Local legislators to the fore

The scrutiny of the proposed ordinance on air pollution prevention by Beijing municipal people's congress is hardly newsy, because the deteriorating air quality in the city deserves to be a legislative priority and, more importantly, a legislative response to the issue of outstanding public concern is overdue.

Yet the coming event of the current legislature session is more than newsy, because for "the first time after 13 years" the people's congress would exercise "legislative power", as the local media put it.

The 700-strong legislature, which convenes every year, has not wielded full-session legislative authority for 13 years. All local legislations of the city, big and small, had been examined and approved by the 70 or so members of its standing committee since the 2001 annual session, which passed a regulation on the making of local statutes.