KMT lawmakers occupied the speaker’s podium at the legislature Friday. That’s in protest of the DPP’s decision to push an amendment to the Local Government Act forward.
Lawmakers are considering whether to amend the act in a way that would make it legal to merge Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County into a new special municipality. In its present form, the act only lets the government create new special municipalities in areas with at least 1.25 million people. But the Greater Hsinchu area doesn’t meet this population requirement.
The KMT is angry that DPP lawmakers have pushed the amendment that would make this possible straight to a second reading, without allowing time for review in legislative committees.
The KMT’s protest comes just as the DPP has walked back a similar move to skip committee review of the government’s budget plan for next year.