BEIJING -- Lawmakers got into heated debate this afternoon while discussing how to revise the Legislation Law so the country can have an increase of "good laws".

The Legislation Law, considered an essential part of China's legal system, regulates the process of creating national laws, government regulations and local laws and defines the legislative powers in the country.

The draft revision to the law was tabled for its second reading at the bi-monthly session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, which runs Monday to Sunday.

"There will not be a good governance without good laws and without a well-designed legislative procedure, there will not be good laws," said Gu Shengzhu, a NPC Standing Committee member, at a penal discussion.

The NPC and its standing committee should play a "stronger" part in legislation so as to prevent biased legislation, he said.

In practice, due to historical reasons, government departments are often entrusted to draft a law related to the affairs they govern and in some cases they are more inclined to write in provisions favoring themselves.

Legislature has adopted measures to prevent such tendencies. One measure includes publishing a draft law in order to solicit public opinions after each reading.

So far, efforts have made progress.

To further stress the authority of legislature, the Legislation Law should clearly express the principle that the legislature should dominate legislation, Gu said.

The NPC Standing Committees and NPC special committees are entitled to examine the legitimacy of government rules. In current practice, the legislature only does this when requested.

The bill adds an article allowing the legislature to initiate examinations of legitimacy and publish their results.

Lawmakers praised the new articles but pushed the bill to clearly define what kinds of government rules should be sent to the legislature for reviewing.

Du Liming, another committee member, suggested that the law should require all departments of the State Council, China's cabinet, to submit the regulations they issued to the NPC Standing Committee so that lawmakers can examine their legitimacy.

Another controversial issue about this bill is the expansion of local legislative powers.

Currently, out of 282 Chinese cities with subordinate districts, only 49 have legislative powers, including 27 provincial capitals, four special economic zones and 18 large cities approved by the State Council.

The bill expands lawmaking power over local affairs to all 282 cities.

However, at the previous reading lawmakers voiced concerns about the risk of abuse of the powers.

The second version addressed the concern by further defining "local affairs" and entrusting provincial legislatures to decide whether a city is suited to exercising legislative power.

Liu Zhenqi, a committee member, suggested more specific regulations on the procedure.

City legislatures should be asked to hold hearings and publish drafts through media and the internet when they are drafting local laws, he said.

A comprehensive legal reform plan was adopted at a key Party session in late October. It pledged to promote the rule of law, improving the country's legal system, pushing the government to function in line with the law, and reforming the judicial system.

The Legislation Law revision is considered an important move to realize the plan.