SOSC005 Topic 10 Government and Politics

Dr. MA Ngok

Lecture 1

The Executive Dominant System

(行政主導 )

(A) Executive-Dominance 行政主導

• “Executive-dominance” as a concept

• The logic of colonial political system

• SAR CE inherits most of the powers of

colonial Governor

• Many policies do not have to pass Legco,

except those that require legislation or

appropriation

• Govt controls bill initiation. Govt proposals have priority in Legco agenda

• Legco is relatively weak. It can only:(1) control the govt. and govt. finance.(2) Influence govt. policy by passing,

vetoing or amending legislation. (3) Relatively powerless to force the

govt to adopt new policy or change policy.

(A) Executive-Dominant System

(B) CE’ Power

• Elected by a 800-member Election Committee (選舉委員會 ), appointed by the Central Government

• Wide range of appointment powers, including officials, judges and committees

• Exco (行政會議 ) assists the CE in policy-making. But CE can ignore majority opinion of the Exco, but has to record the reasons.

(B) SAR Chief Executive (CE)

• All bills passed by Legco need CE’s signature to become law, meaning CE can veto legislations passed by Legco (with restrictions)

• Leader of govt, represent HK intl’ly,

• Can pardon criminals or reduce sentences, determine if a witness appear before the Legco hearing, etc.

New Constraints

• CE must resign if seriously ill or unable to

fulfill the duties due to other reasons;

• Can be impeached (彈劾 ) by Legco if s-he

violates the law or abuses the office, but only

Central Govt can replace the CE;

Veto power– with constraints

• If CE thinks a bill passed by Legco is incompatible with overall interests of SAR, he can send it back to Legco within 3 months for reconsideration.

• If Legco passes the bill again with a 2/3 majority, the CE must either sign the bill or dissolve the Legco.

• If the newly-elected Legco still passes the bill by a 2/3 majority, the CE must sign the bill or resign.

 • If the budget or other important bills

fail to pass the Legco, CE can dissolve Legco. If the re-elected Legco still refuses to pass the budget or the bill, CE must resign.

• The CE can only dissolve the Legco once during his/her term.

Veto power– with constraints

LegCo: Powers and Functions

(1)  Passing of Ordinances

(2) Financial Control

(3) Controlling the Government

The Composition

• Only government officials before 1850• Unofficials were mostly representatives

from big businesses and professionals. • Unofficials became the majority after

1966. They were supposed to reflect public opinion to the govt.

• Election by FC & EC introduced in 1985. • Election by universal suffrage

introduced in 1991.

Legco Composition, 1843-2004Year Official Unofficial

/Appointed Elected Total

EC FC Direct Elected

1843 4 0 0 0 0 4

1850 4 2 0 0 0 6

1896 8 6 0 0 0 14

1966 13 13 0 0 0 26

1983 29 29 0 0 0 58

1984 29 32 0 0 0 61

1985 11 22 12 12 0 57

1988 11 22 12 14 0 59

1991 3 17 0 21 18 59

1995 0 0 10 30 20 60

1998 0 0 10 30 20 60

2000 0 0 6 30 24 60

2004 0 0 0 30 30 60

(1)Passing of Ordinances

• Govt. controls initiation of bills. • The process of legislation largely follows

that in British House of Commons.• Legco may form Bill Committees (法案委員會 ) to scrutinize bills in detail.

• The govt. and Legco members can move amendments to the bill in the committee stage.

• The passed bill will be sent to CE for signature into law.

(2) Financial Control Power of the Purse stronger under the

colonial system

Budget • Annual budget must be passed by Legco.• Legco will first vote on the expenditure

part (Appropriations Bill) (撥款條例草案 ).• Legco members can move amendments

to the Bill, but amendments can only cut expenses but not increase expenses.

• Two weeks of Finance Committee meetings to scrutinize the budget

• The vote on Revenue Bill gives members the chance to veto fee-hikes and tax increases.

• Amendments to Revenue Bill can only reduce revenue but not increase revenue.

(2) Financial Control

The Committees• Appropriations (撥款 ) must be

approved by the Finance Committee.

• FC cannot vote to increase expenditure, but can only reject, approve or reduce it. It only discusses expenditure, but not revenue.

• Public Accounts Committee (政府帳目委員會 ) will study the Director of Audit’s (審計署長 ) report on how govt. depts are spending money, and make suggestions.

Controlling the Government

• Various means of expressing their opinion, but most are not legally binding on govt., i.e. cannot force govt to do sth that it doesn’t like.

• Means include: Motion debate (動議辯論 ), Questions (質詢 ), and the Panels (事務委員會 )

• Private Members' bills (私人條例草案 ) allow members to put forward alternative policies. Members can draft their own bills. If the bill is passed, the govt. must obey. Private members' bills must not entail government expenses.

• Under Power and Privileges Ordinance, the Legco can conduct investigations and demand govt officials to appear in a hearing to explain about public affairs.

(3)  Controlling the Government

Constraints after 97 • Article 74: Legco members can raise

private members’ bills (議員條例草案 ), if it is not related to:

(a) public expenditure; (b) the political structure; (c) the operation of the government.

• If the private members’ bill is related to public policy, it must get CE’s written approval.

Disqualification

A Legco member can lose the seat:(Art. 79)

(a) Failure to discharge duties due to serious illness or other reasons;

(b) Absent for 3 consecutive months without valid reason and consent of Legco President;

(c) Loses his/her status as HK permanent resident;

(d) Becomes a civil servant;

(e) Becomes bankrupt;

(f)  Convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to jail for 1 month or more, in or outside HK, and passed by 2/3 of the Legco to dismiss him/her;

(g) Censured by 2/3 majority of the Legco for misbehavior or breach of oath (違反誓言 )

Disqualification

• Govt. bills only need the support of more than half of Legco members present;

• Bills, motions and amendments moved by Legco members must be passed by more than half of both groups.

• A small group of about 15 councilors can veto a private proposal. It is possible that the majority support a motion, but it is defeated.

Voting by groups (分組點票 )

分組點票辦法說明議員組別 　贊成 　反對 　棄權 　結果功能團體 14 15 　 1 否決直選及選委 25 2 　 3 通過總數 39 17 　 4 否決

議員組別 　贊成 　反對 　棄權 　結果功能團體 15 0 15 否決直選及選委 30 0 0 通過總數 45 0 15 否決