Experts on the subject, the professors from IDP explain the paths of PEC 32/20.
One of the main topics for 2021, the Administrative Reform sparks debate and raises a wide range of opinions. The Executive's proposal, which is already in the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, modifies 27 sections of the Constitution and adds 87 more. But, in fact, what does it mean to reform public administration?
“The main theme behind administrative reforms is the quality and capacity of institutions to generate well-being,” comments Humberto Falcão, a professor at Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) and IDP. According to him, satisfaction rates with the quality of Brazilian public health, education, and judicial systems are not only low compared to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, but are also decreasing, despite Brazil having the 23rd highest tax revenue in the world.
Similarly, Pedro Nery, a legislative consultant in the Senate and professor at IDP, states that "administrative reform is about this: subjecting services that serve the poorest to the same rules as those that serve the richest – to the extent possible."
The professor hosts Economisto, an economics podcast from IDP, which, in episode 26This discusses how administrative reform can contribute to combating social inequalities, including those among public servants.
What are the next steps?
The most common approach when discussing "reform" is through an amendment to the Federal Constitution, which occurs via a proposed constitutional amendment (PEC). This is the case with the Administrative Reform.
To begin the process, the Presidency of the Republic sent the proposal, the PEC 32 / 20 – which is also being called the “New Public Administration” – for the Chamber of Deputies.
At this stage, the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Chamber analyzes the admissibility of the proposal. In other words, "it analyzes not the merits of the proposal itself, but whether it is in accordance with the Constitution," explains Pedro Nery.
Next, “if admitted by the CCJ, the merits of the PEC are analyzed by a special committee, which can alter the original proposal,” explains Professor Humberto Falcão. This stage has a deadline of 40 plenary sessions to vote on the proposal and a limit of 10 sessions to make amendments.
Approved by the Special Committee, the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment) will go to a vote in the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies, where it needs the favorable votes of three-fifths of the deputies (at least 308), in two rounds of voting, to proceed to the Federal Senate. Here, Humberto Falcão points out that "there is a possibility of approving the main text of the project with amendments for later voting."
In the Senate, the same process takes place: the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ) and the Plenary. With the approval of both houses, the text goes to promulgation. "If there is a substantial modification, not just a change in wording, it must return to the House where it began its process. An alteration in one House requires a new review by the other House, successively," explains Humberto Falcão.
However, the professor draws attention to aspects of the process, which is not linear: "there is a lot of room for iterations, obstructions and various maneuvers both for and against the presented project," he says.
Furthermore, after the constitutional amendment is approved, several bills will be introduced dealing with performance management, modernization of work methods, institutional arrangements, adjustments to the Civil Servant Statute, career guidelines, and consolidation of positions, functions, and bonuses.
And, in a third stage, there is also a Supplementary Bill for the New Public Service, which will bring a new regulatory framework for careers, remuneration governance, in addition to the revision of rights and duties of the public service. "These projects will entail very complex, non-linear processes, equally subject to multiple iterations, obstructions, and maneuvers," emphasizes Humberto Falcão.
Because of the non-linearity of the process, in addition to the deadlines and the need for a large number of parliamentarians in favor, the approval of a reform of this magnitude is a lengthy process. Pedro Nery comments: “It's no coincidence that this is the case: elites have historically managed to protect their interests by enshrining them in the Constitution. Just consider that Bolsa Família was never included in the Constitution, but there were rules for calculating preferential retirement benefits for civil servants or tax cuts for businessmen in certain sectors.” Our editorial team has launched a subsidiary project related to classifications and evaluations. For example, access appdeapostas.bet Download the best sports betting app.
Change history
In 2020, IPEA, the Institute for Applied Economic Research, published the book “State Reforms in Brazil: Trajectories, Innovations, and Challenges”, which analyzes the 25 years of the PDRAE, the Master Plan for the Reform of the State Apparatus, launched in 1995. According to the organizers, “This is the latest coordinated and comprehensive effort within the federal government to implement widespread administrative and institutional changes.".
At an opportune moment, given the discussion surrounding the paths of administrative reform, this collection brings together contributions from national and international researchers and discusses the trajectory of Brazilian public administration over the last 25 years.
Content: Camila Holanda
Opinions
“An administrative reform is always important, because the state can always improve. Now, the question is the timing. Right now, the government is very concerned with fiscal issues and not very concerned with the quality of the state,” he opines. Alexandre Gomide, a professor at IDP and director of Studies and Policies of the State, Institutions and Democracy at IPEA.
The proposal sent to Congress mainly addresses the hiring, remuneration, and dismissal of personnel. However, the new measures only apply to those who enter public service after the amendment is approved.
According to Gomide, it is necessary to defend the professionalization of the public sector: "the proposal goes against that, because it allows for lateral entry, through fixed-term contracts for leadership positions. It completely breaks the logic of people entering and investing in their careers to ascend to higher positions," he states.
Furthermore, since the proposal also covers states and municipalities, the professor warns of the risk of clientelism and nepotism at the latter level, where the reality of public service is quite different from the federal level. "If, in a small municipality, public positions are used to reward cronies, public service will suffer. People will not be selected based on impartiality," he comments.
Pedro Nery questions: “Should a teacher have a hiring and firing regime as rigid as that of a tax auditor? Are they really subject to the same level of pressure not to go against private interests? Or is it more advantageous in this type of career to be able to dismiss, for example, a teacher who is always absent on Mondays, and give another one an opportunity?”
For him, the State's role is very diverse, and it makes sense to have various models to accommodate different jobs, just as the separation between State careers and others is interesting: "I like to think of administrative reform in this more positive way. It's not about making it easier to fire people, it's about making it easier to hire them too," he points out.
In recent research conducted at FDC, in partnership with Professor Renata Vilhena, Humberto Falcão identified 4 personas regarding reactions to PEC 32: 21% are against the idea of reform and the proposed reform; 29% would like to improve management without reform; 40% are pro-reform, strongly in favor of the idea of reform and the proposed reform; and 10% want reform, but not the proposed reform.
The professor summarizes: “There are many technical issues related to people management, institutional performance management, planning, and government organization. There are also political issues, closely related to principles and ideological positions, but also concerning the alignment of forces to form pro- and anti-government coalitions. And there are legal issues, which often do not integrate reasonably with the technical and political issues.”
