A special law for administrative integration of South Jeolla and Gwangju and an amendment to the National Referendum Act passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 1st under the ruling party's lead. The People Power Party boycotted the vote in protest of the unilateral handling.
At the plenary session that day, the National Assembly approved the Special Act on the Establishment of the South Jeolla–Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City and an amendment to the Local Autonomy Act. The special law passed with 159 in favor, 2 against, and 14 abstentions out of 175 present, and the Local Autonomy Act passed with 165 in favor, 2 against, and 6 abstentions out of 173 present.
The special law grants the newly launched South Jeolla–Gwangju Integrated Metropolitan City a status equivalent to Seoul Metropolitan City and includes special provisions on national fiscal support and educational autonomy. It also includes allowing issuance of local government bonds in excess, establishing and operating a balanced development fund within the integrated metropolitan city, and providing grounds for local government tax reductions when promoting development projects. It also specifies special provisions for focused support for the shipbuilding industry and for promoting democratic civic education.
The amendment to the Local Autonomy Act includes the legal basis for establishing the integrated metropolitan city and a provision setting the number of vice mayors at four.
An amendment to the National Referendum Act guaranteeing the national referendum rights of overseas Koreans was also passed that day. With the People Power Party absent, all 176 members present voted in favor.
The amendment includes those registered on the roll of overseas voters among those eligible to vote in national referendums. This is follow-up legislation to the 2014 Constitutional Court ruling of constitutional incompatibility against the previous provision that limited eligibility to those with resident registration or a domestic residence report.
It also includes a provision to hold a constitutional amendment referendum on the Wednesday immediately preceding the day that falls within 30 days from the date the National Assembly approves the constitutional amendment bill.
The plenary session that day proceeded to a vote after the People Power Party, which began a filibuster on the National Referendum Act the previous day, halted it at 3:46 p.m., recessed, and then reconvened at 8:45 p.m.