The Legislative Yuan has power to decide by resolution upon statutory or budgetary (final accounts) bills, or bills concerning martial law, amnesties, declarations of war or peace, treaties, and other important affairs of the state. Any law, statute, special act, or general principle has to be passed by the Legislative Yuan and promulgated by the State President before it comes into force. Executive decrees issued by any central government agency must submitted to the Legislative Yuan to be either taken note of or be referred to a committee for examination. Should the Yuan determine that a decree contravenes, alters, or violates any law, or that a decree has regulated certain matters that should have been stipulated by law, the Legislative Yuan may, upon the resolution of the Yuan Sitting, inform and request the initiating government agency to revise or revoke the decree within two months. Should the said governmental agency fail to do so, the decree is voided forthwith.
Since budgets are the very foundation of government administration, to examine and decide upon budgetary bills serves as the best way for the Legislative Yuan to oversee government administration. Four months before the beginning of each fiscal year, the Executive Yuan must present the general budgetary bill for the following fiscal year to the Legislative Yuan for examination and approval. The Legislative Yuan must reach a resolution on the general budgetary bill one month before the fiscal year starts so that the general budgetary bill may be promulgated by the State President 15 days before the beginning of the fiscal year. The Legislative Yuan may not propose any increase of expenditures in the budgetary bill proposed by the Executive Yuan, nor can it increase, decrease or shift budget items. The Auditor General of the Control Yuan must publish a verifying report on the final accounts.
Before the end of February and then before the end of September each year, or within two weeks after a new Premier reports to office, the Executive Yuan has the duty to present to the Legislative Yuan a statement on its administrative policies and a report on its administration. While the Legislative Yuan is in session, its members have the right to orally interpellate the President of the Executive Yuan and the heads of the ministries and other organizations under the Executive Yuan. The Procedure Committee determines the number of the oral interpellations, which are divided into three categories: political party interpellations, individual interpellations, and joint interpellation by two or three members. All of the three categories of interpellations must be made in the instant Q-and-A format. The oral interpellation must have its meaning stated clearly and shall be registered in advance within 20 days. The same interpellation may not be proposed more than once. A written interpellation is referred to the Executive Yuan for a written reply. Unless the contents of the interpellation constitute an obvious and immediate danger to national defense or foreign policies, or are to be kept confidential according to the law, the Executive Yuan may not refuse to reply.
On August 23rd, 2004, a Constitutional Amendment was passed in the Legislative Yuan; later in 2005 it was passed in the National Assembly by a referendum on June 7th, and promulgated by the State President on June 10th. Complying with the promulgation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Legislative Yuan has replaced the National
Assembly and taken over its duties and powers.
Amendments to the Constitution must be made upon the proposal of no less than one-fourth of the total members of the Legislative Yuan and by resolution of no less than three-fours of the members present at a Sitting, with a quorum of no less than three-fours of the entire Legislative Yuan members. Six months after the announcement of a proposed amendment, it must be referred to a referendum by the Republic of China's electorate in the free area and must be passed by the valid ballots of over half of the total number of voters. Any alteration of the Republic of China's territory, defined by its existing national boundaries, may be made upon the proposal of no less than one-fourth of all members of the Legislative Yuan and must be passed by no less than three-fourths of its members present at a meeting with a quorum of no less than three-fourths of the entire Legislative Yuan members. Six months after the announcement of the proposed amendment, it must be referred to a referendum by the Republic of China's electorate in the free area and must be passed by the valid ballots of more than half of the total number of voters.
When the Legislative Yuan convenes each year, it may hear a report on the state of the nation by the State President. Any emergency decree issued by the State President must be presented within 10 days of issuance to the Legislative Yuan for ratification. Should an emergency decree be issued after the dissolution of the Legislative Yuan, the Legislative Yuan may convene of its own accord within three days to vote on the ratification of the decree within seven days after the session begins. However, should the emergency decree be issued after the day of election of new members to the Legislative Yuan, the new members must vote on the ratification of the decree after their inauguration. Should the Legislative Yuan withhold ratification, the emergency decree is voided forthwith. Should the office of the State Vice President become vacant, the State President shall nominate a candidate within three months, for the Legislative Yuan to elect. The new State Vice President shall serve out the original term until its expiration. Recall of the State President or the State Vice President shall be initiated upon the proposal of the Legislative Yuan and shall be passed by more than one half of the valid ballots in a vote in which more than one half of the electorate in the free area of the Republic of China participate. The Legislative Yuan shall initiate the recall upon the proposal of no less than one-fourth of all members of the Legislative Yuan, and present the proposal with a clearly stated reason for such a recall to the Procedure Committee to have it included in the agenda to be sent to the Yuan Sitting. The Yuan Sitting shall, with no discussion required, refer the proposal to the Committee of the Entire Yuan for the latter to finish deliberation within 15 days. Prior to the deliberation by the Committee of the Entire Yuan, the Legislative Yuan shall notify the recalled subject to submit a written defense within seven days before the deliberation. When the Legislative Yuan receives the written defense, it shall distribute the report to each member. Should the recalled subject fail to submit the written defense, the Committee of the Entire Yuan may still continue the deliberation. After the deliberation, the Committee of the Entire Yuan shall submit the proposal to the Yuan Sitting for registered voting. Such a recall of the State President or the State Vice President is passed with no less than two-thirds of all the Legislative Yuan members concurring in the registered voting. The Committee of the Entire Yuan shall promulgate and inform the recalled subject of the voting result.
For the impeachment of the State President or the State Vice President, the Legislative Yuan must initiate it upon the proposal of more than half of the entire Yuan members; a written proposal with detailed reasons for such an impeachment must be referred to the Procedure Committee later to have it included in the agenda to be sent to the Yuan Sitting. No discussion is required, the Yuan Sitting shall refer the proposal to the Committee of the Entire Yuan for examination, during which the impeached subject may explain on the floor at the invitation of the Legislative Yuan. What follows the examination is an anonymous vote in the Yuan Sitting; should no less than two-thirds of all the Legislative Yuan members concur in the voting, an impeachment case then by resolution shall be submitted to the Grand Justices. Once the case is sustained at the Constitutional Court, the impeached subject shall forthwith resign.
Should the Executive Yuan deem a statutory, budgetary, or treaty bill passed by the Legislative Yuan to be difficult to execute, it may, with the approval of the State President of the Republic and within 10 days of the bill's submission to the Executive Yuan, request the Legislative Yuan to reconsider the bill. The Legislative Yuan shall send the bill to the Yuan Sitting within 15 days after receiving the returned bill and resolve upon the bill through registered voting. Should more than one-half of the total number of the Legislative Yuan members uphold the original bill, the original bill shall then be upheld, and the President of the Executive Yuan shall accept the resolution. Should less than one-half of the total number of the Legislative Yuan members uphold the original bill, the original bill shall then not be upheld. Should the Legislative Yuan fail to resolve on the bill within the said period of time, the original bill shall be voided forthwith. Should the Legislative Yuan be in recess, it shall convene of its own accord within 7 days and reach a resolution within 15 days after the session begins.
With signatures of more than one-third of the total number of Legislative Yuan members, the Legislative Yuan may propose a no-confidence vote against the President of the Executive Yuan. The no-confidence motion shall be submitted prior to the beginning of the Yuan Sitting report agenda, be immediately referred to the Yuan Sitting by the presiding chairman of the Yuan Sitting, and be referred to the Committee of the Entire Yuan, no prior discussion required. Seventy- two hours after the motion is reported to the Yuan Sitting, an meeting shall be convened to handle it and report it to the Yuan Sitting for voting after finishing the deliberations. Both the examination and the voting shall be finished within 48 hours, or the no-confidence motion is deemed void. Should no less than one-half of the total number of the Legislative Yuan members vote for it, the no-confidence motion is deemed passed. The result of the voting shall be presented to the State President. Should the motion of no-confidence fail, the Legislative Yuan may not initiate another motion against the same President of the Executive Yuan within one year.
The State President may, within ten days following passage by the Legislative Yuan of a no-confidence vote against the President of the Executive Yuan, declare the dissolution of the Legislative Yuan after consulting with the President of the Legislative Yuan. The State President shall not, however, dissolve the Legislative Yuan while martial law or an emergency decree is in effect.
The State President shall nominate a) the President, the Vice President, and the Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan; b) the President, the Vice President, and the members of the Examination Yuan; c) the President, the Vice President, the members, and the Auditor General of the Control Yuan, and shall appoint them with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. In exercising the power of consent over the appointment of the afore-mentioned officials, the Legislative Yuan shall refer the issue to the Committee of the Entire Yuan for deliberation. After deliberation, the Committee of the Entire Yuan shall return it to the Yuan Sitting for anonymous voting. The State President's nominations of these officials is considered passed with votes from no less than one-half of the total members of the Legislative Yuan. The Public Prosecutor General of the Prosecutors Office of the Supreme Court shall be nominated by the President, and the commissioners of the National Communications Commission shall be nominated by the Premier; however, all of such nominations shall be approved by the Legislative Yuan with more than half of the votes cast by legislators present. In addition, in accordance with the Shi-Zi-No. 585 Explanation of the Supreme Court Judges of the Justice Yuan, in order to effectively exercise its legislation rights granted by the Constitutional Law, the Legislative Yuan shall have the investigation rights, the exercise of which is not limited to requesting relevant organizations to provide referencing documents or the right of retrieving the originals of documents. When it is deemed necessary, the Yuan may, through resolution of the Legislative Yuan session, request relevant citizens or government personnel to testify or express their opinions. The procedures thereof shall comply with relevant laws and regulations. In the "Acts Governing Exercise of Rights of the Legislative Yuan", it has specified that for the aforesaid document retrieving right, the Legislative Yuan may resolve to set up document-requesting committees or ad hoc document requesting panels in session to deal with certain cases and demand related executive branches to provide reference materials concerning these cases or to demand for original copies of the documents as the basis for handling the cases.
