From security to traffic reform, bills postponed until September

When they return from their holidays after the summer break, deputies and senators will have nothing to be bored about. In fact, the various bills awaiting them are often close to their destination but postponed to September due to the logjam of decrees to be converted into law in extremis (more than in other years at this stage of the year) before Parliament closes for holidays.

In the Chamber of Deputies there is the labour bill, which also contains measures on the fight against child labour. And the security bill (with the bodycam that can be worn by police officers and the crackdown on cannabis light) will arrive in the Chamber on 10 September. Awaiting the deputies of the Finance Committee, in addition to the legislative decree with the consolidated text of minor state taxes, is a whole series of bills, including the reopening of the deadlines for requests for the acquisition of state property by territorial authorities. After the indiscretions of the last few days that have brought the possible contribution of banks to the public budget back into the limelight, a bill on the bank's obligation to contract and withdrawal in current account relations and one presented by FdI precisely on the extension of the application of the extraordinary tax on bank extra-profits are also to be examined in committee: on this one a cycle of hearings has been announced, but it has not yet started. The separation of the careers of judges and prosecutors has already been hinged in Montecitorio, in the Constitutional Affairs Commission. About fifty hearings have been held. Among the Forza Italia Azzurri, who are the main sponsors of the reform, the hope is to arrive at the first vote in the Chamber by the end of November.

The reform of the road code has not (yet) made it into law (despite Matteo Salvini's pressure). Having received the OK from Montecitorio in March, since mid-July the bill has been at a standstill in the Senate Environment Committee under a rain of proposed amendments (almost 450), 54 of which have the signature of Forza Italia. It is precisely the Azzurri who are the government's most obstinate allies in asking for stakes and in-depth studies (followed by Fratelli d'Italia with 11 proposed amendments, none from the Leghisti) which, if approved, risk taking the text back to the Chamber. Prominent among the majority proposals is the Melonian one to transform the practice of surrogacy into a universal crime, even if done abroad in a country that allows it. The Fratelli d'Italia measure only needs to be passed by the Senate for it to become law one year after the House gave the go-ahead. In the Senate, the examination in committee of the bill on Artificial Intelligence, jointly assigned to the Environment and Social Affairs committees, remains to be concluded. And awaiting a destination, then, is the ddl with provisions for the simplification and digitalisation of procedures concerning economic activities and services in favour of citizens and enterprises: the measure, linked to the budget law, was presented in the Senate on 5 July, but is still to be assigned.

The draft annual law on competition, which was passed in the cdm at the end of July, is also still pending. The bill ranges from the extension of the dehors to penalties for illegal taxis and Nccs and introduces a novelty that changes motorway concessions: part of the pedages will go into the coffers of the State instead of those of the concessionary companies. On the other hand, it does not address the issue of bathing establishments, on which the executive did not give any answers even in the last Council of Ministers, thus causing the anger of a part of the operators that exploded in the 9 August strike. Something could move in September and, as anticipated by the Sole 24 Ore, a government plan would already be ready to redesign the concessions over time, modulating them according to the percentage of free beaches in the territory.

In September it will be four months. The arrival in Parliament of the Irpef-Ires legislative decree with the much-discussed 'Befana bonus', the approximately 80 euro initially promised in the thirteenth month but then postponed to January due to a lack of coverage, is long overdue. Approved by the Council of Ministers on the eve of 1 May, the legislative decree implementing the tax reform is reportedly still at the Ragioneria. More time will therefore be needed for it to be presented to parliamentarians.