"Casebook on Bill Cost Estimates 2008", the fifth casebook since the inauguration of the National Assembly Budget Office (NABO), has been published to inform the current condition and improvements of bill cost estimates. This casebook is composed of two parts.

In the first part, diversified statistical analyses related to bill cost estimates from the 17th National Assembly(from May 31, 2004 to May 30, 2008) to the 18th National Assembly (from May 31, 2008 to December 31, 2008) are stated. Unprecedentedly vigorous legislative activities are taking place in the 18th National Assembly. This is the outcome of the 17th National Assembly, when there were various efforts to improve the quality of legislation. Bill Cost Estimates System, which was only a titular system in the past, has been revitalized due to the inauguration of NABO and the establishment and revision of the National Assembly Act and State Finance Act.
? Since the 13th National Assembly, when detailed account of budget was attached first, to the 16th National Assembly, the rate of bill cost estimates attachment was around 4%. However, in the 17th National Assembly, 21.7% of proposed bills had bill cost estimates attached. The rate of bill cost estimates attachment for bills proposed by Members is 23.9%, which shows an increase from 18.5% in 2004 to 32.4% in 2008. The rate of bill cost estimates attachment for government proposed bills is 22.1%, which indicates increase from 9.5% in 2005 to 46.7% in 2008. Meanwhile, only 2.6% of bills proposed by committees have bill cost estimates attached, showing low rate of attachment.
? The number of bill with cost estimates attached were continuously rising in the 18th National Assembly as well. 29.5% of proposed bills in the 18th National Assembly had cost estimates, which could be compared to 23.9% of that in the 17th National Assembly. The rate of attachment for government proposed bills are 31.9%, a rise compared to 22.1% in the 17th National Assembly. However, only 8.1% of bills proposed by committees had cost estimates attached, still showing low rate of attachment.
? The National Assembly Budget Office received 447 bill cost estimates requests since the inauguration of the 18th National Assembly to the end of 2008 and answered 319 requests. During this period, 177 bills had cost estimates conducted by NABO among 624 bills proposed by Members and committees with cost estimates attached. NABO's average period of answering requests was 19.9 days in the 18th National Assembly, which is shorten compared to 28.7 days in the 17th National Assembly. This is because of the concurrent increase of work efficiency and work load.
In the second part, 16 valuable cases of bill cost estimates (about 1 or 2 cases per committee) are recorded among the cost estimates conducted by the National Assembly Budget Office in 2008.