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UNION INTERPARLEMENTAIRE
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments
CONTRIBUTION
from
MR ROGÉRIO VENTURA TEIXEIRA
Director General of the Chamber of Deputies of Brazil
To the general debate on
ADMINISTRATIVE AUTONOMY OF PARLIAMENTS
Panama Session
April 2011
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The administrative autonomy of the
Brazilian Parliament
April, 2011
Ladies and gentlemen,
Before addressing the subject “Administrative autonomy of the
Brazilian Parliament”, I will provide a brief explanation on the
political organization of Brazil, in which the Legislative Branch in the
three spheres of government is included, as well as general
constitutional laws that rule the functioning of Public Administration
in the country.
The political organization of the Federative Republic of Brazil
comprises the Union, the States, the Federal District (where the
national capital is located) and the Municipalities, all of them
autonomous entities, according to the Brazilian Constitution.
The Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary are the three
branches of the Union. At the federal level, the Legislative branch is
the bicameral National Congress, composed of the Senate and the
Chamber of Deputies. The Executive and the Legislative branches
are organized independently in all three spheres of government
(although the Legislative is unicameral at the State level), while the
judiciary is organized only at the Federal and State spheres.
The Brazilian Constitution establishes that the three branches
have separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility
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so that one branch does not have more power than the others. They
should also respect and control each other under the checks and
balances system in situations such as the presidential veto in acts
approved by the Congress, the Legislative prerogative to change
and even reject bills made by the Executive, or the judicial control of
the constitutionality of the laws. The independence of the Powers
and the harmony between them are essential principles for the
maintenance of the democratic regime in Brazil.
The private or concurrent Legislative competences of the
Union, the States, the Federal District and the Municipalities, as well
as the matters of the Judiciary branch, are also established by the
Constitution.
The Chamber of Deputies is composed of representatives
elected by universal suffrage using a proportional system of
representation. The number of representatives per state or Federal
District cannot be lower than 8 (eight) nor higher than 70 (seventy).
The Federal Senate is comprised of State and Federal District
representatives elected under a majority system. Each State elects
3 (three) senators. Currently there are 513 (five hundred and
thirteen) federal deputies and 81 (eighty-one) senators in the
National Congress.
…..
After this brief explanation of the political organization of
Brazil, I will move forward to the Constitutional regulations of
mandatory compliance by the Public Administration in all Powers of
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the Union, States, Federal District and Municipalities. I will highlight
some of them:
I – Employee admission:
The nomination of employees to permanent positions depends
on approval in public exams. On the other hand, political
positions are of free nomination and dismissal, according to
the laws, and they are reserved to directors, managers and
advisors.
II – Legal regime of employees:
Public servants are ruled by a particular legal regime which
differs from the employment law governing most jobs in the
private sector. The legal regime is a set of rights and duties
established by ordinary law of private initiative of the Chief of
the Executive in each sphere of government.
III – Employee remuneration:
- It is fixed or altered by law observing the private
competence in each case, which can be the head of the
Executive, Legislative or Judiciary branch.
- It cannot exceed the Constitutional parameters; at the
Federal level, for instance, the parameter is the wage paid
to the Ministers of the Supreme Court.
- It cannot be reduced, except if it exceeds the Constitutional
parameter mentioned above.
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IV –Budget for personnel:
- The budget for active and retired personnel in the public
service cannot exceed the limit established by the Fiscal
Responsibility Law, which is, in the case of the Federal
Legislative branch, 2.5% (two point five percent) of the
Union net income.
- The grant of any allowance or remuneration increase, the
creation of new positions, the change in career structure
and personnel admission can only be conceded under
specific authorization in the Budgetary Directive Law, as
well as enough budget allocation in the Annual Budgetary
Law.
V – Acquisitions, disposal of assets, construction,
remodelling and contracting:
Construction, remodelling, acquisitions of goods and services
and disposal of assets are contracted under a public bidding
process that must ensure equal conditions to all participants,
excepting specific cases defined by law. The law that rules
public bidding and administrative contracts applies to all
spheres of government and to all branches.
VI – Accountability:
Both houses of the National Congress are subject to
accountability by the Union Court of Accounts, as well as all
the other bodies of the Executive and the Judiciary branch.
......
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After going through the regulatory framework, it is now
possible to move on to the actual object of this presentation: the
administrative autonomy of the Federal Legislative Power.
The administrative autonomy of the Houses of the National
Congress is formally expressed in the Brazilian Constitution.
According to articles 51 (fifty-one) and 52 (fifty-two), it is private
competence of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate to rule,
each of them, about their organization; operation; security; creation,
change or removal of personnel positions; as well as the initiative to
bills that establish employees’ wages.
These rules grant the Chamber and the Senate the
prerogative to define their organizational structure in order to attend
the peculiar needs of the legislative process that unfolds in the
Committees and in the Floor sittings.
The organizational chart of the Chamber of Deputies indicates
the Plenary Session as the highest deliberation body, under which
the Governing Board, the Committees, the Party Leaderships and
the Deputies themselves are subordinated. Under the Governing
Board lies the Chief Administrative Office, responsible for the
planning and directing of the administrative functions, and the Chief
Legislative Office, in charge of coordinating the legislative activities.
The Chamber of Deputies is also responsible for managing its
personnel, including the admission of new employees. As mentioned
before, the institution must act in accordance with the Constitution,
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that is, permanent positions must be provided after approval in
public examinations and political appointed positions are freely
nominated and dismissed. Its employees are ruled by the legal
regime of public servants.
New personnel admission and remuneration increases must
be foreseen in the budgetary laws and cannot be higher than the
percentage of the net income established in the Fiscal Responsibility
Law. In the case of the Chamber of Deputies, the percentage of the
budget spent with personnel in December 2010 (two thousand and
ten) was of 0.49% (zero point four nine percent) of the net income, a
figure smaller than the allowed by the mentioned law, which permits
up to 1.21% (one point two one percent).
The creation of new positions is established by a Resolution,
approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The remuneration increases,
however, depend on the passing of a bill in both Houses and on the
enactment by the President of the Republic.
At the moment, the staff of the Chamber of Deputies is
composed of around 3,500 (three thousand five hundred) permanent
positions and 1,350 (one thousand three hundred and fifty)
appointed positions. There are also employees in the Deputies’
offices who are hired by the Deputies themselves and whose
number varies according to the budget allocated to this purpose.
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The Chamber is also in charge of promoting bidding to acquire
the goods and services necessary to its proper functioning, as well
as managing their contracts under the respective law.
It is important to mention that the administrative autonomy of
the Legislative branch could not be fully exercised without the
guaranteed transfer of resources necessary to its operation. This
guarantee is established in article 168 (one six eight) of the Brazilian
Constitution.
To conclude, a significant part of the regulations on
administrative law in Brazil has a Constitutional basis. The
administrative autonomy of the Legislative Branch is also a
constitutional prerogative that must be exercised in accordance with
the
general
rules
Administration.
Thank you.
applicable
to
all
bodies
of
the
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