Reform of the Senate and legislative function:

from the current (alleged) hypertrophic procedure

to the new discipline for the approval of laws

July 2014

The main points of the revision project  

The draft Bill revising Part II of the Constitution, unanimously approved by the Council of Ministers on March 31, 2014 and now being reviewed by the Senate (first reading), is a central part of the reform drive by the Renzi Government. The draft Bill intends to revolutionise the institutional framework of the Republic, especially by: !   overcoming “perfect” bicameralism and reducing the number

of parliamentarians by creating the so-called Senate of Autonomies;

!   revising Title V of the Constitution by redefining the role of local authorities and establishing a new legislative division of competence between the State and Regions.

The new Senate proposed in the reform Bill

The reform Bill revises the Senate as follows: !   the election system will no longer be based on a direct

popular vote; !   the number of senators will be considerably reduced; !   the Senate will no longer participate in votes of confidence

for the Government: this will be the prerogative only of the Chamber of Deputies;

!   the Senate will participate in the ordinary legislative procedure now named “proposed amendment”.

   

Senate of autonomies… a new idea?

… not really. The draft Bill is based on a proposal debated for years by political parties:

to make the Senate

a “Chamber of Autonomies” with limited legislative prerogatives

and ensuring linkage between the State and Regional Authorities

A concrete example?

In 2007 the Chamber of Deputies started to review a Bill, known as the “Violante draft” which envisaged, amongst other things, that the Senate be turned into a Chamber of Autonomies and that laws be approved by the Chamber of Deputies (except in certain cases, for example, approval of Bills revising the Constitution). The debate stopped in late 2007 when Parliament was dissolved.    

Approval  of laws: what changes    

Today !   To become a law, a Bill has to be

approved by the Chamber and Senate without changes to the text;

!   after approval by the Chamber where the Bill is introduced, it is transmitted to the other Chamber;

!   if the Chamber receiving the Bill approves it without making amendments, it is promulgated by the President of the Republic and published in the Official Journal;

!   if the Chamber receiving the Bill makes amendments, then it passes from one Chamber to the other until both Chambers approve the same text.

   

The reform Bill !   The Chamber of Deputies

approves all laws except for constitutional Bills which are still governed by parity bicameralism;

!   each draft Bill is introduced in the Chamber (senators maintain the right to propose Bills);

!   the Senate is tasked only if a second reading takes place but may, should it choose, propose amendments;

!   the Senate can, by a vote of absolute majority, ask the Chamber to revise a draft Bill. The Chamber is obliged to react within six months.

   

The length of the iter legis in Italy today: a few considerations

“Parliament

takes too long to approve laws ”

In recent years it is an opinion shared by a majority of those involved in the debate on institutional reform.

However, is a reform really necessary (and in particular, this kind of reform)

to speed up the iter legis?

Same powers and same functions: the root of all evil?

Belgio 91

Lituania 22

Estonia 22

Perfect bicameralism has often been accused of hindering the functioning of the Italian Parliament, duplicating work, wasting time between the two Chambers and slowing down the process due to the countless “shuttling” of Bills from one Chamber to the other every time they disagree on the text. The system is considered as obsolete and unsuitable compared to when it was established in the past and adopted to ensure better democratic functioning of the legislative procedure.

Although it is impossible to predict the effects of the Senate reform - if indeed it is approved - it is important to remember that the time currently needed to approve laws with the present system often depends on

political will

The idea that Parliament hampers and curbs the work of the Government because of its old, complex and intricate rules, guilty of slowing down and of having slowed down the iter legis, appears to have been an alibi for many Governments.

Laws are approved (when there’s a will to do so)

Estonia 22

The time it takes to approve laws

The time it takes to approve laws varies enormously; this depends on how important they are to the Government’s programme rather than their complex contents or complex parliamentary regulations. Several examples?

Rapid procedure

The Alfano Law 20 days Stability Law and Budget 2012 25 days

Slow procedure

Statute of Enterprises 1.283 days Road Safety Code Reform 820 days Further proof of this state of affairs comes from the fact

that more Government laws are passed compared to laws introduced thanks to a parliamentary initiative.

Rapid and slow procedures: what is the outcome?  

If on the one hand a slow legislative procedure does not necessarily lead to a good law, on the other a rapidly approved law may more easily contain mistakes and inaccuracies due to the short period of time in which its effects can be assessed.

The “Save Italy” Decree Law (Monti Government)

It is an excellent, recent example of the above statement.

=  “Pension reform victims”

The case of the pension reform victims is the outcome of a decree law called “Save Italy”, introduced to reduce the pension expenditure during one particular period of the financial crisis.

It was written in 20 days and approved in 16!

a subgroup of individuals, mostly over 50, who have no salary and no pension (they left work after agreements were signed pursuant to company restructuring programmes or corporate crises; they are still not entitled to a pension either because in the meantime the retirement age has been raised, or due to changes in the requirements needed for pension entitlement).