The Party's Research Commission on Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) (Chairperson: Genichiro Sata, member of the House of Representatives) approved the outline of a "Bill for the Basic Act to Promote Public-Private Partnerships" (legislation introduced by Diet members) on February 19.

In light of the difficult financial circumstances of the central and local governments, the bill would impose a duty to move forward on public-private partnerships in an integrated and systematic fashion so as to reinvigorate local communities and economies.

To facilitate partnerships, it seeks to provide fiscal, tax and financial incentives, and to quickly relax and remove regulations. It would also encourage proposals from private-sector operators by requiring the managers of public facilities to publish information on the status and future prospects of properties and create systems for consultation. Managers of public facilities would also be required, depending on the nature of the public-private partnerships, to establish and use tender and contracting systems able to appropriately evaluate the innovations, technologies, and proposals brought by local private-sector operators.

Chairperson Sata, who created the outline of the bill, emphasized the urgency of the legislation and said, "This will be an important piece of legislation in contributing to the third arrow of the Abenomics growth strategy. We want to submit it to the current session of the Diet and seek early passage."