Identification numbers for National Guard, penalties for taking parking spots for people with disabilities, and more administrative services in cities of regional significance: new bills in Rada

This week MPs hold regular plenary sessions and proceed with amendments to the Land Code. If they manage to finish early or decide to gather for a special plenary meeting, there are several other important bills on the parliamentary agenda: identification numbers for the National Guard, protection of the rights of drivers with disabilities, disclosure of the individual vote results of local councils, and more powers for local governments.

Status: included on the parliamentary agenda.

Who is affected: national guardsmen, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Ukrainian citizens.

Draft bill in a nutshell:

• all national guardsmen will have identification numbers on their badges and cards. A badge with an identification number will be proof that a person carrying it has the authority to keep public order
• an identification number will be permanent from the start and until the end of service for each guardsmen
• identification numbers will be available in open access via a unified database on the National Guard website.

Why this is important: the National Guard is often engaged in keeping public order and maintaining public security. In other words, national guardsmen are doing the police work. Without identification numbers, it is very hard to identify national guardsmen that overstep their authority or violate the law.

What is right:

• Ukrainian citizens will be able to identify guardsmen that violate the law
• national guardsmen will be more diligent in adhering to the law and standards of human rights protection.

Status: included on the parliamentary agenda.

Who is affected: persons with disabilities, drivers, parking attendants, local governments, and Ukrainian citizens.

Draft bill in a nutshell: parking attendants will be granted the authority to punish drivers that take parking spots designated for persons with disabilities.

Why this is important:

• at present, only police officers can punish drivers that take parking spots designated for persons with disabilities. Since police officers have many other duties, they are not always able to react to the violations in question
• shopping malls, supermarkets, and other establishments like that are obliged to designate 10% of their parking spots to persons with disabilities. Since these places are closest to the exit, drivers are tempted to take them.

What is right:

• it will be easier for persons with disabilities to take their rightful parking spots
• it will be easier to enforce the unavoidability of punishment and fine drivers for taking parking spots designated for persons with disabilities
• local budgets will get additional revenue from fines.

Status: included on the parliamentary agenda.

Who is affected: local councilors and Ukrainian citizens.

Draft bill in a nutshell: secretaries of village, settlement, and city councils and heads of raion, oblast, and city district councils will have to publish personalized vote results.

Why this is important: although the law already requires to publish information about individual voting, it does not define who is responsible for the job. As a result, some representatives of local authorities abuse the law and do not publish this information.

What is right: information about individual voting makes it possible to analyze whether politicians fulfill their promises and thus facilitates political responsibility. If the bill is passed, Ukrainian citizens will know who is responsible for publishing information about individual voting and control local governments better.

Status: first reading.

Who is affected: members of territorial communities that include cities of regional significance, local governments.

Draft bill in a nutshell: cities of regional significance will be allowed to register vital records (marriage certificates, death certificates, birth certificates, etc.).

Why this is important:

• at present, cities of regional significance are not allowed to register vital records. Such services are provided by regional offices of the Ministry of Justice
• the same restrictions on providing these administrative services apply to villages, settlements, and towns that under the decentralization reform became parts of amalgamated territorial communities.

What is right: territorial communities that include cities of regional significance will provide more administrative services.

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