(Sankei: July 31, 2015 – p. 5)

 As the House of Councillors begins deliberation on the security bills, there are a number of important bills that have been submitted whose passage in the current Diet session is becoming difficult. The government and the ruling parties have already given up on amendments to the Labor Standards Law to introduce a results-based wage system. It is also uncertain when deliberation on major revisions to the Civil Code for the first time since it was enacted or on the bill on integrated resorts (IR) with casinos proposed by Diet members will begin.

 Amendments to the Labor Standards Law were approved by the cabinet in April, but due to the House of Representatives Committee on Health, Labor, and Welfare being preoccupied with discussing the personal information leakage by the Japan Pension Service, deliberation has not even started.

 The government and the ruling parties gave up on this legislation after they moved to narrow down the bills to be taken up, in order to give top priority to enacting the security bills.

 Another key piece of legislation that may not be enacted in the current Diet session is amendments to the Civil Code regarding contract rules. This would be the first major revision since the law was enacted 120 years ago.

 However, the Lower House Committee on Justice is working on amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure, including the introduction of plea bargaining. There are also other budget-related legislative measures that take precedence, so the passage of amendments to the Civil Code in the current session is now reckoned to be impossible.

 The processing of the IR bill submitted by members of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Japan Innovation Party, and the Party for Future Generations has not even begun. (Abridged)