The Chairman reminded Members that those who wished to become members of the Panels which they had not joined at the beginning of the session should inform the Secretariat before the deadline, which was 2.2.96.

(3) Legal Advisers report on the subsidiary legislation tabled in the Legislative Council on 31.1.96

(LegCo Paper No. LS 70/95-96)

The Legal Adviser said that most of the items of the subsidiary legislation were related to the authentication of Chinese texts and that item 1 involved increase of fees in relation to the operation of amusement rides.

Members agreed to support the subsidiary legislation.

(4) Position report on Bills Committees and Subcommittees

(LegCo Paper No. HB 570/95-96)

Members noted the report and that the Bills Committee to study the Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) (Amendment) Bill 1995 had completed its scrutiny and would report at the next House Committee meeting.

The Chairman appealed to chairmen of Bills Committees to expedite scrutiny of bills as more Government and Members bills would be introduced into LegCo.

(5) Further report by the Legal Adviser on outstanding bills

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bill

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Merger of Subsidiaries) Bill

(LegCo Paper No. LS 72/95-96)

Members noted that the Bills were introduced by Dr David K P LI and that a report had been made to the House Committee on 12.1.96.

The Legal Adviser said that the Legal Service Division had suggested some amendments to the Chinese text and a few minor improvements to the English text. The Bills were legally in order.

Members agreed to support the Bills. Dr David K P LI would be advised and asked to give notice of the resumption of the Second Reading debate on the Bills.

(6) Legal Advisers report on bills referred to the House Committee under Standing Order No. 42(3A)

(a) Biological Weapons Bill

(LegCo Paper No. LS 71/95-96)

The Legal Adviser said that the Bill was purely a localization measure to ensure that the provisions of the Biological Weapons Act 1974, with suitable modifications to suit the circumstances of Hong Kong, could continue in effect after 30.6.97.

Mr James TO Kun-sun said that he had received a few submissions which he would like to follow up with the Legal Adviser. He suggested and Members agreed to defer a decision on the Bill for two weeks, i.e. until 16.2.96.

(b) Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill 1996

Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 1996

(LegCo paper No. LS 74/95-96)

The Legal Adviser referred Members to the report and said that the Subcommittee on Separate Legislation for the Mentally Handicapped under the LegCo Panel on Welfare Services had been concerned about a number of issues addressed in the Bills.

Mr Fred LI Wah-ming, chairman of the Subcommittee, said that parents of the mentally handicapped had expressed their wish to give views on and to clarify some of the issues raised in

the Bills. He suggested and Members agreed to set up a Bills Committee to study the Bills. The following Members agreed to join : Mr Fred LI Wah-ming, Mr James TO Kun-sun, Mr LAW Chi-kwong, Mr LEE Kai-ming and Dr John TSE Wing-ling.

(c) Environmental Impact Assessment Bill

(LegCo Paper No. LS 73/95-96)

The Legal Adviser referred Members to the report and said that the Appendices to the LegCo Brief, which set out details of consultation with concerned environmental groups, were extremely useful and informative to Members.

Noting that the Bill contained important policy matter on environmental protection, Members agreed to set up a Bills Committee to study the Bill. The following Members agreed to join : Miss Emily LAU Wai-hing, Mr IP Kwok-him, Dr LAW Cheung-kwok, Mr MOK Ying-fan and Dr John TSE Wing-ling.

(7) Business for the LegCo sitting on 14.2.96

(a) Questions

(LegCo Paper No. CB 428/95-96)

20 questions (six oral and 14 written) had been tentatively scheduled.

(b) Statement

No statement had been notified.

(c) Government Motions

(i) Resolution under section 296 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) - Companies (Fees and Percentages) (Amendment) Order 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 75/95-96)

(ii) Resolution under section 15(2) of the Registered Trustees Incorporation Ordinance (Cap. 306) - Registered Trustees Incorporation Ordinance (Amendment of Second Schedule) Order 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 80/95-96)

(iii) Resolution under section 114 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) - Bankruptcy (Fees and Percentages) (Amendment) Order 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 79/95-96)

(iv) Resolution under section 113 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) - Bankruptcy (Amendment) Rules 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 78/95-96)

(v) Resolution under section 296 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) - Companies (Fees and Percentages) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 76/95-96)

(vi) Resolution under section 296 of the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 32) - Companies (Winding-up) (Amendment) Rules 1996

(LegCo Paper No. LS 77/95-96)

The Chairman referred Members to the Chinese version of the six reports tabled at the meeting (Appendix I).

The Legal Adviser said that the six resolutions were related to increases in fees as a result of inflation. The drafting aspect of the resolutions was in order.

Members agreed to support the resolutions.

(d) Bills - 1st and 2nd Readings

(i) Insurance Companies (Amendment) Bill 1996

(ii) Legal Practitioners (Amendment) Bill 1996

(iii) Buildings (Amendment) Bill 1996

(iv) Dutiable Commodities (Amendment) Bill 1996

The Chairman said that the above Bills would be introduced into LegCo on 14.2.96 and considered by the House Committee on 16.2.96.

(e) Members Motions

(i) Resolution under sections 53A(4)(e) and 119F (4)(e) of the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) - to be moved by Mr James TO Kun-sun

(LegCo Paper No. LS 65/95-96)

The Legal Adviser said that the existing law provided for landlords to re-possess tenanted premises on the ground of rebuilding. The motion to be moved by Mr James TO Kun-sun sought to alter the basis of the compensation payable to the affected tenants. While the legal and drafting aspects of the resolution were in order, the policy issues were for Members to consider.

Mr James TO tabled his letter to Members (Appendix II), which explained the basis of his proposal.

Mrs Miriam LAU Kin-yee said that, since the important policy aspect of Mr TOs proposal had not been considered by the relevant Panel, it should be so referred, in line with the House Committees recent agreement on the workings of committees. While Mr TO had no objection to the suggestion, he said that the Panel(s) should hold a meeting as soon as possible to discuss the matter. Pending the outcome of the discussion, he could not say whether he was prepared to defer the motion to a later date.

Members noted Assistant Secretary General 2s advice that, assuming Mr TO would move the motion on 14.2.96 as scheduled, a joint meeting of the Panel on Planning, Lands and Works and the Panel on Housing would have to be held on or before 7.2.96. This was so that Mr TO could make up his mind about the date to move the motion, and to enable other Members to meet the deadline for giving notice of amendments to Mr TOs motion, if they decided to do so.

A few Members were concerned whether there were sufficient grounds to justify the original date proposed by Mr TO to move his motion.

Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General drew Members attention to the implications of setting a precedent for Panels to hold special meetings to consider proposals referred by the House Committee in order to meet the specific timetable set by individual Members. This might over-burden Members and the Secretariat.

After some further discussion, the Chairman concluded that a joint-Panel meeting would be arranged by the Secretariat on or before 7.2.96 as far as practicable, and Mr TO would, having regard to the views expressed by Members, decide whether he would move his motion on 14.2.96.

(Post-meeting note : A joint meeting of the Planning, Lands and Works Panel and the Housing Panel would be held at 8:30 a.m. on 13.2.96.)

(ii) Motion debate on "Proposal of the Housing Authoritys Ad Hoc Group on Private Domestic Property Ownership by Sitting Public Housing Rental Tenants"- to be moved by Mr LEE Wing-tat

(iii) Motion debate on "Disparity in wealth in Hong Kong" - to be moved by Mr Frederick FUNG Kin-kee

The Chairman advised Members that the deadline for giving notice of amendments to the above motions, if any, was 7.2.96.

Mr Frederick FUNG Kin-kee said that, as he would be away from Hong Kong on 14.2.96, he would like to seek the House Committees agreement to either one of the following proposals :

to allow Mr FUNG to swap with Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung their respective debating slots so that Mr LEUNG could take up the debating slot on 14.2.96 and Mr FUNG could take up a slot at the sitting on 13.3.96 which would be allocated to Mr LEUNG; or
to allow Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung to take up Mr FUNGs debating slot at the sitting on 14.2.96 and Mr FUNG would compete for a slot at a subsequent sitting.

The Chairman pointed out that, in either case, the Presidents leave to waive the required notice would need to be sought, as the notice period had expired.

Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung urged Members to support Mr FUNGs proposal so that his motion on "Social welfare policy" could be debated before the Budget Speech on 6.3.96.

In response to Miss Emily LAUs suggestion to allow another Member to move the original motion on behalf of Mr FUNG, the Chairman said that when considering the revised arrangements for motion debates, the House Committee had only recently agreed that debating slots were not transferrable.

After some further discussion, the Chairman put to vote the following two options proposed by Members :

Mr FUNG could withdraw the notice of his motion. This would mean there would be one motion debate at the sitting on 14.2.96. Mr FUNG could subsequently ballot for a slot to debate his original motion, but he would be regarded as having already sponsored a motion debate.
To allow Mr LEUNG Yiu-chung to take over Mr FUNGs debate slot at the sitting on 14.2.96, subject to the consent of the President to waive the required notice of the replacement motion and to there being no objection from the Administration. Mr FUNG could then ballot for a fresh slot as if he had not sponsored a motion debate before.

There were 16 votes for option (a) and 14 votes for option (b). The Chairman declared that option (a) was carried.

(Post-meeting note : Mr FUNG has subsequently withdrawn notice of his intention to move the motion.)

(f) Members Bill - 1st, 2nd and 3rd Readings

Public Bus Services (Amendment) Bill 1996

The Chairman said that the Public Bus Services (Amendment) Bill 1996 would be introduced by Mr LAU Chin-shek on 14.2.96. Mr LAU had also proposed that the Bill should receive all three readings at the same sitting. He referred Members to the Chief Secretarys letter tabled at the meeting (Appendix III).

Mr LAU said that, having regard to the fact that the public bus companies had made written representations to Members and

that some Members had suggested the setting up of a Bills Committee to study the Bill, he had decided to take the Bill through the normal procedure. He also had no objection to the proposal of setting up a Bills Committee. However, since the proposed fare increases for the Kowloon Bus Company Limited and the CityBus Limited might become effective on 1.3.96, he would like to seek the House Committees support for him to request the Administration to consider deferring the effective date of any proposed increases.

Dr YEUNG Sum suggested Mr LAU to discuss with the Administration the question of deferring the effective date of any proposed fare increases of the two bus companies in his personal capacity. He felt that the House Committee would unlikely have a consensus view on this subject.

Miss Margaret NG agreed that a Bills Committee should be set up to study the Bill after introduction as the Bill was seeking to introduce fundamental changes to the existing policy. However, she did not agree that there should be a direct link between the setting up of a Bills Committee and Mr LAUs request that the Administration should defer the effective date of any proposed fare increases. Mr LAU clarified that his agreement to adopt the normal procedure for his Bill was not conditional upon Members agreement to his request.

Mrs Miriam LAU Kin-yee said that as the relevant Panel had not been consulted on the policy aspect of Mr LAUs proposal, it should be referred back to the Panel. Nevertheless, she would have no objection to the setting up of a Bills Committee to scrutinize the Bill instead.

In response to Miss Emily LAU, the Chairman said that Members had endorsed the new arrangements for the workings of committees i.e. the relevant Panel should be consulted first before a major and/or controversial proposal was introduced into LegCo. The arrangements applied to proposals made by the Administration and Members alike. In the event that the Panel had not been consulted, it was up to the House Committee or the Finance Committee as appropriate, to decide whether to refer the proposal to the relevant Panel for consideration. On the Public Bus Services (Amendment) Bill 1996, since Mr LAU had now decided that the Bill would not go through its three readings at the sitting on 14.2.96, the normal procedure would follow. The Bill would be introduced into LegCo on 14.2.96 and considered by the House Committee on 16.2.96. Members could then decide

the manner in which the Bill should be further processed. In further response to Members, the Chairman asked the Secretariat to issue a circular to explain to Members the revised workings of the committees of the Council.

(Post-meeting note : LegCo Paper No. HB 621/95-96 entitled "Workings of Committees of the Council" was issued on 5.2.96.)

(g) Members Bill - resumption of debate on 2nd Reading, Committee Stage and 3rd Reading

Immigration (Amendment) Bill 1995

The Chairman said that Mr Michael HO, Member in charge of the Bill, had given notice for the Bill to resume its Second Reading debate on 14.2.96.

(8) Report by Panels/Bills Committees/Subcommittees

Report by the Subcommittee to study seven items of subsidiary legislation tabled in LegCo on 10.1.96 and two items of subsidiary legislation tabled in LegCo on 17.1.96

(LegCo Paper No. HB 603/95-96)

Mrs Selina CHOW, chairman of the Subcommittee referred Members to the report tabled at the meeting (Appendix IV), and advised that she had given notice of a motion to extend the scrutiny period to 14.2.96 in respect of the seven items of subsidiary legislation tabled in LegCo on 10.1.96.

The meeting ended at 6:10 p.m.

Legislative Council Secretariat
7 February 1996

Last Updated on {{PUBLISH AUTO[[DATE("d mmm, yyyy")]]}}

Legislative Council House Committee (1995/96 Session)

Minutes of 16th meeting held in the LegCo Chamber of the Legislative Council Building on Friday, 2 February 1996 at 5:00 p.m.

(1) Confirmation of the minutes of the last meeting held on 26.1.96

(2) Matters arising

Enrolment for Panel membership

(3) Legal Advisers report on the subsidiary legislation tabled in the Legislative Council on 31.1.96