MKs demanded more time to study the "balcony reform" for planning and building commissions.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has postponed the Knesset plenum vote on one of his flagship pieces of legislation, reform of the planning and building commissions, or the so-called "balcony reform". The Knesset will hold the second and third readings on the bill in the next session, after several MKs asked for more time to study the amendments and put forward their reservations on the legislation.
Netanyahu decided to halt the discussion of the bill by the joint committee of Knesset Economics Affairs Committee and Internal Affairs and Environment Committee. The joint committee has been discussing the reform for two years. Committee chairman MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) postponed a vote on the reform, after environmental and social organizations, and several MKs protested against some of the changes made in the bill. A new vote will apparently be held after Purim in March, which means that the Knesset plenum will not vote on it as originally scheduled on March 21, the last day of the winter session.
The Israel Union for Environmental Defense, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, and the Association for Social Justice petitioned the High Court of Justice for an urgent motion to order the joint committee to explain why it will not prevent voting on the 660-page bill before distributing it to the MKs and the public, so they can note their reservations.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 28, 2012
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