Legco success hits low point as fewer than one third of bills passed into law
Efficiency of government and lawmakers called into question as fewer than a third of gazetted bills are passed in current legislative session
Fewer than a third of the bills gazetted by the government have been passed in this legislative session - the worst performance for several years. It raises questions about the executive's efficiency as well as its relations with the legislature.
Ahead of the Legislative Council meeting that starts on Wednesday - its last before the summer recess - lawmakers have approved only eight of 29 bills.
If they approve four more bills by the end of business on July 15, it would take the legislative success rate from 28 per cent to 41 per cent.
But that would still be lower than the previous legislative year, when 14 of 22 bills, or 64 per cent, were passed into law, according to Legco's website.
In 2010-11, the penultimate year of Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's term as chief executive, the success rate was 48 per cent. In the legislative year that followed - the last of Legco's four-year term - all bills gazetted were approved.
The four items of legislation scheduled for their third and final readings this week are a supplementary appropriations bill, and amendments to marriage, shipping and electoral laws.
