| I. | Confirmation of the minutes of the 4th meeting on 10 May 1997
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| (PLC Paper No. 235/96-97)
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| The minutes were confirmed with the following amendment in the English text:
para 23 "...Getting the Council and the President involved in the subject might be ultra vires. ..."
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| II. | Matters arising
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| (a) Draft House Rules (Chinese version)
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| (PLC Paper No. 204/96-97)
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| 2. At the invitation of the Chairman, Mrs Selina CHOW, Convenor of the Working Group on Rules of Procedure, briefed members that some of the arrangements stated in the House Rules would have to be further reviewed, e.g. the relationship between the Panels and the House Committee, and the present arrangements in meeting with District Boards. This review would be conducted in conjunction with the current study of the issues put on the marker list during the drafting of the Rules of Procedure. If any changes to the House Rules were found necessary in future, proposed amendments would be put to the House Committee for consideration.
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| 3. Members agreed that the draft House Rules (Chinese version) should be adopted so that the rules governing the in-house arrangements for the conduct of business of the Council could take immediate effect. Mrs Selina CHOW added that the English version of the House Rules would be submitted to the House Committee for consideration as soon as possible.
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| (b) The transitional budget for 1997-98
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| 4. Mr Ronald ARCULLI, Chairman of the Finance Committee, suggested to members that since the Council meeting on 24 May was not expected to be very long, the Finance Committee meeting scheduled for that day to consider the Finance Committee Procedure could also be used to examine the transitional budget. After deliberation, it was agreed that the House Committee would meet immediately after the Council meeting, so that the whole afternoon could be reserved for the Finance Committee meeting to consider both the Procedure and the budget. With this arrangement, it was not anticipated that the Finance Committee would need to meet again on 26 May 1997.
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| III. | Business arising from previous Council meetings
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| (a) Bills referred to the House Committee in accordance with Rule 54(4)
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| Urban Council (Amendment) Bill 1997
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| Regional Council (Amendment) Bill 1997
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| District Boards (Amendment) Bill 1997
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| 5. The Chairman invited the Legal Adviser to give a verbal report on the bills and asked members to consider whether a Bills Committee could be formed without having to wait for the written report in view of the public interest in the bills. Members agreed that a Bills Committee should be formed to study these three bills. The Bills Committee would meet immediately after the House Committee meeting to elect the Chairman and Deputy Chairman and to plan the way forward.
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| 6. The following members indicated that they would join the Bills Committee : Mr WONG Siu-yee, Mr LEE Kai-ming, Mrs Elsie TU, Mrs Peggy LAM, Mr Henry WU, Mr MA Fung-kwok, Mr CHAN Wing-chan, Mr CHAN Kam-lam, Mr Howard YOUNG, Mr Bruce LIU, Mr LAU Kong-wah, Dr TANG Siu-tong, and Mr NGAN Kam-chuen.
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| [Post-meeting note : Mr Bruce LIU subsequently withdrew from the Bills Committee.]
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| Societies (Amendment) Bill 1997
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| Public Order (Amendment) Bill 1997
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| 7. Members agreed that a Bills Committee should immediately be formed to study these two bills and should start its work as soon as possible. The first meeting of the Bills Committee to elect the Chairman and Deputy Chairman would also be held after the House Committee meeting.
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| 8. The following members indicated that they would join the Bills Committee : Dr HO Chung-tai, Mrs Elsie TU, Mrs Selina CHOW, Mr Ronald ARCULLI, Mr CHEUNG Hon-chung, Mr Kennedy WONG, Mr YEUNG Yiu-chung, Mr Bruce LIU, Mr LAU Kong-wah, Mr KAN Fook-yee, Ms Maria TAM and Mr TAM Yiu-chung.
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| [Post-meeting note : Mr CHEUNG Hon-chung and Mr KAN Fook-yee subsequently withdrew from the Bills Committee.]
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| 9. The Chairman advised members that notwithstanding the holding of the first meetings of the two Bills Committees on this date, signification of membership would still be open until the next meeting of the respective Bills Committees.
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| IV. | Business for the Council meeting on 24 May 1997
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| (a) Bills
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| 10. Members noted that no notice had so far been received on the first and second readings of bills and resumption of debate on the second reading of bills for the Council meeting on 24 May 1997.
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| (b) Motions
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| 11. At the invitation of the Chairman, Mr IP Kwok-him, Convenor of the Working Group on Administrative Matters, reported that he would move an amendment to the resolution on the terms of reference of the Working Group to delete the reference to "Members' Interests". All matters relating to Members' interests would be taken up by the newly formed Committee on Members' Interests.
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| V. | Business for the Council meeting on 31 May 1997
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| (a) Bills
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| 12. Members noted that no notice had so far been received on the first and second readings of bills and resumption of debate on the second reading of bills for the Council meeting on 31 May 1997.
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| (b) Motions
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| 13. Members also noted that no notice of motions from Members or from the Chief Executive's Office had been received so far.
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| VI. | Any other business
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| (a) Means of public consultation made by committees of the Provisional Legislative Council
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| (PLC Paper No. 236/96-97)
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| 14. Members agreed to adopt the proposed arrangements in paragraph 7 of the paper. In response to some members' comments on the need to facilitate the public to communicate with the committees concerned, the Clerk undertook to list out the contact telephone and facsimile numbers of the members of the committees in the relevant press releases and/or on the internet. As to which interested parties would be invited to give views on specific subjects, the decision would be made by the committees concerned.
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| (b) Seating arrangements for Members at Council meetings
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| (PLC Paper No. 237/96-97)
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| 15. The Chairman asked members to consider the seating arrangements for Members at Council meetings on and after 1 July 1997. He pointed out that the options listed in the paper were by no means exhaustive. He invited members to give views on the options so that a number of more probable options could be drawn up for members' decision at a future meeting.
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| 16. Some members pointed out that seating arrangement was not a subject which required very in-depth discussion, but there should be a fair system which would not give rise to discrimination or favouritism to any particular groups of Members. Different views were expressed on the scope of service to be regarded as relevant legislative service. After members had given their views on the subject, the Chairman summarized the options as follows:
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| (i) by legislative service: consideration would have to be given to whether relevant service in the National People's Congress should also be taken into account;
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| (ii) according to the number of strokes in the characters of the Member's name in Chinese;
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| (iii) by ballot;
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| (iv) according to the grouping of Members by political parties, while independent Members be seated by ballot;
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| (v) the Chairman of the House Committee be seated in the first seat, while other Members be seated according to (i)/(ii)/(iii)/(iv) above.
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| 17. The Chairman advised that a questionnaire would be issued to members for them to indicate their individual preferences. Thereafter, tabulation of the results would be prepared to enable members to make a final decision at a future meeting.
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| (c) Ceremonial and logistical arrangements for 1 July 1997
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| 18. Members agreed that forward planning was required in respect of the activities which involved Members of the Provisional Legislative Council in the early hours of 1 July 1997, and that a task force should be set up under the House Committee to study and make recommendations on the ceremonial and logistical arrangements. After discussion, it was agreed that the task force should comprise eight members, with the President and the Chairman of the House Committee serving as ex-officio members of the task force. Members also agreed that the other six members should be broadly representative of the different parties and affiliations of Members, including independent Members. A circular would be issued to invite membership to the task force.
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| 19. Members noted that the final decision on the arrangements on 1 July 1997 would be made by the Central People's Government.
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| 20. The meeting ended at 12:10 p.m.
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