With the end of the legislative year approaching, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), intensified the use of urgency regimes to speed up the processing of proposals. Although this mechanism is provided for in the regulations, its trivialization and indiscriminate use have generated criticism from parliamentarians and experts, who point out the weakening of thematic committees and the unpredictability of the legislative agenda.
In recent weeks, for example, several requests for urgent requests were approved, including eight in just one day, November 13, when the plenary session was suspended following the explosions in Praça dos Três Poderes.
Among the issues that were urgently approved were the reservation of 30% of quotas in public competitions for black, indigenous and quilombola people; the creation of a public space projects company (Alada) to carry out large-scale projects in the space area; and the creation of a National Solidarity Economy Policy (PNES); in addition to other topics.
The use of the urgency regime instrument, which allows skipping procedural steps and taking projects directly to the Chamber plenary, has become frequent in recent legislatures. According to a study carried out by Ranking of Politicians, based on voting information, more than 60% of matters deliberated between 2008 and March 2024 were considered urgently, an unprecedented rate in the Legislature.
Among the most relevant projects that advanced in this way in 2024 are the regulation of tax reform, the gradual end of payroll tax relief and the new rules for amendments.
Excessive use of emergencies to speed up discussions has trivialized the instrument, says study
According to the Politicians’ Ranking survey, between 2008 and March of this year there were 2,368 proposals being processed under an emergency regime in the Chamber. The projects range from themes of national relevance, such as student financing and disaster prevention, to controversial proposals, such as the creation of commemorative dates.
Juan Carlos Gonçalves, director of the Ranking of Politicians, assesses that there is an increase in the use of emergencies during Lira’s presidency, something that is directly linked to the Alagoan’s leadership style and the dynamics of Centrão, the political group he commands..
“What we have observed is an increasingly pragmatic use of regimental tools to meet the interests of the government and party leaders. Debates in committees are often suppressed to speed up issues of political interest, which generates criticism regarding the quality of legislative decisions”, stated Gonçalves.
Political consultant Luiz Felipe Freitas, from Malta Advogados, recalls that the protagonism of the president of the Chamber, with greater power over the decision to discuss matters at an accelerated pace, began during the management of Eduardo Cunha, former president of the House, who was impeached for lying to colleagues about accounts abroad and denounced for involvement in corruption schemes at Petrobras.
“Since then, regulatory changes or mishaps have become more noticeable”, highlights the political consultant, also stating that the more frequent use of emergency services gained prominence with the former president of the Chamber, Rodrigo Maia, who, amid the Covid pandemic, 19, put several urgent legislative matters to a vote.
“After that, a ‘rain of emergencies’ began to be included in the Chamber plenary’s Agenda, initially with relevant proposals to address issues of public calamity, but later encompassing a series of strange projects and without any type of immediate appeal that justified the urgency.”
Emergencies empty committees and trample debates, criticize parliamentarians
The urgency regime is a legislative mechanism provided for in the internal regulations of the Chamber of Deputies and was designed to speed up the process of processing proposals in the Legislature, as it allows some requirements, deadlines or formalities to be waived, enabling certain matters to be considered and voted on. more quickly by being taken directly to the plenary, without going through committees.
However, the excessive use of the instrument, in cases that do not necessarily require a quick response from parliamentarians, such as emergency measures or crises, ended up emptying the House’s permanent committees. In the assessment of experts consulted by the People’s Gazetteas well as parliamentarians, it has become a trend among professionals who work with lobbying to seek emergencies and speed up the legislative process.
The emergencies also demonstrate a greater concentration of power in the hands of President Arthur Lira, or those who take command of the House – in the case of candidate Hugo Motta (Republicanos-PB), who is already being asked by deputies to review some procedures currently used a lot by Lira.
Before declaring support for Motta, the leader of the PL, Altineu Côrtes, said that parliamentarians demanded that the candidate review the emergencies, as well as the end of virtual sessions and greater predictability of the Chamber of Deputies’ agenda.
“The parliamentarians themselves ask for changes in relation to the rite of the House, in relation to the issue of emergencies, often undermining thematic committees, generating unpredictability of agendas. This was presented to Hugo, who in fact was a very recurrent criticism of Lira’s management” , highlighted the PL leader in the Chamber.
Many deputies also become irritated in plenary when trying to remove the frequent urgent requests from the agenda, claiming that the discussion is rushed and that, often, they are not even aware of the text of a particular project being voted on, which compromises the debate.
Another factor under Lira’s control in the dispute for the presidency of the Chamber
With the recess approaching and the legislative clock ticking, the “season of urgency” promises to continue moving the Chamber of Deputies in the coming weeks. This is what the professor of Political Sciences at Faculdades Ibmec in Belo Horizonte, Adriano Cerqueira, assesses.
“The emergency regime is a way that Lira has adopted to try to find a way to fulfill agreements he makes with these two sides that are fighting in the Chamber of Deputies, the opposition and government blocs”, he explains.
“Lira has assumed a stance of greater independence in relation to these two blocs and, in the negotiations it carries out with them, it commits to putting certain projects on the ballot”, points out Cerqueira. He considers, however, that there is no guarantee that projects placed under urgency will be voted on – some even end up being removed from the agenda later.
“Lira, at the end of his term, is trying to plan some projects that were shelved and putting them for consideration by the deputies, so that, in plenary, they can decide whether or not they will forward them”, he concludes.
By adopting this stance, for the professor, Arthur Lira ends up serving the interests of different sectors without committing to a possible rejection, since he can always claim that he discussed a certain matter, but that it did not advance due to the decision of the majority of deputies.
