Ruling Camp Wants Lower House to Pass Casino Bill This Week

June 13, 2018

Tokyo- Senior officials of Japan's ruling parties agreed Wednesday to boost efforts for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country's parliament, to pass by the end of this week a bill to introduce casino-featuring integrated resorts in the nation.

Secretaries-general and parliamentary affairs chiefs of the governing Liberal Democratic Part and its coalition partner, Komeito, also agreed to make a decision on whether to extend the current parliamentary session based on developments in deliberations on pending bills in the House of Councillors, the upper chamber.

The current regular session of the Diet is currently scheduled to end on June 20.

The LDP and Komeito are considering the possibility of extending the session by some 20 days to ensure the enactment of the casino bill.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and other opposition parties jointly submitted a motion to dismiss Daishiro Yamagiwa, chairman of the Lower House's Cabinet Committee, to prevent the committee from taking a vote on the bill.

The ruling camp plans to vote down the motion at a Lower House plenary meeting on Thursday and pass the casino bill at the committee and the full Lower House on Friday for its submission to the Upper House.

The ruling camp also plans to vote on work style reform legislation at a meeting of the Upper House's Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Tuesday. The Lower House passed the legislation in late May. Jiji Press