~
The consideraliona gavon into introducing this Bill at this
point in time are as followui-
1.
2.
3.
4.
After 1997 any inherent. powers and privileges
derived from the present status of the Legislative Council as a colonial legislature will oease to have effent in Hong Kong
The powers and privilegen derived from case laws have not really been brought out in oourt rulings
and it is desirable that there should be a clear
understanding of what right the legislature haa;
We are already in the transitional period, and as we move towarda representative government and move away from the traditim of consensus politics, it will assist the functioning of the Legislative Council if the powers and privileges, that the
legislature and its members can enjoy, are clearly
understood;
In the Green Paper on Further Development of Representative Goverment in Hong Kong, it was envisaged that the Legislative Council in future may elect its own pronident who will lack the other proofs of authority which the Governor has. The President must have clear legal sanction to which to point his conduct of the business of the
legislature; and
Finally, with the developing public role of the Council's Committee following on the opening up of the hearing of the Finance Committee and budget estimates; and the Public Accounts Committee, and
now the setting up of the Select Committeo on complex commercial orimea, it is timely that the position regarding the oalling of witnesson and the hearing
of evidence should be codified.
/All these