HaDorot HaBa'im Commissioner Retired Judge Shlomo Shoham
presented to the Knesset his legal opinion regarding the
Arrangements Law, calling for the removal of 12 issues, with
those affecting cuts in Children's Allowances topping the
list.
In his written opinion, Judge Shoham addressed the following
12 issues and paragraphs appearing in the Arrangements Law:
disbanding the Local Committee for Planning and Construction;
the activities of the Committee for the Preservation of
Agricultural Land and Open Spaces; the obligation to allow
elective medical experiments to be performed on humans;
Children's Allowances; the Foundation for Children at Risk;
water rates; didactic communication; lengthened school day
and enrichment studies; the Dangerous Substances Law;
annulling the Public Housing Law and the Evidential Judgments
Law -- defending children.
The commissioner says the proposed legislative changes in
these areas would have a major impact on the coming
generations. The government is trying to pass very
significant structural changes, he says, and various bills
would have a negligible effect on the budget while many other
issues in which the government sees significant long- term
importance and repercussions are not in doubt. Therefore, he
notes, all of these matters demand thorough, in-depth
consideration and they cannot all be approved in the
framework of the short deliberations for the Arrangements Law
which does not allow holding genuine discussions.
He also said the proposals contain paragraphs on children
that would have a dramatic impact on their lives, yet the
relevant figures and effects the proposed legislation would
have are not noted in the bills, as required by law.
The High Court rejected a petition by the Movement for
Fairness in Government headed by Mordechai Eisenberg against
the State of Israel, the Finance Minister, Bituach Leumi and
the Minister of Labor and Welfare. The petitioner claimed
that by cutting Children's Allowances, the Arrangements Law
contradicts the Basic Human Dignity and Freedom Law.
In their reply, the High Court judges said the budget cut is
legal since it was passed into law by the government and the
Knesset. In response to a request by the petitioner to
instruct the state to determine the minimal amount needed for
dignified subsistence and to plan the national insurance and
social system accordingly, the judges advised the petitioners
to turn to the High Court in another two years when the
effects of the diminished payments will actually be felt.
The petition claimed the allowances are not enough to ensure
minimal subsistence for citizens when there have also been
cuts in pension benefits, Guaranteed Income ("Havtachat
Hachnasah") and handicapped benefits. The Finance
Ministry and the government always viewed Children's
Allowances as "supplemental income." Today every child
receives NIS 4.80 per day, which constitutes "la'ag
lerash" and does not ensure humane and dignified
subsistence. The petitioner quoted a Bituach Leumi report
that found the cut in Children's Allowances will add 135,000
children to the cycle of poverty.
The State replied that the question of assistance for
citizens is in the hands of the legislative and executive
branches.
Meanwhile, the Knesset House Committee opposed the paragraph
in the Arrangements Law stipulating that the Interior
Minister would be authorized to appoint new local planning
and construction committees as well as a new chairman for
planning and construction committees at local authorities, if
he has reached the conclusion these bodies are not performing
their tasks properly.
MKs Rabbi Gafni, David Azoulai and Vasal Taha demanded this
paragraph be deleted from the Arrangements Law and considered
separately, in depth, since it stands to cause a considerable
change in the planning and construction apparatus and in
local government authority. The committee members claim this
paragraph demonstrates the government's disregard for the
Knesset, since it has no connection to the economic plan or
budget issues and therefore it should not be included in the
Arrangements Law, which is closely tied to the Budget Law.
Committee Chairman MK Yuri Stern (HaIchud HaLeumi) said the
amendment the government is proposing would allow crude
intervention by the central government in local elected
government, and therefore a solution should be sought within
the framework of existing laws and regulations. He also asked
government representatives to come up with alternative
solutions for situations in which the government wants the
right to intervene by dissolving local planning
committees.
