Legal opinion on amendment introduced by a sponsor of the bill on amending the Act on Family Benefits and the Act on the System of Social Insurances (Sejm Paper no. 1357)

The author discusses formal aspects of constitutionality of an amendment introduced by a sponsor of the bill amending the Act on Family Benefits and the Act on the System of Social Insurances. It is concluded that requirements, developed by the Constitutional Tribunal, concerning the proper subject matter of amendments, do not apply to amendments introduced by a sponsor of a bill, according to Article 36 paras. 1a–1c of the Standing Orders of the Sejm. Thus, the assessed amendment is constitutionally admissible

Legal opinion on the scope of the obligation to consult on a Deputies’ bill amending the Act on acquisition of mortmain by the state, on guarantee of farm possession for the parish priests and on establishment of the Church Fund

The opinion concerns the problem of the scope of consultation requirements for bills, referring to the bill specified in the title of the opinion. Based on the provisions of the Constitution and of the Standing Orders, the bill should be consulted with those churches and other religious organizations whose priests would be affected by provisions of the bill. In practice, determining a list of entities entitled to be consulted on the bill may be difficult. Thus the author is of the opinion that legal rules concerning the right of churches and other religious organizations to consult bills should be reviewed and clarified

Legal opinion on the scope of competence of chairperson and presidium of the Constitutional Accountability Committee

The opinion points out that a key role in the preparation of preliminary motions to hold persons accountable before the Tribunal of State is played by the Constitutional Accountability Committee acting in corpore. The Commission has an exclusive power to take substantive decisions concerning the conduct of proceedings relating, e.g., to an assessment of the validity of the submitted motions as to evidence. The tasks of presidium and chairperson of the Committee are, in principle, limited to organizational and technical issues, such as planning a timetable of committee meetings and proposing the agenda of the debate (presidium) and representing the Committee in external events, as well as hearing witnesses and experts (chairperson). The performance of the presidium or chairperson is reviewed by the Committee. In the event of a negative assessment of the work of these authorities, the Committee has the power to make appropriate changes in membership of the presidium, including changing its chairperson

Admissibility of submitting interpellations and Deputies’ questions concerning the functioning of the National Media Council

The Author states that the National Media Council cannot be an addressee of an interpellation or a Deputy’s question. As a rule, admissibility of submitting interpellations and Deputy’s questions, whose subject matter would be the functioning of the Council, is exclued. In addition a particular practical situation, when a member of the Council of Ministers undertakes activities related to the functioning of the NMC, was discussed

Supporting Deputies by the legal service of the Chancellery of the Sejm in the field of technical preparation of bills and amendments

The legal solutions in force indicate that the scope of substantive support provided by the Chancellery of the Sejm does not cover legislative activities, i.e. drafting bills and amendments to bills on behalf of Deputies. However, a Deputy may indirectly benefit from the support of the legal service of the Chancellery of the Sejm by commissioning the Bureau of Research to prepare an expert opinion, the subject of which would correspond to the planned legislative activities

Admissibility for a Deputy to obtain information regarding land and mortgage register numbers relating to specific real estates

In the opinion of the author, a Deputy may obtain access to information on land and mortgage register numbers from a local government unit pursuant to the provision of the Act on the Exercise of the Mandate of a Deputy or Senator. However, s/he is not exempted from the obligation to pay the fee provided for in the provisions of the geodetic and cartographic law. Costs related to this expense should be paid from the parliamentary allowance to which the Deputy is entitled to cover expenses incurred in the exercise of his or her parliamentary mandate

Legal opinion on the normative consequences of a withdrawal of a petition submitted to the Sejm

The specificity of the proceedings in relation to petitions precludes the admissibility of discontinuance of the proceedings regarding consideration of a petition on the basis of appropriate application of Article 105 § 1 of the Code of Administrative Procedure. In case of withdrawal of a petition submitted to the Sejm, the body responsible for its consideration, i.e. the Petitions Committee, should make a decision about the way of proceeding with the petition. Withdrawal of the petition does not prevent its consideration. Given the open catalogue of the ways in which petitions can be proceeded, the Committee should be allowed to adopt a resolution to refuse consideration of the petition because of the applicant’s willingness to withdraw the petitio

The scope of a sponsor’s of the bill obligation to present outline drafts of principal executive orders

An obligation, provided for in the Standing Orders of the Sejm, of a sponsor’s of the bill to present to present outline drafts of principal executive orders is one of the core procedural regulations shaping the content of an explanatory statement of a bill. If the sponsor does not plan to issue any executive orders on the bases on the bill, it has to be indicated in the explanatory statement of the bill, as an information about legal consequences of the bill. In case when entry into force of the statute will result in the necessity of modifying executive orders being in force, it should be notified while presenting the above-mentioned legal consequences

A legal opinion on the interpretation of Article. 184 paragraph. 3 point 9 of the Standing Orders

Points of order may be raised only in respect of “technical and organizational” matters being the subject of the orders of the day or the proceedings in a sitting. A exclusive subject of a point of order concerning altering the procedure for voting is to choose one of the methods of the vote, as provided for in Article 188 paras. 2 and 3 of the Standing Orders of the Sejm

Legal opinion concerning the admissibility of holding a public hearing with re‑ gard to a part of a budgetary bill

Committees of the Sejm which, according to Article 106 para. 2 of the Standing Orders of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland, consider respective parts of a budgetary bill, are not entitled to adopt a resolution on holding a public hearing. In the course of work on the budgetary bill only the Public Finances Committee may be classified as “the committee to which the bill has been referred for consideration”, i.e. as an entity which, according to Article 70a para. 2 of the Standing Orders, possesses an exclusive right to adopt a resolution on holding a public hearing (in the phase of work specified in Article 70a para. 4 of the Standing Orders