Taipei: Amendments to an act relating to the allocation of funding between central and local governments completed an initial review on Wednesday following physical altercations between lawmakers in the Legislature. Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Chen Yu-jen, chairperson of the Legislature's Economics Committee, announced that the proposed amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures had completed the initial committee review process, paving the way for them to be discussed in the Legislative Yuan in the coming months.According to Focus Taiwan, if passed by Taiwan's Legislature, the 22 separate proposed amendments to the act, which regulates the distribution of fiscal resources between central and local authorities, would be the first update to the law in more than 25 years. The current dispensation of government finances favors the central government, with 75 percent allocated to the center compared with 25 percent for local governments.Since national elections in Jan uary, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has not commanded a majority in the Legislature. Under this minority government situation, the two largest opposition parties -- the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) -- have pushed changes to the law. KMT lawmaker Lee Yen-hsiu suggested that the Ministry of Finance has delayed producing a counter-proposal as a deliberate tactic aimed at delaying updates to the law. TPP lawmaker Huang Shan-shan expressed anticipation for the government's response to the lawmakers' proposed amendments.Despite both advocating changes to the act, the KMT and TPP -- which together command a majority in the Legislative Yuan -- have not revealed their final proposed versions of the amendments, indicating a lack of consensus between the opposition parties as well as between ruling and opposition lawmakers. According to the Legislative Yuan's standard procedure for reviewing amendments, the Economics Committee's proposed amendments will next be discussed in inter-pa rty caucus negotiations before they can be openly reviewed by the full Legislature. However, if no consensus on the draft amendments has been reached by the party caucuses within a month, the amendments will be directly sent to the Legislature.Adding to uncertainties about the future of the proposed amendments, Chen announced the completion of the initial review of the changes and adjourned the Economics Committee just three minutes into the meeting, after physical altercations between DPP and KMT lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan. DPP Spokesperson Wu Cheng accused the KMT and TPP of forcibly pushing the Act out of the committee, claiming their intent is to drain central government funds and weaken governance in Taiwan.