Legislative Council Annual Report 2017-2018

President's Foreword Chapt r 1 The Legislative Council Chapter 1 The Legislative Council Powers and functions Pursuant to Article 73 of the Basic Law, the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall exercise the following powers and functions: • • To enact, amend or repeal laws in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Law and legal procedures; • • To examine and approve budgets introduced by the government; • • To approve taxation and public expenditure; • • To receive and debate the policy addresses of the Chief Executive; • • To raise questions on the work of the government; • • To debate any issue concerning public interests; • • To endorse the appointment and removal of the judges of the Court of Final Appeal and the Chief Judge of the High Court; • • To receive and handle complaints from Hong Kong residents; • • If a motion initiated jointly by one-fourth of all the members of the Legislative Council charges the Chief Executive with serious breach of law or dereliction of duty and if he or she refuses to resign, the Council may, after passing a motion for investigation, give a mandate to the Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal to form and chair an independent investigation committee. The committee shall be responsible for carrying out the investigation and reporting its findings to the Council. If the committee considers the evidence sufficient to substantiate such charges, the Council may pass a motion of impeachment by a two-thirds majority of all its members and report it to the Central People's Government for decision; and • • To summon, as required when exercising the above-mentioned powers and functions, persons concerned to testify or give evidence. Composition According to the Basic Law, the Legislative Council ("LegCo") of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be constituted by election. The Sixth LegCo comprises 70Members, 1 ofwhom35were returnedbygeographical constituencies through direct elections and 35 were returned by functional constituencies. The election for the Sixth LegCo was held on 4 September 2016, and the term of office is four years from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2020. The President of LegCo is elected by and from among the Council's Members. Details of the composition of the Sixth LegCo are provided in Appendix 1 . 1 Of the six vacancies in the membership of the Sixth LegCo arising from the courts' declaration that six electedMembers were disqualified from assuming the office of a Member of LegCo since 12 October 2016, four vacancies have been filled following the LegCo by-election held on 11March 2018. As of 9 October 2018, there were two vacancies in themembership of the Council. The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR") stipulates that the HKSAR shall be vested with legislative power and the Legislative Council shall be the legislature of the Region. 15 14 Legislative Council Annual Report 2017-2018 Legislative Council Annual Report 2017-2018