The government commission did not support the social initiatives of the parliamentary opposition

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities on Monday approved a new package of reviews of parliamentary initiatives. It was mainly about projects of a social or even openly populist nature, introduced by representatives of the opposition. Among them are amendments from A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP) on an excess profit tax for oil, gas and coal companies, as well as a number of proposals from SRZP and LDPR to support families, children, employees, etc. The government did not support all of these bills – mostly as unreasonable or excessive.

Amendments to include oil, gas and coal companies as payers of excess profit tax from January 1, 2024 have become one of the SRRP program initiatives. But this did not convince the government commission of the need to support it. “Measures have already been taken with regard to these organizations to seize additional income through an increase in the mineral extraction tax,” the review laconically states.

SRZP leader Sergei Mironov proposed establishing, as additional measures to support large young families, an interest-free targeted loan for housing with a repayment period of up to 25 years and a preferential rate on loans for the purchase or construction of housing. The commission responded by pointing out that “at the federal and regional levels a whole system of support measures has been built” for families in the housing issue, and the author, in violation of Art. 83 of the Budget Code did not identify sources of financing for new spending obligations.

The amendments of LDPR Chairman Leonid Slutsky to the Family Code to impose on the guardianship authorities the obligation to pay alimony if the debtor does not pay them for more than six months were not supported either. Their size is proposed to be determined by the constituent entities of the Russian Federation (not higher than the amount specified in the executive documents, and not lower than the regional subsistence level for children). The Commission in its review notes that in this way the obligation to pay alimony is actually shifted to the state, which can lead to an even greater reduction in the responsibility of alimony providers. The commission considers the balance of protection of the rights and legitimate interests of the debtor and the claimant to be sufficient in the legislation and, moreover, again refers to a violation of Art. 83 of the Budget Code.

The same Mr. Slutsky came up with the idea of ​​introducing social certificates for children who did not have enough places in kindergartens. The review states that the mechanism for implementing this idea “is unclear, since the procedure and criteria for providing a social certificate, as well as the methods for its implementation, are not defined by the bill.” It is also unclear how much money will need to be allocated for this initiative, since there is no data on the number of children who do not have enough places in kindergartens. Another social project of the Liberal Democrats – about printing instructions for medications in large font, size (point size) of at least 12 points – also did not find support in the government. The Commission notes that the minimum font size (8 points) was approved by order of the Ministry of Health, which, in turn, meets the requirements for instructions approved by the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Also, LDPR deputies proposed amendments to the Labor Code to increase the period for an employee to go to court in disputes about dismissal from one to two months from the date of delivery of the dismissal order. The commission in its review recalls that this issue has more than once become “the subject of constitutional control” and one month was recognized as a sufficient period, and in general, the rights of workers when considering labor disputes are “sufficiently protected.”

Finally, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR) proposed giving citizens the opportunity to allocate maternity capital funds for their children to receive paid medical services and medications as prescribed by a doctor. The commission, however, referred to the program of state guarantees of free medical care, in which children are already “paid special attention.” The author was also reminded of the “Circle of Good” fund created by presidential decree to support children with serious illnesses.

“A large number of initiatives of the LDPR and SRZP do not turn into quality, but they are not chasing this,” commented Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the Russian Public Relations Association. “It is important for the LDPR to publicly stake out the topic first, so that even ten years later, when a similar idea will be embodied in law, to declare that it was necessary to listen to them. The SRHR has good ideas, but the legal elaboration of the text is poor.” As for the project on an excess profit tax for oil and gas companies, it was introduced in September 2023, when it became clear that the government would implement such a mechanism, the expert points out. In addition, he believes that “thematic” years are certainly a source of inspiration for opposition factions: now it is the Year of the Family, and “before that there were teachers and mentors.”

Ksenia Veretennikova