Former governors and widows receive pensions in 15 states – 10/02/2023 – Power

At least 15 Brazilian states currently grant pensions to former governors and their widows, according to a survey by Sheet with state governments.

There are values ​​​​that reach R$ 37.6 thousand. Among the beneficiaries is former president José Sarney (MDB), who was once governor of Maranhão and has accumulated two more pensions.

In addition to the R$37,600 he receives as a former governor, Sarney accumulates two other pensions: he receives R$35,800 from the Senate and another R$15,400 as a retired civil servant at the Court of Justice of Maranhão. The amount reaches R$88,800, more than double the remuneration of STF (Supreme Federal Court) ministers.

The payment of pensions to former governors and widows contradicts the STF’s decision, but the same body reinstated payments to those who filed a complaint in some cases, such as in Paraná.

Four states (Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piauí and Rondônia) granted the benefit, but the Court canceled or suspended payment. Pensions are not paid to former governors and their wives in São Paulo, Distrito Federal, Goiás, Tocantins, Pará, Amapá and Roraima.

In Rio de Janeiro, the Finance Secretariat reported that it pays pensions to “two former governors, who receive R$21,868.14 each, and four widows of former governors, with amounts varying between R$6,900 and R$21,868.14 “.

The pension has not been granted since 2002, when the provision in the state Constitution that provided for it was revoked.

The continuation of the payment contradicts the decision of the STF which, in 2018, considered the continuity of payment to former governors and their widows to be irregular, even before 2002. Unanimously, the ministers determined the end of the payment.

“When spending public resources on payments to individuals who no longer work, in addition to the respective constitutional social security regime, there is an indisputable violation of administrative morality. In the case at hand, this is precisely what is observed: a perk, in itself immoral for public administration”, wrote minister Luís Roberto Barroso, rapporteur of the case.

The Finance Department did not comment on why it maintained the payments, despite the STF’s decision.

When asked about states still paying pensions, the Supreme Court did not comment. In a note, the PGR says that it has acted through action in the STF (ADPF 745) which since 2020 has questioned the benefit in several states.

In the Supreme Court, unconstitutionality is already considered pacified. State rules providing for the benefit have been overturned in recent years by the court, especially after the judgment of direct unconstitutionality actions proposed by the OAB (Paraná Bar Association).

The practical effect, however, still generates controversy regarding whether or not payment should continue for those who already received the amounts before the court considered it illegal.

In the case of Paraná, for example, the STF overturned the provision of the State Constitution in 2020, but, last April, the Second Panel allowed the reestablishment of payment for a group of former governors who went to claim the interrupted amounts.

In the state, there are five former governors who receive special pensions: Orlando Pessuti, Beto Richa, João Elisio Ferraz de Campos, Paulo Pimentel and Mário Pereira.

Last month, former governor Roberto Requião also filed a complaint with the STF to try to reinstate his retirement, but the case has not yet been judged.

Minister Cármen Lúcia voted against resuming payments to them, but Gilmar Mendes opened a disagreement and was followed by the others, Ricardo Lewandowski and Kassio Nunes Marques. Despite this, the benefit remains unconstitutional.

“What the Supreme Court has done now is modulate the effects. Because, in theory, you have a situation of people who received it 20 years ago, 30 years, 40 years ago, and then, although we cannot talk about an acquired right, it is a situation consolidated, when withdraw [o benefício] it can be more harmful than maintaining”, says lawyer Cezar Eduardo Ziliotto, a specialist in administrative law, who worked on the action brought by the former governors of Paraná.

In Minas Gerais, the lifetime pension paid to former governors, as well as to widows or sons and daughters, was suspended in 2011, through Law 19,575.

Former governor Eduardo Azeredo (PSDB), who served from 1995 to 1998 (before the law was published), was the last to receive the benefit, suspended in June 2019 due to a court order.

Bahia instituted pension payments to former governors in 2014, at the end of the Jaques Wagner (PT) administration. But the law was challenged in court in 2017 through a direct action of unconstitutionality.

In Ceará, the only governor who receives a pension is Gonzaga Mota. In Sergipe, former governor Antônio Carlos Valadares and the widow of former governor João Alves, former senator Maria do Carmo Alves, receive pensions.

In Alagoas, two widows receive benefits from the State. In Pernambuco, only a former governor receives a pension, and in Paraíba, only a widowed pensioner.

In Rio Grande do Norte, only former governor José Agripino Maia receives a lifetime pension, due to the benefit provided for in article 175 of the 1974 State Constitution, in force at the time of the grant.

In Rio Grande do Sul, nine former governors and four widows receive the benefit of R$37,500 per month, after an adjustment of R$7,300 in January.

The former governors who benefited are: Jair Soares, Pedro Simon, Alceu Collares, Antônio Britto, Olívio Dutra, Germano Rigotto, Yeda Crusius, Tarso Genro and José Ivo Sartori.

In 2015, a law was approved that limits the benefit to 65% of the salary and only in the four years following the mandate. Current governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB) will be the first to be impacted by the change.

In Santa Catarina, seven former governors and two widows benefit. The benefit was extinguished as of 2017, but it protected current beneficiaries.

In Amazonas, despite being impeached in 2017, former governor José Melo (PROS) receives a pension of R$34,000. Senators Omar Aziz (PSD) and Eduardo Braga (MDB), because they are in office, do not receive the benefit. Two widows also receive a pension of R$35,400.

In Acre, five former governors and three widows receive the benefit of R$35,400. Current senator, former governor Jorge Viana (PT) does not receive the benefit.

Rondônia had pensions to former governors revoked by the local court in 2020 and currently does not grant the benefit.

In Roraima, an attempt was made to stipulate a lifetime pension for former governors, but the STF deemed it unconstitutional. The exception is a widow, who receives 40% of the salary of a governor who died while in office in 2007 as a pension.

In Goiás, payment was expected, but was terminated in 1995. In Mato Grosso do Sul, there are payments to former governor Marcelo Miranda Soares and also to Fairte Nassar Tebet, widow of former governor Ramez Tebet, who died in 2006.

In Mato Grosso, the government pays special pensions to former governors Júlio José de Campos and Carlos Gomes Bezerra, and also to the widow of former governor Evaristo Roberto Vieira da Cruz, Maria Valquíria dos Santos Cruz.