Topical Information

The NAMRB Management Board considered and adopted a package of legislative changes to be presented to the MPs of the 49th National Assembly. The proposals focus on provisions that concern the daily work of municipalities.

In the Local Self-Government and Local Administration Act, NAMRB will insist on restoring the main provisions of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, the Constitution and the current legislation, positioning the municipality as the main administrative-territorial unit in which local self-government is carried out.

The Association will continue its efforts to regulate the scope and type of eligible actions with agricultural land under art. 19, para. 1 of the Agricultural Land Ownership and Use Act, with which municipalities cannot currently carry out disposition transactions. The NAMRB management will insist that the scope of eligible activities includes municipal investment projects class "B", as well as investment projects related to the social and economic development of the municipality.

The targeting of municipal revenues for tracing and maintaining field roads in rural areas, as well as for cleaning self-afforested agricultural properties, should also be reviewed, according to Management Board members.

At the proposal of the Mayor of Sarnitsa Municipality and a member of the NAMRB Control Board Nebi Bozov, it was adopted to propose amendments to the Forest Act related to the mechanisms for providing firewood to the population. The proposals include dropping requirements that represent an administrative burden for citizens, allowing for flexibility and inter-municipal cooperation in the allocation of resources from the forest municipal fund, etc.

In the Civil Servants Act and the Labour Code, NAMRB will propose changes aimed at fair compensation for the work done by employees in municipal administrations, when assigning auxiliary or control activities in case of declared state of emergency or in case of declared emergency epidemic situation due to epidemic spread of infectious diseases and additional assigned activities in the implementation of projects.

NAMRB will continue to insist on amendments to the Access to Public Information Act in order to minimize or terminate the cases of submission of requests for access to information with feigned  names and addresses. The practice established in recent years is related to unjustified spending of resources of municipal administrations on the proceeding of such applications. In order not to create obstacles for conscientious applicants for public information, NAMRB proposes to introduce the PIN as an element of the applicant's identification. Among the proposals is the restoration of the right of municipalities to challenge the decisions of the administrative courts before the Supreme Administrative Court, which will contribute to the establishment of a unified and uncontroversial case law on the implementation of APIA. It is inappropriate that primary accounting documents fall into the category of public information.

NAMRB will also propose amendments to the Non-Profit Legal Entities Act to create a legal opportunity for remote participation of members in the work of the General Assembly of Non-Profit Legal Entities (NPLEA). So far, such a possibility exists in the NPLEA, only with regard to their management boards.