Lukl: The change to the building law in the Chamber is sad to the point of shameful

Prague – The President of the Union of Towns and Municipalities of the Czech Republic, František Lukl, considers it sad and shameful how the appearance of the new building law changes during the discussions. Lukl expressed this in his opening remarks at today's online meeting of the Union of Towns and Municipalities on the topic of finances. He lamented that last year's agreement between the union and the Ministry for Regional Development regarding the form of the law will not be fulfilled. The law was supposed to bring the so-called hybrid model and retain building offices in municipalities, based on last year's agreement. However, the Chamber of Deputies used a parliamentary proposal as the basis, which transfers building offices along with their officials entirely under the state. The Minister for Regional Development, Klára Dostálová (for ANO), considers Lukl's statement absurd.

"Last year we managed to reach a kind of compromise, where we clearly showed that the delays in building proceedings in our country are not the fault of building offices, but a web of interests and, of course, the involved authorities. Unfortunately, recently it has become evident that this compromise, this decent agreement will not be fulfilled. It is sad or shameful how the finalization of the building law is proceeding in our country," said Lukl.

"I firmly believe that we will prevent the collapse of the building proceedings," he noted. A number of mayors are initiating a petition to open the eyes of lawmakers, he stated, adding that he believes in a compromise.

The building law has been in preparation for several years and has caused disputes. The Pirates want to reject it in the Chamber. The Chamber could approve it at its current session, after which it will have to be discussed by the Senate.

"It seems a bit absurd to me that the Union of Towns and Municipalities is citing the compromise and agreement that were the essence of the government's proposal for the law. If the compromise was the right path from its perspective, then why was the government material not agreed upon? A majority of deputies, like the government's legislative council, are convinced that transitioning building offices to the state is a better solution than the current situation, as are professional unions and institutions. And it is the sovereign right of the deputies to express this will," Dostálová stated. According to her, a clean state administration will provide citizens with better-paid officials in building offices and also ensure compliance with deadlines by the state.

Dostálová has previously told deputies that under the comprehensive amendment proposed by the economic committee, which now serves as the basis, building offices could remain where they are today. They would become regional offices of the county building authority. The minister is leading several negotiations with mayors to ensure that offices can continue to operate in their current premises. She has previously stated that officials could mutually assist each other in offices where more projects are gathered.

The director of the legislative and legal section of the union, Ivona Mottlová, noted that the main issue of the comprehensive amendment is that it is not supported by an assessment of the regulatory impacts, the so-called RIA. "The personnel impacts are unknown, as are the financial and material impacts. Essentially, there will be a transition of approximately 7,500 officials from local self-governing units to the state service,” she described. It will be necessary to ensure officials for the Supreme Building Authority and for the Specialized and Appeal Building Authority as well as for their regional offices.

For officials, a trilateral agreement will be needed between the official, the new building office, and the current employer, mainly the municipality. "So far, no analysis has been conducted on how many officials are willing to transition,” Mottlová pointed out. According to results from this year's survey by the Trade Union of State Authorities and Organizations and the Association of Local Self-Governments of the Czech Republic, about 40 percent of building officials want to transition to state administration. Mottlová also pointed out that it will be necessary to address, for example, the networking for the state office or the filing offices.

According to her, there is also a lack of analysis on whether self-governments will be willing to rent space from the state. In the government's explanatory report, it states that there are no plans to build buildings for employees, but only to rent other spaces, for example, from the Railway Administration, which has about 1,200 station buildings available.

The new building law is supposed to accelerate building proceedings and shorten the approval time. The Ministry for Regional Development expects, for example, to shorten the average approval time for larger projects to one year.

Lukl also thanked mayors for how they are handling the current difficult situation. He rejected the claim that self-governments spent little in recent times. "I believe the opposite is true, and the numbers speak for themselves. Not only the total amount invested but also what has been constructed in municipalities and towns," he stated. "We, unlike the state, do one fundamental thing. That every koruna, before we spend it, we obviously turn it over twice," he added.

At the end of March, the Minister of Finance, Alena Schillerová (for ANO), said that municipalities did not use all the money they could have invested last year. It amounted to about 12 billion korunas. "I want to point out that the investment potential of many municipalities was not utilized as it could have been. Therefore, it is important to invest this year and help the economy," she said at the time.