Who runs Israel…the Knesset or the bureaucracy?

Fifty different laws passed by the Knesset over the past decade have never been implemented because the relevant ministries never issued the regulations that would enable their enforcement, according to a report by the Knesset legal department that was made public Tuesday.

Thus, the Economy Ministry (formerly the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry) has since 2002 blocked implementation of a law facilitating the integration of disabled workers into the workplace; for three years it has also blocked the application of a clause forbidding electricians from handling certain types of electrical work without special certification, while the Defense Ministry has yet to move forward on the Minefield Clearing Law passed in 2011. Other ministries obstructing implementation of laws include the Prime Minister’s Office, the treasury, and the justice and education ministries.

The department examined 150 laws from the past decade that set a specific date by which the relevant regulations were to be promulgated. Of these, only 50 had regulations issued on time, 50 went into effect only after a lengthy delay, and 50 were never implemented because regulations were never issued.

“No one would dispute that this phenomenon, which essentially thwarts Knesset legislation, does not do the government proud and the Knesset cannot accept this,” wrote Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanding that the premier order the relevant ministers to draw up the relevant regulations. Edelstein also addressed the issue at a press conference.

Knesset officials said that there are three possible reasons for the phenomenon: Contempt of government administrators for the legislative process, negligence, or a desire by ministry officials to block implementation of laws they don’t like.

The study was launched in response to complaints by individual MKs who said that laws they had sponsored and worked very hard to pass were not being implemented. According to Knesset legal advisor Eyal Yinon, “The MKs claimed that this was one of the tools government ministries used to scuttle private bills that were imposed on them.”

But as it turned out, “50 percent of the unimplemented laws were government-sponsored laws, not private member’s bills,” Yinon said.

“When we checked this, we didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Edelstein said.

“In many cases there is no direct connection between the delay in issuing regulations and the minister serving at the moment,” noted Edelstein. “The current ministers are in their posts only a year. But that doesn’t absolve them of responsibility for immediately beginning to draft the regulations.”

In some cases, the study showed, the ministries circumvented the issuing of regulations and instead implemented the laws in alternative ways. For example, the Education Ministry never issued guidelines for implementing a law that guarantees sick children help with their studies, but operates its own program that fulfills the law’s objective.

“This isn’t acceptable to us,” Edelstein told a press conference. “There’s almost no doubt that when there are no regulations, there’s a serious problem implementing the law.”

Edelstein rejected the suggestion made by some MKs that the Knesset petition the High Court of Justice against the government, saying he hoped that his approach to Netanyahu on the matter would get the regulations issued.

“We don’t need the High Court or arbitrators,” he said. “The Knesset has enough power. If we’re told which ministers aren’t interested in moving the regulations along, those laws that do interest them and their ministries will not be advanced. That’s clear.”