Financial measures to face delay at closed Legislative Assembly

The government’s raft of financial measures designed to stimulate the economy in the coming months will first need to be discussed and approved by the Legislative Assembly (AL), Macau’s parliament, which has been suspended since before the Chinese Lunar New Year. Lawmakers told the Times yesterday that there is still no date set for the resumption of legislative duties.
The financial measures, which seek to shore up the spending power of individuals and the cashflow situation of small businesses, come in response to the significant disruption to business activity in the three weeks since the Lunar New Year.
Because a large number of these measures are based on tax benefits and financial support measures, they must first be discussed and approved by the AL.
If this bureaucratic process is normally lengthy, there is now the added aggravating factor of most of the Assembly’s work having been stalled due to the outbreak of the coronavirus known as Covid-19.
According to the latest public notice published on Saturday, only the AL Support Services are due to resume work before February 21. The notice says that all resident reception services by lawmakers will continue to be suspended until further notice. Residents are instead encouraged to share their opinions by telephone, email or fax instead.
Contacted by the Times, lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho confirmed that there is no tentative date for plenary sessions and the closed-door committee meetings to resume. All legislators have been informed that such duties have been suspended until further notice.
Lawmaker Sulu Sou confirmed that the AL has been completely closed during the coronavirus crisis, following the orientation given by the government to all public services.
With civil servants returning to work yesterday, it is likely that more information about the organization of work at the AL will soon be released.
According to the AL meeting and event schedule, at least three committee meetings have been canceled – two from the Follow-up Committee of Public Administration Affairs on the programming of the work of the committee on January 30, and a follow up meeting on the enforcement of the Macao Heritage Protection Law on February 6.
The Follow-up Committee for Land and Public Concession Affairs has also canceled a meeting that was adjourned for February 6 to follow up on matters related to the service contracts for public bus operators.
Currently, the three Standing Committees of the AL are analyzing a total of 20 pieces of legislation covering topics that range from public housing, consumer rights, civil protection, cybercrime, employment agencies, the Labor Law, and the law on the hiring of non-resident workers.
Besides the aforementioned bills being discussed at the Standing Committee, the AL has also acknowledged reception of a new bill regarding the establishment of a Trade Union Law, and an application for a hearing that was requested by lawmakers José Pereira Coutinho and Sulu Sou on November 21, 2019, which has not been scheduled and is yet to be addressed.
If the raft of financial measures announced by the government becomes the legislative body’s priority upon resumption, these other matters may be stalled further.