8 in 10 large municipalities are irregular to receive rapporteur’s amendment, says study

For every ten Brazilian municipalities with more than 50 thousand inhabitants, eight have some type of restriction that would prevent the receipt of amendments by the rapporteur, which are distributed by deputies and senators based on political criteria.

Municipalities are prohibited from receiving this amount when they are in a situation of default, especially in relation to payment of precatories and Social Security. The only exceptions to the rule are amendments whose funds are passed on from federal funds to locations in areas such as health, education and social care.

A study by Inop (National Public Budget Institute) showed that 82% (497) of municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants were in default at the end of April. In São Paulo, 94 of the 123 municipalities of this size had irregularities in the CAUC (Tax Requirements Information System), according to the institute. In Rio de Janeiro, the situation is even more complicated: 34 out of 37 were in default.

The rapporteur’s amendment is a mechanism created by Congress that makes it possible to send federal funds to parliamentarians’ strongholds without there being any transparency about the process of releasing the funds.

This type of amendment came to be used as a powerful tool for political co-optation between the Planalto and the Legislature. The release of this money is controlled by the top of the House and Senate.

In addition, the rapporteur’s amendment became one of the main instruments of negotiation with the National Congress during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who used the mechanism to garner support for agendas of interest to the Planalto and prevent the opening of impeachment proceedings. .

In the 2022 budget, R$ 16.5 billion were reserved for rapporteur amendments.

Inop’s consultation of default databases was carried out at the end of April this year.

The amendments sent to city halls involve resources for purchasing equipment, helping family farming, paving streets and renovating squares and sports courts, among others.

To unlock the money when they are in default, some municipalities resort to the Judiciary or pay a portion of the debt.

The mayor of Buritinópolis (GO), Ana Paula Soares Dourado, said she had already filed an injunction to receive amendments from the rapporteur. However, she declined to detail the values ​​and amendments.

“We filed an injunction, but there was no return. What we did in the municipality was to regularize the situation in the CAUC”, said the mayor, who manages a city with 3,300 inhabitants.

Rapporteur amendments follow the same rules as voluntary transfers from the ministry discretionary budget. Only individual and bench amendments have the mandatory payment established in the Constitution, regardless of compliance by the federated entity.

The regularity conditions for transferring amendments vary according to the size of the municipality.

Municipalities with less than 50 thousand inhabitants must be up to date with Social Security and precatories. 33.5% (1,661) of the cities are in this situation. However, the LDO (Lei de Diretrizes Orçamentárias) of this year and 2023 waived the need for compliance for municipalities of this size to receive the resources.

The rules are stricter for municipalities with a population of over 50,000. They need to be regularized in the CAUC, a system that covers the Social Security Certificate and precatories, in addition to other items.

The service provides information on the fulfillment of fiscal requirements necessary for federative entities, bodies, entities and civil society organizations to be able to enter into instruments for the transfer of resources from the federal government.

Preliminary calculations indicate that, next year, the resources for the rapporteur’s amendments should add up to around R$ 19 billion in the Budget. This value, however, should only be defined in the LOA (Annual Budget Law), to be discussed in this second semester.

In the 2023 LDO, there was an attempt to make the payment of these amendments mandatory. The article that determined the execution of these amendments had the support of leaders from the center and had been articulated in the face of the favoritism scenario of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the presidential race.

With a reaction from the president of Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), however, deputies and senators retreated and decided to withdraw the imposition of the budget guidelines for next year.