지방자치단체장의 복지권한과 책임 -「국민기초생활보장법」 상 자활센터 운영에 관한 쟁점을 중심으로-

Abstract

There is a controversy over the authority to designate and cancel a self-sufficiency centers, which is the Minister of Health and Welfare have under the 「National Basic Living Security Act」. This is because the essential authority belongs to the central government even though basic local governments carry out most of the main tasks of centers installed in metropolitan and basic local governments. It is a problem arising from the confusion of the ideology, principles, and standards of the distribution of authority surrounding welfare affairs.
 In details, for the case of self-sufficiency centers, it is appropriate that the head of a local government who have control over area get a core authority to it installed in a metropolitan area or local government. However, in reality, the authority is concentrated in the Minister of Health and Welfare. This situation have a gap with the legislative purpose of the 「Local Autonomy Act」 and 「Special Act On Local Autonomy And Decentralization, And Restructuring Of Local Administrative Systems」.
 Since a self-sufficiency business supports self-reliance of the low income class in the local community, it is a task that should fully consider various regional characteristics. As a similar case, most of the designation and declaration systems stipulated in the 「Welfare Of Senior Citizens Act」, 「Act On Activity Assistant Services For Persons With Disabilities」, and 「Social Welfare Services Act」 are established under the authority of local governments. Therefore, the 「National Basic Living Security Act」 also needs to be improved to give the authority to designate and cancel a self-sufficiency centers to heads of metropolitan and basic local governments.
 On the other hand, 「National Basic Living Security Act」, which is currently the basis for operating a self-sufficiency centers, have insufficient legislative grounds in regulating entry, operation, and exit of the centers. For this reason, a case suspected unconstitutionality were found due to violation of the jurisprudence of the delegated legislation. It is an issue that requires urgent improvement because it can neutralize the self-sufficiency support business for the low-income class in Korea.