The parliament convened to conduct the first discussions on two significant legislative initiatives: the draft amendments to the Law on Urban Development (revised) and the proposed changes to the Law on Legislation. At the outset of the plenary session, Speaker D.Amarbayasgalan introduced the distribution of the draft laws to the relevant standing committees. The proposed amendments to the Law on Urban Development were submitted by 11 members on June 10 and by 40 members on June 12, and were assigned to the Standing Committee on State Structure. Member of Parliament (MP) J.Aldarjavkhlan presented the amendments, highlighting that the current law, first adopted in 1998 and revised in 2008, no longer addresses contemporary urban challenges. He emphasized the deterioration in the availability of schools, kindergartens, and basic infrastructure, which adversely affects citizens' living conditions and infringes upon children's right to education. For instance, essential infrastructure such as schools, kindergartens, social services, and green spaces have become increasingly scarce, leading to a decline in the quality of urban living and, more seriously, violations of children’s right to education. He cited examples including Altai Residence, home to around 16,000 people, as well as Erin and Kharkhorin Residences, which together have 3,500 school-age children, and King Tower Residence, which has 2,000 households and nearly 6,000 residents, yet none of these areas were developed with schools or kindergartens.
J.Aldarjavkhlan also pointed to data from the National Statistics Office showing that for every 1,000 households, there are approximately 2,600 children under the age of 18 and around 400 children of kindergarten age per 250 households. Based on this, he proposed establishing a legal framework that directly links the number of households to the mandatory inclusion of educational facilities in urban planning and development processes, making the proposed amendments aim to correlate the number of households with the provision of educational facilities in urban planning.
During the session, MPs posed a range of questions to the initiators of the proposed legislation and received clear responses. Key topics included ensuring consistency between legal frameworks, policy implementation, and administrative processes, enforcing standards and regulations for residential areas, and improving infrastructure development. Lawmakers also emphasized the importance of protecting human rights and enhancing quality of life, addressing the availability of essential social and medical services, and calculating school environment standards and class sizes. Also, they discussed evaluating the economic impact of the legislation, reviewing related budget estimates, defining accountability mechanisms, and streamlining the process for issuing construction permits.
Following the presentation, MP S.Tsenguun reported on the Standing Committee on Economics' review of the draft laws. The majority of committee members deemed it appropriate to proceed with the plenary discussion. During the session, MP S.Erdenebold underscored the necessity for thorough research and simulations before implementing urban development policies to avoid unintended consequences for citizens.
Subsequently, the plenary session addressed the draft amendments to the Law on Legislation, introduced by MP D.Tsogtbaatar. MP O.Nominchimeg presented the Standing Committee on Justice's conclusions, which included recommendations for conducting human rights impact assessments when laws restrict individual freedoms, ensuring budget-related laws are submitted alongside the state budget, and involving external researchers in evaluating the impacts of proposed laws. The committee also proposed removing provisions that allow administrative acts to restrict human rights and urged the establishment of a unified legal information system for public consultations on draft laws.
During the plenary discussion, several members raised concerns about maintaining the stability of the legal system and ensuring that new laws do not undermine existing legal frameworks. They emphasized the importance of aligning legislative actions with constitutional principles and conducting comprehensive evaluations of laws that have been in effect for five years or more. In response, MP O.Nominchimeg assured that the proposed amendments aim to enhance the quality and efficiency of lawmaking while safeguarding human rights and constitutional integrity.
The voting on the matters discussed during the plenary session of the parliament was deferred to the next session due to the presence of differing proposal versions.
