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Discussions on three bills to eliminate the national minimum standards and to transfer the national government’s responsibility to local governments began on April 7 in the House of Councilors. The bills are a bill to establish a Cabinet panel on “regional sovereignty,” a bill to hold a meeting between the central and local governments, and a bill to revise the Local Autonomy Law. The government intends to create these bills in the name of promoting “regional sovereignty.” However, there are many problems with these bills. The central government’s authority to set minimum standards for welfare facilities for children, including day-care centers for children, will be shifted to local governments. Elimination of the national minimum standards may threaten children’s safety because it allows local governments to build child care centers in a multi-tenant buildings even if the disaster prevention measures are inadequate. The standards for elderly people’s facilities will be set under local government ordinance. Recently many elderly people at facilities for the elderly have died from fires. The need now is to provide government subsidies to these facilities in order to improve their fire prevention measures. Handing over the central government responsibility for safety matters to local governments may lead to a deterioration in disaster prevention measures at such facilities. Each local government will be allowed to establish its own maintenance standards for public housings. At present, many public housing units are in deed of renovation or repair because they fell short of the current national safety standards, including measures to make the housing units earthquake resistant. However, many local governments are postponing renovating and rebuilding public housing due to financial restraints. The government also plans to eliminate a provision on the number of local assembly seats by revising the Local Autonomy Law, leading to further cuts in the number of local assembly members. This will keep local residents away from participating in local politics and undermine the functions of local assemblies. The Japanese Communist Party states that the aim of the three bills is to abandon government financial responsibility for public services and that if the government eliminates the national minimum standards and shifts its responsibility to local governments, it will be impossible for the public to receive minimum services. The JCP urges, that in order to enable local governments to work effectively, the central government increase its subsidy to local governments without lowering the national standards. |
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