ENG-2010 — Page 41

Constitution and Administration 3

• To receive and handle complaints from Hong Kong residents;

• 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 in the Chamber of the Legislative Council Building. During the 2009-2010 Legislative Council session (from October 2009 to July 2010), the council held 36 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 2009-2010 session, members asked 163 oral questions on the work of the Government with 916 supplementary questions, and another 457 written questions. The council also passed 23 bills. On subsidiary legislation subject to the negative vetting procedure, the council completed the scrutiny of 32 items which had been tabled in council in the 2008-2009 session, with six of them amended by resolutions of the council. Of the 141 items tabled in the 2009-2010 session, the