The government has prepared another batch of reviews of parliamentary bills

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities on Monday considered a number of parliamentary initiatives. Conceptually, the draft law of members of the Duma Committee on Physical Education and Sports on the right of civil servants and military personnel to receive payment for participation in competitions was supported. At the same time, the commission either completely rejected several projects or recognized them as “in need of significant improvement” – including the initiative of United Russia member Andrei Kartapolov on the right of the Ministry of Defense to independently organize educational activities in cadet corps.

The government commission, although taking into account modifications, still supported the bill prepared by members of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sports, headed by its chairman Dmitry Svishchev (LDPR). They proposed giving the right to receive payment for participation in competitions to athletes in government and military service. According to current legislation, these categories of citizens are prohibited from engaging in other paid activities in addition to their main jobs. Let us note that similar amendments were introduced by deputies of United Russia (UR) in 2020, but they themselves withdrew them, although the government gave a positive opinion on the bill even then. Now the legal commission is asking the authors to distinguish between the categories of military personnel who can engage in other paid activities and those who have the right to go on business trips abroad to participate in competitions.

The co-author of both initiatives was Anton Shipulin (ER), so it can be assumed that the problem with receiving such rewards occurs in biathlon, which he was successfully involved in before being elected to parliament, explains Pavel Sklyanchuk, a member of the committee of the Russian Association of Public Relations (RASO): “ In particular, as a State Duma deputy, Shipulin cannot continue to perform at competitions, since by status he has no right to engage in other paid activities other than teaching, scientific and other creative activities.” The difficulty of passing the amendments is due to the fact that the bill was initiated to stimulate sports achievements, and law enforcement agencies view it through the prism of athletes’ compliance with their service duties, the expert suggests: “The case of Olympic champion and army captain Elena Isinbayeva in this context is more than clear and has also split the public opinion on how the ministries were divided when discussing the project. In particular, the Duma Defense Committee was concerned about the participation of Russian military personnel in sporting events organized at the expense of foreign states and their travel abroad. Thus, this is already the third edition of the concept of the bill and, most likely, not the last.”

At the same time, the amendments by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense Andrei Kartapolov (ER) to the law on education were recognized by the government commission as “requiring significant revision.” United Russia proposed to give the Ministry of Defense the right, in agreement with the Ministry of Education, to organize educational activities in cadet corps under the jurisdiction of the military department. The commission points out that cadet corps can also be created at the regional level, which means that the bill violates the “unified approach and logic of legal regulation” of the work of such organizations.

The government commission also did not support the project of the head of the Duma Committee on Labor and Social Policy, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), who proposed, from January 1, 2024, to establish a payment in the amount of the minimum wage for families with children from 6 to 18 years old, as well as with disabled people under 23 years old, continuing their education general education programs. The government decided that this approach does not correspond to the concept of targeting social assistance, since it is proposed to be paid to all families, regardless of whether they need it or not. The commission also reminds that in Russia “a comprehensive system of state support for families with children with differentiated amounts of payments has been built, covering all families in need, from the woman’s pregnancy until the child reaches the age of 17 years.”

Another LDPR deputy, Sergei Leonov, proposed amending the Criminal Code (CC) to qualify as an aggravating circumstance an attack on medical workers during the performance of their official duties. The government in the draft review notes that, according to the Criminal Code, the commission of a crime against a person in connection with the performance of his official activities is already an aggravating circumstance. To achieve the goal of increasing the safety of doctors, toughening punishment alone is not enough, the government commission concluded.

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov (“New People”) took the initiative to fine foreigners for “offensive harassment of citizens.” To do this, he proposed supplementing Article 20.1 “petty hooliganism” of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) with a new part 6, providing for a fine of 4 to 5 thousand rubles. with administrative expulsion from the Russian Federation. In this regard, the government reminds that the Code of Administrative Offenses already provides for liability for offensive harassment, obscene language in public places and damage to other people’s property, and the explanatory note to the draft contains no evidence of the ineffectiveness of the current legal regulation. In addition, the commission refers to the decision of the Constitutional Court of October 6, 2022, which indicated that a formal approach is unacceptable in matters of the expulsion of foreigners.

Deputies of A Just Russia – For Truth, led by party and faction leader Sergei Mironov, proposed, on the contrary, to encourage “good” foreigners participating in a special military operation in Ukraine with the right to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified manner. However, the legal commission rejected this idea, noting in its conclusion that, in accordance with Article 89 of the Constitution, citizenship issues are under the jurisdiction of the president, and it is the head of state who determines the categories of citizens who can be admitted to Russian citizenship for humanitarian or other purposes through a simplified procedure.

Ksenia Veretennikova