I hereby promulgate the Local Finance Committee Law. Signed:HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor This seventh day of the twelfth month of the twenty-second year of Showa (December 7, 1947) Prime Minister KATAYAMA Tetsu Law No.155 The Local Finance Committee Law

Article 1. The Local Finance Committee shall be established provisionally under the Jurisdiction of the Prime Minister consequent on the abolition of the Ministry for Home Affairs to foster the autonomy of local finance.

Article 2. The Local Finance Committee shall prepare a comprehensive program for the effectuation of local financial autonomy consistent with the national public interest and local control over local responsibilities. Such plan shall include provisions for (1) assessment and collection of taxes, (2) incurring of local indebtedness and bond issues, (3) budget, appropriation and audit procedures, (4) equitable allocation of national funds for local purposes under local administration, and (5) the financial reports to be made by local public bodies to the national government.

Article 3. The Local Finance Committee shall have the power to subpoena witnesses and order the production of records to the agencies concerned for the purposes set forward in the preceding Article.

Article 4. The Local Finance Committee shall consist of the following persons appointed by the Prime Minister: 1. A Minister of State without portfolio; 2. A representative from the Diet nominated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and President of House of Councillors; 3. A representative from among the governors of prefectures; 4. A representative from among the mayers of cities; 5. A representative from among the mayors of towns and villages.

Article 5. The office of the chairman of the Local Finance Committee shall be filled by the member who is a Minister of State. The chairman shall co-ordinate the affairs of the Committee, represent it and direct and superintend the officials attached. If there is a disability on the part of the chairman, the member designated by the chairman shall execute his function.

Article 6. The Committee shall decide the affairs of the Committee upon obtaining the consent of three or more members.

Article 7. The members of the Local Finance Committee (excluding the member who is the Minister of State) shall be paid remunerations of which amount is prescribed by the Prime Minister. The provision of Article 7 of Law No.80, 1947 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the remunerations to the received by a member of the Diet who is to be concurrently a member of Local Finance Committee.

Article 8. An office shall be attached to the Committee, in order to assist the affairs prescribed in laws. The office shall have necessary officials according to Cabinet Order;provided, however, that all the number of first and second-class officials shall not exeed twelve.

Supplementary Provisions: This Law shall be enforced as from thirty days after the date of promulgation. Bills which are necessary in accordance with the plan required to be formulated by Article 2 hereof shall be submitted to the Diet within ninety days after the date of promulgation. The Local Finance Committee shall, after the submission of the plan required by Article 2, continue to be effective one year from the date of promulgation of this law for the purpose of carrying out research necessary for the execution of such plan. The previsions of Article 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the matter relative to research in such case. The Local Finance Committee may give recommendations to the agencies concerned on the basis of the results of research provided for in the preceding paragraph. The affairs of the Local Finance Committee may be dispssed by such members as appointed successively until all the first members of the Commission have been appointed. The Prime Minister shall, with the assistance of the Local Finance Committee, provisionally take over the authority which the Home Minister has exercised heretofore over local finance under the stipulations of the Local Tax Law, the Local Appertionment Tax Law and other various laws and orders, during the interim period from the time of the dissolution of the Home Ministry to that of the enforcement of the law that shall be promulgated for effectuation of the plan. Minister for Home Affairs KIMURA Kozaemon Minister of Finance KURUSU Takeo Prime Minister KATAYAMA Tetsu