Navalny Unveils a Program of Six Bills He is ready to submit them to the Moscow City Duma through the mechanism of a citizen legislative initiative Read in full
Today’s Vedomosti writes about the six bills we have prepared and are ready to submit to the Moscow City Duma. Please read about them and share this with whoever you can. Navalny has prepared and intends to submit to the Moscow City Duma six bills that, he told Vedomosti, will be the best answer to accusations that the opposition lacks a constructive program: “We do not just have a constructive program — we have a concrete solution, even at the legislative level.” Navalny intends to use the institution of citizen legislative initiative: in Moscow, there is a law under which the city duma must consider any bill that gathers 50,000 signatures. And the mayoral candidate’s team has more than 10,000 volunteers ready to collect those signatures. True, no law has yet made it through the Moscow City Duma by this route. But United Russia, which holds the majority in the city duma, will find it very difficult to reject simple, obvious, and very sound proposals, Navalny believes — and if it does, it will have to somehow explain its actions to Muscovites. Navalny’s initiatives address the most pressing issues. The draft law on the employment of foreign nationals in Moscow would, under threat of fines, prohibit Moscow government bodies, state institutions, and unitary enterprises, as well as their contractors and suppliers, from employing foreign citizens — except highly qualified specialists earning at least 700,000 rubles a year. The draft law on an information system for construction and repair work would make all information available to Moscow residents about construction and repair work, landscaping and greening, and garbage removal in a specific courtyard. The law on the publication of legal acts is meant to open up all decisions of the Moscow authorities to residents: the texts of both normative and non-normative legal acts, information on all events, data on officials, and the texts of official statements and media appearances. Under this law, all information on the legislative drafting activities of government bodies would have to be published, including the texts of draft laws submitted to the Moscow City Duma. The draft law on the basic principles for regulating housing and utility tariffs envisions strict oversight of the utilities sector, including public oversight: mandatory independent review of tariff proposals from major utility companies, with tariffs to be approved by a commission made up of representatives of the Moscow government, Moscow City Duma deputies, профильных organizations, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Finally,* in his sixth bill, Navalny proposes allowing Muscovites to elect justices of the peace themselves**.* http://www.vedomosti.ru/politics/news/15769881/zakony-navalnogo This is very important. Because it is not only TV propagandists on the zombie box (a slang term for television) who keep singing their endless, dreary song: the opposition only criticizes and has nothing to offer, but even perfectly normal people often say:* if only there were a constructive program, that would be better. * Not only do we have a constructive program, written by top specialists, but we also have solutions developed all the way to the level of ready-made bills whose positive effect we will feel immediately, as soon as they are adopted. We will submit them to the Moscow City Duma in any case. If you like, consider it a campaign promise. I am sure these bills are supported by Muscovites; they will definitely make life in Moscow better. “How are you going to submit them? The Moscow City Duma is all United Russia,” you may ask. And that is the point. In effect, we have created a “People’s Deputy” for all of us. According to Moscow law, the right of legislative initiative belongs not only to the mayor, the government, and deputies, but also to 50,000 Muscovites who have signed a bill. In practice, this is a prohibitive rule, because collecting 50,000 properly completed signatures is very difficult. It used to be. But now, in the “Navalny in Every Building" project alone, we have 25,000 people. Two signatures from each person — and that is enough. Of course, United Russia members will resist, engage in legalistic trickery, block the initiative group, and so on. It will not be easy. But millions of Muscovites (the 50,000 who submit signatures will make sure to inform as many people as possible) will know this: we have a constructive agenda and proposals for development, while United Russia has nothing to offer and blocks everything. Please take part in the poll so I can better understand how to fine-tune our “People’s Deputy”: [Error: Invalid poll ID 1931535]