Xinhua Insight: New laws speeding through under legislative relaxation

China's first domestic violence law, to take effect on March 1, was adopted after two hearings, instead of the ordinary three, an example of the changing rhythm and style of the current legislature.

The top legislature said it did not insist on protocol in this case because the bill addressed an urgent issue that the law has failed to cover for too long and there was a solid consensus among lawmakers that it was ready for a vote at the second reading.

Though there were only two readings at an interval of four months, lawmakers had been involved in the drafting much earlier, with several pieces of research done in the past few years and in-depth discussions with the government and women's associations, said Chen Jialin, an official with the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, who was deeply involved in the drafting.

This led to a carefully written draft and ensured lawmakers were well informed on the topic, he said.

Liang Ying, a senior official with the legislative affairs commission, told Xinhua that lawmakers and staff of the NPC Standing Committee are working much faster on more difficult bills to higher standards than they were a few years back.

"Not only has the time span of reading a bill been shortened in some legislations but also the frequency of revising laws has notably increased," Liang said.

A major revision to the food safety law was adopted in April 2015. The revision process started in 2014, five years after the law took effect, a rather short interval for such a large-scale amendment, in which the number of articles increased from 105 to 154 with key articles rewritten.

The food safety bill was just one of 12 bills reviewed by the administrative law division under the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission last year.

"The workload in 2015 was much heavier compared with previous years. Most bills focus on the most immediate needs of our society," said Huang Wei, the division's deputy head.

GUARDIAN OF REFORM

The reason why the legislature is working to such a packed schedule largely lies in the leadership's resolve to promote the rule of law and ensure the legitimacy of the ongoing reform.

Since a blueprint to promote the rule of law was adopted at a key Party session in 2014, bills of law amendment or legal authorization related to reform policies have flooded in.

Now almost all major reforms and new pilot projects look for the legislature's authorization.

The latest act of this kind was a State Council motion to no longer require firms to get approval for stock listings on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses. Lawmakers examined and adopted a motion requiring firms to merely register their intentions at the bi-monthly legislative session in December.

If a reform policy involves minor deviation from a law, it will be held until the legislature look into this issue, mostly in the form of a bill that makes minor revisions to several related laws in a package so as to facilitate the new policy.

Last year the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission's economic law division reviewed six package bills that involved minor revisions to a total of 25 laws.

In the earlier stage of China's reform and opening-up drive since 1978, some reform policies initiated by the government might precede legal actions.

"After more than 30 years of reform, China is focused on deepening reform along the track of the rule of law," said Zhao Bingzhi, head of Beijing Normal University Law School.

"In the past, we have tended to pilot reforms first and then write them into law. Now we do the contrary -- we make or revise laws first before getting down to the trial programs," Liang Ying said.

This shift has come about as the Chinese public have become much more legally aware, and also as a result of lawmakers acknowledging national reform has entered a critical "deep water zone."

Another highlight of last year's legislation was several heavyweight security bills, such as draft laws concerning state security, cyber security and counter-terrorism.

These bills were another indication of the development of rule of law in China, Liang said.

FINER LEGISLATIVE STRUCTURE

The structure of the legislature itself, especially the local legislatures, also saw significant improvement in 2015.

With the revision to the Legislation Law last March, legislative power was expanded from 49 Chinese cities to at least 284, a step to devolve power.

The NPC Standing Committee also put forward a major program to improve the work of county and township legislatures, such as training of local lawmakers and better communication mechanisms with the government and judicial agencies.

The public took a bigger part in legislation as most bills were published through mass media and the Internet to solicit their opinions, after every reading.

"We used to publish bills once, after the first reading. Last year we published the upgraded versions after the second reading as well. The to and fro process was more inclusive and open and contributed a lot to drafting good laws," Liang said. Endi