Legislative Reform Introduced into Marriage Law DebateChina's national legislature, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, will introduce a substantial reform to the form of legislative debate next Monday for an "in-depth discussion" on the draft amendments to the Marriage Law.A joint conference of six panels of legislators will sit at the Great Hall of the People face-to-face delivering their opinions on the most heated topics, that have aroused debate across the country, relating to bigamy, family violence and family property. A total of some 300 people, including 150 members of the NPC Standing Committees, and non-voting delegates from the NPC sub-committees, deputies to the NPC and others, are usually evenly divided into six panels to deliberate most draft laws and bills. The joint conference of legislative panels, according to the legislation law and rules for legislative deliberation, shall be organized for the major issues of importance and focus on certain topics, said He Chunlin, secretary-general of the 9th NPC Standing Committee. This form of legislative debate was used by the 5th and 6th NPC Standing Committee during the period of 1978-1988. The draft amendments to the 1980 Marriage Law were tabled with lawmakers Friday after revisions were made based on their opinions and suggestions put forward in the legislative session two month ago. |
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