Press Release, 05.06.2014

The bills should always have a specific author and should be introduced on behalf of deputies not the bodies of St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly. At the moment the bills of the commissions and committees are anonymous which makes the lawmaking process non-transparent and corruptogenic. Head of YABLOKO faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly Grigory Yavlinsky introduced an amendment to Charter of St.Petersburg which will correct the situation.

At the moment the right for a legislative initiative is extended groundlessly as the bills may be introduced by the committees and permanent commissions of the Legislative Assembly. At the same time when a bill is introduced on behalf of a body the opinion of the deputies-members of a committee or commission who disagree with the proposed measure may be ignored.

What is more, questionable initiatives are often anonymously introduced on behalf of commissions and committees for consideration of the Legislative Assembly. So, their real authors are relieved from responsibility.

To solve the problem Grigory Yavlinsky proposed an amendment to Charter of St.Petersburg which deprives the commissions and committees of the right to introduces bills to St.Ptersburg Legislative Assembly.

According to Grigory Yavlinsky, such a bill will favour the increase of responsibility of the deputies and will give an impulse to more effective work.

The text of the bill on the amendment to Charter of St.Petersburg was published at the website of St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly earlier today.