Tarcísio defines payment to deputies under friction at Alesp – 06/02/2023 – Power

The Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans) defined that it will respond to requests for political funds from deputies to irrigate their electoral bases, but establishing a different model from that followed by João Doria and Rodrigo Garcia (PSDB) in the previous administration.

These resources, called extra or voluntary amendments, serve as a bargaining chip for the Executive to form a large support base of deputies and approve its projects in the Legislative – a problem that the Lula government (PT) also faces in Brasília.

As revealed to Sheetformer Toucan governors took payments to a level never seen in the state, with the authorization of R$ 1.28 billion in 2022 alone.

Under Tarcísio, the idea is for the government to choose among the so-called nominations from state deputies which ones it will attend to. The indications, published daily in the Official Gazette, are individual suggestions from the deputies so that the government meets some measure of local public interest. This service is not mandatory.

According to politicians heard privately by the report, Tarcísio has not yet released extra funds to parliamentarians, who are waiting. The government argued that it would establish a system for payments and make the process transparent before committing expenditures.

This week, it was decided that Palácio dos Bandeirantes will select nominations and publish on a portal which ones are in progress and which ones have already been met, also noting the origin of each one – which parliamentarian made the suggestion and when it was published in the Official Gazette .

In this Thursday’s Official Gazette (1st), for example, there are indications by Deputy Gerson Pessoa (Podemos) for “releasing funds” for the municipalities of Reginópolis and Ourinhos. Deputy Enio Tatto (PT) indicates “the release of resources for the acquisition of equipment and a van” for a social project in Taboão da Serra.

Not all indications, however, refer directly to the payment of funds. There are requests such as changes in decrees, changes in the collection of taxes, public tenders, among others.

Carlos Cezar (PL) “informs the Governor of the urgent resumption of work on the Jardim Boer I nursery, in Americana, which have been paralyzed for more than three years”. And Guto Zacarias (União Brasil) calls for “an urgent and immediate increase in the number of Military Police belonging to Interior Policing Command Region 7”.

Tarcísio’s assistants claim that the palace will take into account the needs of the city halls and the quality of the projects to meet the indications – and not just the political alignment of the parliamentarians. The government wants to pay amounts close to all deputies and signals something in the magnitude of the tax amendments, of R$ 10.5 million.

The difference between extra amendments and imposing amendments is that, while the former are paid at the convenience of the government, and therefore end up favoring allied deputies, the latter must be paid obligatorily and all deputies are entitled to the same amount.

It is the voluntary funds that end up being more effective for the Executive to build a majority in the Legislative. In addition, the mandatory amendments contemplate the past legislature, while the extra ones, the current one.

In 2021, in the Doria government, the extra amendments had an average value of R$ 11 million, while the taxes were R$ 5.12 million per deputy. Seeking to make their candidacies viable, Doria and Rodrigo multiplied the transfers.

Last year, the Assembly increased the value of tax amendments by 50%, so that each deputy has about R$ 10.5 million in 2023 (R$ 989.5 million in total), half of which has to be intended for health.

Previously, 0.3% of net current revenue was reserved for tax amendments for the following year – now it is 0.45%. This mandatory payment amount was pledged by the government this week, and deputies expect the payments to reach city halls in the coming days.

Deputies allied with Tarcísio, who include bolsonaristas and parliamentarians from the physiological center, have been complaining about the lack of payment of extra amendments and distribution of positions. They charge gestures in exchange for voting in favor of projects and defending the governor in plenary.

Tarcísio’s political articulation is in charge of Gilberto Kassab (PSD), Secretary of Government and Institutional Relations, and the leader of government, Jorge Wilson (Republicans). In practice, the leader of the PL, Carlos Cezar, and even the president of the Assembly, André do Prado (PL), enter the field to help the government in the House.

A Sheet showed that Tarcísio faced crises between allies and opponents to pass proposals that, in theory, were consensual and positive – considered easy to approve. This was the case of the increase in the minimum wage in São Paulo, which had the help of the left-wing opposition, and the salary readjustment for police officers, which created a conflict with the bullet bench.

The definition of the method of payment of political funds for state deputies occurs before the submission of more controversial projects to the Assembly, which will test the strength of Tarcísio’s base. So far, the governor has only sent six proposals to the House.

According to Tarcísio announced to deputies at a lunch this Wednesday (31), he intends to send an administrative reform to standardize and reduce the types of administration positions; a project to regulate the penal police; a linear readjustment proposal for civil servants; and a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) to make minimum spending on education and health more flexible. The PEC needs the support of 57 of the 94 deputies.

Opposition to Tarcísio is basically formed by PT, PC do B, PSOL and Rede, which have 25 seats. The PSB, with 3 deputies, joins the opposition depending on the matter.

Tarcísio’s promise to make the extra resources transparent would be an unprecedented measure by the state government, which does not publicize the numbers. The Doria government even responded to a request via the Law on Access to Information of the Sheetafter several attempts, through more than 5,000 sheets of paper printed and delivered in cardboard boxes.

Today, however, the Tarcísio government does not systematically publish the payment progress of this year’s tax amendments nor the payment of extra amendments from past administrations.