"Allowing Corporate Donations and Expanding Uses to Sports"... Flood of Amendment Bills for the Hometown Love Donation Act

19 Amendment Bills for the Hometown Love Donation Program Submitted to the 22nd National Assembly
Most Proposals Focus on Expanding Donation Eligibility to Corporations
Suggestions Include Broadening Usage to Sports and Community Development Purposes

Efforts are underway in the 22nd National Assembly to amend the law in order to revitalize the “Hometown Love Donation Program,” now in its fourth year since implementation. The aim is to address the limitations of the current system, which relies on small, individual donations, and to broaden the ways in which the program can be utilized, ensuring its successful establishment.

National Assembly Plenary Session Yonhap News

According to the National Assembly Bill Information System on June 1, a total of 19 “Partial Amendment Bills on the Act on Hometown Love Donations” have been submitted to the 22nd National Assembly. By party, the Democratic Party of Korea has sponsored 14 bills, while the People Power Party has sponsored 5 bills, indicating that both the ruling and opposition parties are working on measures to improve the system.

The main focus is on increasing the fundraising cap, which currently is limited to 600 million won per local government. In particular, the most frequently proposed measure is to expand donation eligibility from individuals to corporations. Democratic Party lawmakers Seo Samseok, Choi Eunseok, Lee Gaeho, and Min Hyungbae, among others, have proposed bills that would allow corporations not located within the respective local government area to also make donations. Among them, lawmakers Lee Gaeho and Min Hyungbae have suggested abolishing the annual donation cap altogether. However, even within the opposition party, there are differing views on the scope of this allowance. For instance, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Chunseok and others have suggested that corporate donations should be permitted first only for “population-declining areas,” rather than all local governments. The intention is to concentrate policy effects more quickly in regions at significant risk of extinction.

There have also been proposals to temporarily ease restrictions on donations to one's place of residence. Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Yeonhee has put forward a bill that would allow residents to donate to integrated local governments established through administrative consolidation, with an exception period limited to five years from the date of establishment. This is intended to prevent donation gaps that may arise during administrative district restructuring and to secure financial stability in the early stages. There is also a proposal targeting overseas Koreans to secure additional resources. Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Jae-soo has proposed raising the limit on the amount of local gift certificates that can be offered as rewards to overseas Koreans or citizens residing abroad. The goal is to encourage hometown donations while also attracting foreign currency from non-residents, thereby contributing to exchange rate stabilization.

Discussions on diversifying the uses of collected donations to enhance their effectiveness have also become more concrete. Lawmakers from both parties have agreed to include “promoting physical fitness and encouraging recreational sports for local residents” as an explicit purpose for donation funds. Shin Sungbeom of the People Power Party, and Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Jongmin, Kim Kyohung, and Cho Gye-won, among others, have added “promotion of recreational sports for local residents” or “promotion of sports” as intended uses for the Hometown Love Fund. The intent is to expand community welfare infrastructure that residents can directly benefit from through the donation resources and thus improve living conditions to prevent population outflow.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.