Provincial Council Decentralization Development Committee Launched Following Local Assembly Law Enactment

The '12th Assembly First Term Decentralization Development Committee,' which will support the enactment of the Local Assembly Law and oversee policy support for local assemblies, has been established.

On the 28th, the Gyeonggi Province Assembly held the launch ceremony for the 12th Decentralization Development Committee at the Provincial Assembly Main Conference Hall, attended by Assembly Speaker Nam Jong-seop, representative members from both parties—An Gwang-ryul (Democratic Party, Siheung District 1) and Bang Seong-hwan (People Power Party, Seongnam District 5)—An Shin-il, head of the Local Assembly Law Enactment Promotion Task Force of the Korea Association of Provincial Assembly Speakers (Speaker of Sejong City Assembly), and private sector experts.

The committee is composed of a total of 42 members: Speaker Nam serving as chairperson, 2 co-chairpersons, 7 policy advisory members, and 32 members from 4 subcommittees. The committee members' term of office runs until June 30, 2028.

At the launch ceremony, Speaker Nam stated, "While the enactment of the Local Assembly Law is clearly the most urgent task, all problems cannot be solved merely by creating the law," emphasizing that "after the law's enactment, we must prepare so that systems relating to organization, personnel, finance, audit, and policy support can function properly in the field."

In addition to supporting the enactment of the Local Assembly Law, the committee will identify concrete institutional improvement tasks to ensure that the organization, personnel, finance, audit, and policy support systems of local assemblies can be properly established in actual practice following the law's enactment.

The four subcommittees are organized into areas of decentralization and autonomy, general administration, personnel administration, and fiscal decentralization. Going forward, the committee plans to proactively examine follow-up tasks necessary at the actual implementation stage after the law's enactment, alongside discussions on the Local Assembly Law enactment.

Meanwhile, the Decentralization Development Committee is a decentralization promotion institution that was first launched among national provincial assemblies during the 10th Assembly in 2020. In the 11th Assembly, it was converted into a standing committee and has continued institutional improvement activities to strengthen the independence and expertise of local assemblies.