The deliberation of the Bill on family benefits was adjourned

At today’s sitting, the last regular plenary sitting of its spring session, the Riigikogu continued the second reading of the Bill raising child benefits. The Riigikogu voted in favour of shortening the working hours of the sitting and two motions to amend the Bill were voted on.

At the beginning of the sitting, which began at 10 a.m., the Estonian Centre Party Faction and the Estonian Conservative People’s Party Faction moved to conclude the sitting at 10.30 a.m. 61 members of the Riigikogu voted for the motion, one was against and there was one abstention. Thus, the motion was supported.

The second reading of the Bill started in the plenary of the Riigikogu at last Wednesday’s sitting. Starting from that sitting, the Riigikogu has been voting on the motions to amend the Bill and taking ten-minute recesses before votings in all regular sittings.

By the end of today’s sitting, two of the 1191 motions to amend entered on the list of motions to amend had been reviewed, which means that a total of 151 motions to amend have been reviewed. The second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Family Benefits Act (619 SE), initiated by 54 members of the Riigikogu, was adjourned due to the end of working hours.

According to the Bill, the child allowance for the first and second child will rise from 60 euro to 100 euro, that is, to the same level as the child allowance for the third and subsequent children. According to the Bill, the allowance for families with many children will rise from 300 euro to 700 euro per month for families with three to six children, and from 400 euro to 900 euro for families with seven or more children. In order that the allowance for families with many children would continue to be proportional to the rise in the standard of living, and that the amount of the allowance would not need to be changed every year, according to the Bill, the allowance will be indexed by 1 April of each year. The value of the index will depend to the extent of 20 per cent on the annual increase in the consumer price index and to the extent of 80 per cent on the annual increase in the receipt of the pension insurance part of social tax.

At present, the payment of the allowance for families with many children stops when the first child attains the age of majority. In the future, however, according to the Bill, it will be paid in the full amount for as long as the family is raising at least three children who are minors. In the case of families with many children, the allowance will be paid to the extent of two thirds of the allowance if two of the children are minors, and to the extent one third if one child is a minor. Before the second reading, the Social Affairs Committee had amended the Bill by adding a provision under which, in the case of a multiple birth, the allowance for families with many children would be paid until the children attain the age of 21 years. The committee had also made the amendment to the Bill under which the single parent’s child allowance would rise to 40 euro.

The Reform Party Faction had submitted about 1660 motions to amend the Bill, and the Social Democratic Party Faction had submitted four. The lead committee had not incorporated the motions. 1191 motions had been entered on the list of motions to amend. About 470 motions, submitted by the Reform Party Faction, requiring amendment of the State Budget for 2022 Act, had been excluded from the list.

15 minutes after the end of today’s sitting, that is, at 10.45 a.m., an additional sitting of the Riigikogu will start where the agenda will include a motion of no confidence in Minister of Education and Research Liina Kersna.

At 9 a.m. on Friday, an extraordinary session of the Riigikogu will start where the agenda will include the second reading of the Bill on Amendments to the Alcohol, Tobacco, Fuel and Electricity Excise Duty Act (548 SE), initiated by Faction Isamaa.

Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)

The video recording of the sitting will be available on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
(Please note that the recording will be uploaded with a delay.)

Source: Parliament of Estonia