attention of voters. Thus, the communists, led by Gennady Zyuganov, introduced amendments allowing internally displaced persons from Chechnya who received social benefits for housing, but did not purchase it, to restore the right to receive housing (as of 2021, 519 such families remained in Russia). Deputies and senators from the LDPR once again called for the resumption of indexation of pensions for working pensioners, which stopped in 2016 (the party made the previous such attempt at the end of 2022). In addition, the Liberal Democrats proposed indefinite support for small businesses that sell books for children and teenagers, provide all schoolchildren with hot meals and prohibit the dismissal of single parents raising children under 16 years old.

Finally, the vice-speakers of the Duma, Vladislav Davankov (New People) and Boris Chernyshov (LDPR), who are running for mayor of Moscow, are especially active this summer.

The former, together with his colleagues in the faction, introduced several bills on high-profile topics at once. In particular, they proposed to give a deferment from conscription to parents of children under the age of three and citizens who have dependent children with disabilities under the age of 18 (now the deferral is granted to single parents, persons with two or more children or a disabled child up to years); to include in the recruitment commission representatives of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the region, parties and human rights NGOs; allow schools to introduce mandatory school uniform requirements only with the consent of more than half of the parents. And personally, Mr. Davankov introduced amendments that are very relevant for Muscovites, according to which the dynamics of the increase in parking fees should not be higher than the growth rate of the average monthly nominal accrued salary in the corresponding subject of the Russian Federation.

Boris Chernyshov, in addition to participating in factional projects, put forward several personal initiatives “on the topic of the day.” For example, he proposed to amend the Labor Code to reduce the working day at the request of the employee at high air temperatures (at 28.5 ° C – for an hour, from 28.6 to 29 ° C – for two hours, from 29.1 ° C and more – by four hours) and supplement the law on advertising with a norm according to which the interruption of a TV program by advertising blocks must be accompanied by a demonstration of a countdown until the resumption of broadcasting. In addition, the vice-speaker from the Liberal Democratic Party proposed to legalize the opportunity to spend maternity capital on the education of the mother.

The introduction of bills in the summer, when the Duma is on vacation, by and large does not make practical sense, explains Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the RASO committee on political technologies: session starting September 18th. But the opposition parties and the deputies participating in the Moscow mayoral elections, who this summer “greatly increased their legislative activity”, have somewhat different motives, the expert notes: “Their calculation is that against the background of the absence of noticeable government projects and legislative proposals from United Russia “Opposition initiatives will be more visible in the media and social networks. This, in turn, can bring additional points to party candidates in the elections.”

Ksenia Veretennikova