Yariv Levin - Activity in The 18th Knesset

Activity in The 18th Knesset

In the Likud Party Primaries prior to the 18th Knesset elections, Levin was elected to represent the central region. He was placed in the twenty-first seat on the Likud list and entered the Knesset. On August 3, 2009 Levin was appointed Chairman of the Knesset House Committee. Levin also serves as the Knesset representative to the committee for selecting candidates for Attorney General. In July 2011 he was appointed Chair of the Israel-Sierra Leone Parliamentary Friendship Group by the Speaker of the Knesset.

Levin chaired the joint committee of the House Committee and the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on the Referendum Bill. This bill states that a referendum must be conducted in the event of a plan to relinquish sovereign land. The bill passed second and third readings in November 2010 and became a law.

40 bills proposed by MK Levin during the term of the 18th Knesset were passed on the Second and Third Readings and were entered in the Statute Book, an all-time record for a Member of Knesset during a single Knesset term:

• Law that sets time limits for providing responses to complaints by consumers regarding excessive charges. The Law also includes a maximum period within which excess charges must be returned.
• Law that regulates the allocation of rights to election funding and expenses between the elections lists for local authorities that are joint lists of two or more parties.
• Law that for the first time defines the rights of grandparents to appeal to a Family Affairs Court for a ruling regulating visitation rights with their young grandchildren.
• Law that allows local authorities to establish dedicated funds for carrying out educational projects, using surpluses that have accumulated from sums they receive for (land) Betterment Tax payments.
• Law that regulates the process for correcting textual errors or omissions that may have occurred in the text of a law passed by the Knesset.
• Law that applies the prohibition on sexual relations between therapist and patient also to anyone giving alternative medicine therapy which creates a dependent relationship between therapist and patient.
• Law that allows political parties that hold election primaries for their institutions or their Knesset election list, to receive updated information from the Population Registration about party members, so that it will be possible for them to manage a voters list that includes up-to-date addresses and other relevant information on party members.
• Law that places responsibility for illegal mining not only on the owner of the mine but also on anyone who carries out commercial activity or transportation of materials quarried or mined from an unauthorized mine.
• Amendment to the Consumer Protection Law obliging businesses and suppliers to send consumers an annual summary of charges and of any payments made together with notification regarding the remaining debt on these charges.
• Amendment to the Payments To Former Prisoners Law that determines that a former POW will be entitled to an additional 25% on the annual payment due to him/her when he/she becomes 80 years old.
• Amendment to the Political Parties Law requiring candidates to the Knesset who are not grouped as a party or are running as part of an existing party to report on donations received, to open a dedicated bank account for all election requirements. The bill also sets a limit to the size of a permitted donation. The provisions of the bill are adjusted to the existing legislation on candidates in primary elections and in parties not represented in the Knesset.
• Amendment to the Government Corporations Law that gives preference to Druze candidates for positions in Government corporations and local authorities in areas of residence of members of the Druze community.
• Amendment to the Political Parties Law that regulates the process of the presentation of reports to the Party Registry and to the State Comptroller by political parties.
• Law that restricts the advertising and marketing of alcoholic drinks which sets limits on advertising of alcohol as part of the fight against drunkenness.
• Amendment to the Knesset Law that coordinates the provisions of the Knesset Law on the question of the distribution of factions to the legal situation following the enactment of the Law on Political Parties.
• Amendment to the Budget Basis Law that specifies the duty of reporting the implementation of the Knesset budget to the Joint Committee of the Knesset House Committee and the Finance Committee on the Knesset Budget.
• Amendment to the Knesset Law that specifies the way to authorize and correct the rules regulating the payment of salaries, benefits, and other payments to a person whose membership of the Knesset has been suspended.
• Amendment to the Ports Ordinance (restriction on responsibility of customs agent), provides that customs agents will not be responsible for payments of port fees charged to goods owners.
• A law that states that the State of Israel will allocate an annual sum of 4.8 million NIS for original television productions in the Amharic and Tigrigna languages to be produced by teams from the Ethiopian community in Israel and to be broadcast on a dedicated Amharic and Tigrigna TV channel.
• Amendment to law on copyrights that rules a presumption that the person whose name appears on a record as the producer, will be considered the producer.
• Amendment to the law on consumer protection that requires service providers to enable a consumer who pays an account by means of a bank standing order, to determine the day of the month on which the payment will be transferred.
• Amendments to the laws that established memorial centres for Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin, that permits museums within these memorial centres and that cancels the limitations on the duration of the term in office of the directors and board members of the centres.
• Law that extends the supervision over sex offenders to include anyone convicted of offences relating to publication and possession of pornographic material in which minors appear.
• The boycott law – law that provides protection to Israeli citizens, academic institutions, cultural institutions and businesses from boycotts against them because of their activity in Israel or in territories held by Israel. The law allows anyone harmed by such a boycott to receive compensation for damages and also enables the withholding of Government funding from bodies that call for such boycotts.
• A law setting limits on the sale of land and property to foreigners
• A law determining the requirements for a candidate to serve as a Qadi Madhab (Druze religious judge).
• A law carrying out amendments to the provisions of the Law on the Knesset in regard to removal from office of a Knesset speaker or deputy speaker to make the Law conform with the Basic Law: The Knesset.
• Law enabling the Knesset to decide on the cancellation of payments to a Member of Knesset or former Member of Knesset, who has committed serious crimes and has not faced interrogation, trial or served a sentence.
• A law determining the rules of interpreting contracts that cancels the ruling by the Supreme Court known as the "Apropim" ruling.
• Abolition of the Commission for Future Generations at the Knesset
• Amendment to the Government Companies Law, expanding the list of those permitted to serve on the board of directors of government corporations, including people with second or third degrees in the humanities.
• Amendment to the Traffic Law, setting up a national information centre regarding all public transport services.
• Law requiring regular periodic reports to the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defence Committee by Ministry of Defence departments of rehabilitation and of family and commemoration.
• Law regulating the establishment of confidential sub-committees of the Finance Committee and the limits of confidentiality.
• Law allowing members of ballot station committees to cast their votes at the station where they serve on election day.
• Law regulating the composition of the Knesset Praesidium.
• Law to prevent drunkenness, that gives policemen the power to confiscate alcoholic drinks found in the possession of a minor at any hour of the day.
• Cancellation of the limitation on the number of partners in a professional partnership, specifically of lawyers or accountants
• Law requiring public bodies to provide information to both parents regarding the children of parents who live apart.
• Law requiring the Israel Bar Association to provide free legal aid to people with insufficient means.