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4 Who gets to speak at govt hearings?
The Daily Yomiuri, May 30, 1994, P.2.
Who gets to speak at govt hearings?
Q. I heard that the Government Tax Commission will hold local public hearings on tax reform next month. Will the public's views voiced at the hearings be reflected in Diet deliberations? The Diet also holds public hearings when it deliberates on budgets. How are speakers at these hearings selected? (From a reader in Gunma Prefecture)
A . Public hearings are held by the Diet, the central government and local governments to hear the public's views and concerns before deliberation on important bills or planned hikes in public utility charges. Some public hearings are stipulated by law while others are held at the discretion of the Diet or the branch of government concerned, including the Government Tax Commission. A recent public hearing on a proposed increase in expressway tolls attracted much public attention. The proceedings were held under ministerial ordinances of the Transport and Construction ministries. Article 51 of the Diet Law stipulates that Diet committees be able to hold public hearings on important issues that affect a wide range of public interests. Under that stipulation, the Diet holds hearings in Tokyo and local areas, such as the recent ones on the political reform bills and the bill aimed at enforcing the International Peace Cooperation Law. The law also obliges the Diet to hold public hearings whenever it carries out deliberations on the national budget and important bills for increasing government revenues. The secretariat of the Government Tax Commission explained that speakers at the planned public hearings on tax reform would be selected from among a wide range of people listed by the Finance Ministry's local finance bureaus. As for Diet-sponsored public hearings, speakers at one time were selected from among applicants. But since many speakers ridiculed legislators and made inappropriate statements, political parties now recommend the speakers themselves, according to an official at the House of Representatives Secretariat. As a result, the selection of speakers these days tends to be dominated by either bureaucrats or political parties. It is up to politicians to ensure that opinions voiced at public hearings are reflected in laws and policies. To do so however, reform of the Diet is necessary.
