Chief Secretary Carrie Lam says the Government will reprioritise the order of presenting bills and funding items to the Legislative Council for approval to ensure as many items as possible can be passed.
Speaking to reporters today, Mrs Lam explained that the current LegCo term ends in July, yet there are still 23 bills waiting to be discussed and approved and if they cannot be passed by then, the legislative process will have to start from the first reading in the next LegCo term, wasting time and manpower.
She said the Government will reprioritise important livelihood and time-critical items, with the Appropriation Bill to be discussed first, followed by The Hong Kong Institute of Education (Amendment) Bill which grants a university title to the institute, the Eastern Harbour Crossing Legislation (Amendment) Bill which allows the Government to take over running the tunnel, and the Inland Revenue (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, which will implement the tax concessions proposed in the Budget.
Some pan-democratic lawmakers have asked the Government to withdraw the Copyright (Amendment) Bill to make way for scrutiny of other items further down in the agenda and Mrs Lam said the Government is willing to look into how that can be done.
She also noted that there are still 55 funding items waiting to be approved by the Finance Committee totalling $60 billion which the Government will also reprioritise, with urgent and important livelihood items being given top priority.
Mrs Lam added that hospital funding proposals will be scrutinised first, followed by footbridges and elevators, youth hostels, schools, major district projects and recreational facilities, and housing and development projects.
