Constitution and Administration | 3
• If a motion initiated jointly by one-fourth of all the members of the Legislative Council charges the Chief Executive with serious breach of law or dereliction of duty and if he or she refuses to resign, the council may, after passing a motion for investigation, give a mandate to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal to form and chair an independent investigation committee. The committee shall be responsible for carrying out the investigation and reporting its findings to the council. If the committee considers the evidence sufficient to substantiate such charges, the council may pass a motion of impeachment by a two-thirds majority of all its members and report it to the Central People's Government for decision; and
To summon, as required when exercising the above-mentioned powers and functions, persons concerned to testify or give evidence.
Composition
Under the Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the HKSAR is constituted by election. The specific method of forming the Legislative Council is prescribed in Annex II of the Basic Law. The composition of the Legislative Council in the fourth. term (i.e. from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2012) is 60 members, comprising 30 members returned by geographical constituencies through direct elections and 30 members returned by functional constituencies representing various sectors of the community. The election for the Fourth Legislative Council was held on September 7, 2008. The President of the Legislative Council is elected by and from among members of the council.
Meetings of the Legislative Council
The Legislative Council normally meets on Wednesdays. During the 2010-2011 legislative session (from October 2010 to July 2011), the Legislative Council held 37 meetings, four of which were the Chief Executive's Question and Answer Sessions.
The business of the Legislative Council at its regular meetings includes the tabling of subsidiary legislation, other papers and reports for the council's consideration; asking of questions for replies by the Government; introducing and considering bills and proposed resolutions, and debating motions concerning matters of public interest. All meetings of the council are open to the public. Members may address the council in Cantonese, English or Putonghua, with simultaneous interpretation provided. The proceedings are recorded verbatim in the Official Record of Proceedings of the Legislative Council.
During the 2010-2011 session, members asked 178 oral questions, including 11 urgent questions, on the work of the Government with 847 supplementary questions, and another 472 written questions. The council also passed 24 bills. The Government moved a total of 10 motions under the positive vetting procedure to seek the council's approval to either make or amend subsidiary legislation, nine of which were passed and one was negatived. On subsidiary legislation subject to the negative vetting procedure, the council completed the scrutiny of 17 items which had been tabled in council in the 2009-2010 session, with two of them amended and one repealed by resolutions of the council. Of the 138 items tabled in the 2010-