Chamber installs Amnesty PEC with rapporteur PL deputy – 07/11/2023 – Power

The Chamber of Deputies convened for this Wednesday (12) session for the installation of the special commission that will debate the Amnesty PEC, which aims to grant the greatest pardon in history to political parties.

The proposed amendment to the Constitution has already been approved by the Constitution and Justice Commission. The special commission is the last step before the plenary vote.

Although the president of the collegiate has to be elected by the members of the committee, there is already an agreement between the main parties for deputy Diego Coronel (PSD-BA) to occupy the position. The rapporteur must be handed over to Antonio Carlos Rodrigues (SP), from the PL of Jair Bolsonaro.

Despite being part of the former president’s party, Rodrigues is not from the “root Bolsonarista” group, but from the centrão.

Former Transport Minister of Dilma Rousseff (PT), he does not align with the opposition discourse of the Bolsonarist wing of the PL, having even been elected coordinator of the São Paulo bench in the Chamber with support from the PT.

A Sheet tried to speak with Rodrigues this Tuesday afternoon (11), but was unable to contact until the publication of this text.

Diego is the son of senator Ângelo Coronel (PSD-BA), who in last year’s election supported the victorious candidacy of Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT) for the government of Bahia. A Sheet also tried to contact him but got no response.

The PEC is supported by almost all parties and has among its signatories both the government leader, José Guimarães (PT-CE), and the opposition leader, Carlos Jordy (PL-RJ).

At the CCJ, in May, it was approved by 45 votes against 10. The special commission has a period of up to 40 sessions to discuss the text.

To be approved in plenary, a PEC needs the support of at least 60% of parliamentarians (308 out of 513 in the Chamber and 49 out of 81 in the Senate), in two rounds of voting in each House. If this occurs, it is enacted and becomes effective, with no possibility of vetoing the Executive Branch.

Behind the scenes, members of the party summits discuss proposals to soften the text and try to reduce the negative repercussions of the measure.

The PEC has only three articles.

The first extends the amnesty to parties that have not met the minimum quota for transferring public funds to women and blacks to the October 2022 dispute.

In April 2022, Congress had already approved and enacted a PEC granting amnesty to parties for non-compliance with quotas in previous elections.

The second article establishes that “sanctions of any nature shall not apply, including the return and collection of amounts, fines or suspension of the Party Fund and the Special Campaign Financing Fund, on the rendering of accounts for the financial and electoral period of the political parties that prior to the enactment of this amendment to the Constitution”.

In other words, once the PEC is approved, the analysis by the Electoral Justice of the parties’ accounts regarding the application of public money in their day-to-day activities and in elections would be practically innocuous.

As shown to Sheet, in the last judged party accounts alone, the TSE ordered the return of R$ 40 million to the public coffers. Among other irregularities pointed out is the purchase of a plane and almost four tons of meat by a legend, the extinct Pros (incorporated into Solidarity).

In all, the TSE disapproved 19 of the 2017 party bills, the last to be judged, and approved the other 16 with reservations.

The third article of the PEC allows parties to receive business money again “to settle debts with suppliers contracted or assumed until August 2015”, when the STF (Federal Supreme Court) prohibited the financing of companies to parties and candidates.

Pardoning parties for non-compliance with the gender quota in elections and in previous annual exercises, in 2022, prevented the TSE from determining the return of tens of millions of reais to public coffers.