-Nimish Kumar.
bicameral National Congress or Congresso Nacional consists of:
Federal Senate or Senado Federal (81 seats; 3 members each from 26 states and 3 from the federal district directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote to serve 8-year terms, with one -third and two-thirds of the membership elected alternately every 4 years)
Chamber of Deputies or Camara dos Deputados (513 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms).
The Brazilian Parliament is called National Congress. Besides the prerogative of making laws, the National Congress is responsible for the oversight of every accounting, financial and budgetary operation regarding not only the Union’s moneys and properties but also any of the Unions ‘branch departments or federal agencies’ moneys and properties. Brazil has a bicameral legislative assembly, composed by the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. As the country adopts the bicameralism, a bill laid before any of the houses must be revised by the other; therefore, apart from subjects within private competence of each house, the legislative process grants both houses participation in the lawmaking process. The sittings follow a Parliamentary Calendar, which is different from the calendar year. The Congress works in a four year basis, planned to match the deputies’ term. This period is called “Legislatura” in Portuguese.
However, the sittings do not take place at the whole period. The National Congress recesses so that its members may visit their states and feel the needs of the people they represent. For this reason, each Congress is divided in four Sessions. Hence, each Session begins on February 2nd stops on July 17th, restarts on August 1st and ends on December 22nd.
In addition to its intrinsic power of law making, the Legislative Branch supervises the allocation and use of public resources. As people and states’ representatives, respectively, the Chamber and the Senate, as well as any of their Committees, may question Ministers of State – or any public officer in charge of branch departments or federal agencies subordinated to the President – about their acts. The public officer called by any of the houses of the Legislative Branch must release all the requested information under penalty of being dismissed or temporarily removed from civil service.
Similarly, the National Congress must verify if public funds are spent according to the law. The Congress is aided by the Federal Court of Account to perform this duty and might request information from any person managing public monies, assets and values. https://www2.camara.leg.br/english/the-brazilian-parliament
he Federal Legislative Branch in Brazil is composed of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, which respectively represent the Brazilian people, and the States and the Federal District. The two Houses form the National Congress located in Brasília, where the senators and federal deputies work.
The Tribunal de Contas da União – Federal Court of Auditors (TCU), is also part of the Legislative branch and is responsible for the control and monitoring of public administration.
The Senate represents the federal units. Each State and the Federal District, elect three senators (independently of the size of the territory or the number of inhabitants), for a total of 81, for mandates of eight years. Their principle functions are: to propose, debate and approve laws that are in the interest of the country.
The Chamber of Deputies discuss the approval of laws regarding various themes as well as monitoring the use of the resources collected from the people. The division of seats is proportional to the number of inhabitants in the States and Federal District, with a minimum of eight and a maximum of 70 deputies for each unit of the Federation. The total cannot be more than 513.
The National Congress verifies that public resources are being used in accordance with the law. They count on the help of the TCU for this and can, for example demand clarification from anyone that administers revenues, assets, or public goods.
The Legislative Power in state and municipal jurisdictions are the responsibility of Legislative Assemblies and Chambers of Council. It is represented by state deputies who are responsible for creating and approving state laws and monitoring the Executive.
Terms and concepts
The following are meanings of some of the terms used by members of the Legislative branch and that will help in understanding how the National Congress functions:
Board of Officers – is responsible for managing the legislative work and the administrative services for the Chamber of Deputies;
Plenary – is the highest organ for a large part of the decisions of the Chamber of Deputies, or in other words, the final forum for a great part of the deliberations;
Commissions – are collective auxiliary organs of the legislative process. Their function is to technically appraise the materials discussed during debates in the Legislative Power;
Permanent Commissions – cannot have less than 17 deputies or more than 61 deputies. No deputy can hold a seat on more than one permanent commission with the exception of the Commissions of Public Security and Participative Legislation;
Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry (CPIs) – investigate a determined fact that is of important interest to public life and the judicial, economic and social order of the country.
External Commissions – allow for specific parliamentary functions outside the Chamber of Deputies;
Proposal for a Constitutional Amendment – proposes alterations in the original text of the Federal Constitution;
Ordinary Law Project – are general or common laws. They need to be sanctioned by the President of the Republic to become law;
Provisional Measures – are temporary norms that have legal force. They are issued by the President of the Republic and only become law when they are approved by the National Congress;
Legislative Decree Projects and Draft Resolutions – deal with matters related to the jurisdictions of the National Congress or their Houses and are not subject to presidential sanction or veto;
Delegated Laws – are those that are issued by the President of the Republic with the express permission of the Legislative Power.
Sources (content in Portuguese):
The Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the House before most bills are laid, where the larger debates and decisions of national importance are centralized.
The legislative branch of government plays an indispensable role in society, since it has three main functions for the consolidation of democracy: represents the Brazilian people, legislates on national issues and oversees the use of public resources.
In this context, the Chamber of Deputies discusses and approves proposals for economic and social areas such as Education, Health, Transport, Housing, without neglecting the proper use, by the Powers of the Union, of the taxes collected from the population.
The Chamber of Deputies is composed of representatives of all Brazilian States and the Federal District, resulting in a Parliament with a variety of ideas and revealing a plural Legislative House.
Below, we list some of the basic features of the Chamber:
- Composed by 513 deputies
- Representatives elected according to proportional electoral system (State’s population)
- Minimum of 8 Representatives per State and the Federal District (eg Acre)
- Maximum of 70 Representatives per State (eg São Paulo)
- Mandate of four year-term, coinciding with the legislature.
