Netanyahu blocks bid for transparency in legislation process of Israeli government - National Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper
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The chances of the public ever learning how cabinet ministers voted in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation have dropped considerably, after a legal opinion was issued stating that revealing this information will require the approval of the cabinet.
The initiative to publicize how the ministers vote on the legislative proposals the committee debates came from Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who views this as an important step toward transparency.
The Ministerial Committee on Legislation determines which bills go to the Knesset plenum with government backing − which makes it almost certain they will pass into law − and which bills go nowhere. The panel’s debates are confidential; they are not transcribed and how the ministers vote is not documented. The lack of transparency makes it easier for interested parties to exert pressure, make deals, and stymie legislative initiatives without the public being able to monitor the process.
Livni, who is chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, announced two months ago, at the current panel’s first meeting, “It would be proper for there to be transparency in the committee, and I plan to examine this.”
Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mandelblit, however, delayed the move in order to check its legality, apparently with the backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is not very excited about Livni’s idea.
The legal opinion was provided by the Prime Minister’s Office legal adviser, Shlomit Barnea-Fargo, and is being revealed here for the first time. The adviser determined that Livni does not have the authority to make the change she wants on her own, nor is the ministerial committee empowered to change the cabinet work regulations.
Barnea-Fargo said that the authority to do so rests with the full cabinet. Livni has already asked the prime minister and cabinet secretary to bring the issue up for debate by the cabinet as soon as possible.