Congress agrees to end the enormous legislative backlog

Andrea Becerril and Georgina Saldierna

Newspaper La Jornada
Friday February 17, 2023, p. 5

The presidents of both chambers of Congress, Alejandro Armenta and Santiago Creel, promised to bring down the enormous legislative lag and bureaucratism that has led to the accumulation of more than 700 minutes in the more than four years of the current legislature, in addition to 19 ordered reforms by the Judiciary that have not been ruled.

After a meeting of the executive committees of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, in which they agreed to continue with the bilateral work, both parliamentary leaders stressed that on the 28th they will present a list of priority minutes, which they hope to discuss in the ordinary stage. which ends on April 30 and even later, in extraordinary periods.

Deputy Creel stressed that a permanent commission was created that will allow the selection of relevant issues and put an end to the legislative bureaucracy. Yesterday “the priority minutes for each chamber were exchanged and at the next meeting there will be a definitive list and a calendar to follow. The intention is to speed up the pace and have time to unburden the most relevant pendingcommented Senator Armenta.

The presidents of both chambers presented a first list of 24 minutes each. Senator Armenta highlighted among them a constitutional reform for the protection and sustainable development of the environment, new legislation such as the circular economy law and modifications in terms of protection for women victims of family violence.

From the minutes sent to the Chamber of Deputies, they are also interested in the co-legislator approving the imprescriptibility of sexual crimes against minors, the penalization of attacks with acid and other chemicals, and the elimination of requirements for a widow’s pension.

For his part, Creel highlighted that in the package of 24 priority minutes for the Chamber of Deputies are the new law on forced disappearance and other laws that were sent to the Senate on the re-election of legislators, support for children, rights of women, social rights of the armed forces, environment and reforms to public institutions.

He indicated that parliamentary services work teams from the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will analyze, within the current legislative lag, what minutes can still be processed.

The biggest backlog of minutes is in the Senate, which has pending legislating 453 reforms sent by the Chamber of Deputies between September 2018 and February 2023, in addition to another 294 that come from past legislatures.

As far as the Chamber of Deputies is concerned, it accumulates 190 minutes, which have already been approved by the Senate. In addition, both chambers have pending the approval of 19 reforms based on rulings of the Supreme Court of Justice. One of them, the new law to regulate the consumption of cannabiswhose legislative process was restarted in the Senate, and the General Water Law.