What will the State Duma do in the first month of spring?

The State Duma Council on Monday will determine the agenda of the first plenary meeting after the “regional week”. According to the previously approved calendar for the consideration of bills for March, in the first month of spring, deputies will deal primarily with internal issues. In particular, they are going to consider amendments by the government and the Supreme Court to the Code of Criminal Procedure aimed at humanizing the stay of convicts, suspects and accused in custody. Also in the plans is a priority bill from United Russia on compulsory insurance for military personnel and initiatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on measures to support large families.

A significant part of the March Duma agenda will consist of bills introduced by the government. Thus, already at the first spring meeting on March 12, the first reading of amendments to the Criminal Code (CC) on strengthening liability for involving a minor in crimes will take place. The Cabinet of Ministers proposes to add to Art. 150 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a separate qualifying feature is the involvement of minors in “committing three or more crimes of minor and (or) moderate gravity.” This is punishable by five to eight years in prison. The first reading of government amendments to the law “On the State Language” on the creation of the state information system “National Dictionary” is also expected: it is assumed that the new digital resource will combine data from Russian language dictionaries over the past three centuries.

The amendments to the Law “On Education”, obliging educational organizations to create special conditions for students with disabilities, must also undergo a second reading. Now such an obligation is provided for by by-laws – for example, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science. In addition, the term “forms of mental retardation” is proposed to be replaced with “intellectual disorders”. In the second reading, government amendments to the Housing Code will also be considered, establishing the right of the owner to rent out housing on a daily basis, subject to the rights of neighbors.

On March 26, the Duma intends to consider in the second reading amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers to the Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC), aimed at easing the conditions of detention of convicted persons, suspects and accused. The number of telephone conversations they are entitled to doubles to 12 per year. Persons who are the only parent of a child under 14 years of age will receive the right to an additional visit with him. Plans for March include the first reading of another bill aimed at humanizing the penal system. Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure introduced by the Supreme Court provide for the immediate release from serving a sentence of seriously ill convicts if such a decision is made by the court. According to current legislation, a person who falls ill with a serious illness that prevents him from serving his sentence can be released from it by the court, but this decision can be appealed within 15 days, and all this time the prisoners remain in prison. The Supreme Court points out that this state of affairs contradicts a number of norms of the Constitution on the right to life, protection from cruel punishment, etc. If the bill is adopted, court decisions on the release of seriously ill citizens from serving sentences will be executed immediately.

Finally, on March 27, the Duma will consider in the first reading the government bill “On the legalization of Russian and foreign official documents and on the requisition of personal documents.” The new norms will make it possible to confirm the authenticity of documents received abroad not only in Moscow, but also in almost 40 regional, regional and republican centers where there are territorial divisions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The procedure for requesting documents from another state will also change. The fee for this will not be charged automatically, but only if such an operation can be performed.

As for parliamentary initiatives, the March plans include several priority bills of factions: one from United Russia and two from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. The United Russia initiative on compulsory state insurance for military personnel and persons equivalent to them should be considered in the second reading on March 27. And the day before, deputies plan to discuss in the first reading two communist projects on assistance to large families. The authors propose to enshrine in legislation the concept of “large family” (it is proposed that this be considered a family where three or more children are raised until the youngest of them reaches 16 years of age, and in the case of full-time education at a university or secondary specialized educational institution – until graduation, but no longer than before they reach 23 years of age). According to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, the state should provide various support measures to such families, in particular, provide land plots and give children the right to free education.

On March 12, deputies will consider in the first reading a bill by members of the Duma Committee on Physical Education and Sports, which regulates the holding of the World Friendship Games. According to the presidential decree, the first such Games will be held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg in September 2024. Another project of the same committee concerns the legal regulation of the work of centers for early physical development of children: the Duma plans to consider it in the second reading on March 20. On the same day, the second reading of inter-factional amendments to the constitutional law “On the State Flag of the Russian Federation” will take place, obliging educational institutions of all levels and types of ownership to decorate their facades and territories with the Russian tricolor.

On March 20, the Duma may consider in the first reading amendments from LDPR deputies to the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO) on the unopposed expulsion of migrants from the Russian Federation for violating a number of its articles. Foreigners or stateless persons are proposed to be expelled for violating the state border regime and the regime at state border checkpoints, illegal work in the Russian Federation, violation of immigration rules, failure to comply with restrictions on certain types of activities and violation of the deadline for applying for a patent. According to current legislation, violation of these articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses entails a fine with or without possible deportation from the Russian Federation. True, the government did not support this bill, citing the position of the Constitutional Court, according to which, when imposing this type of punishment, the courts must take into account the proportionality of its goals and consequences.

Finally, plans for March include a bill from a group of deputies of all factions and senators, giving regional heads the right to dismiss mayors if they do not eliminate the reasons for the reprimand given to them by governors within a month. This initiative was adopted in the first reading in October last year, but the second reading of the document was repeatedly postponed.

Ksenia Veretennikova