Pacheco presents a bill that amends the Impeachment Law.

247 - The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), presented, on Thursday (23), a bill that aims to modernize the Impeachment Law, drawn up in 1950. The bill was drawn up by a team of jurists coordinated by the minister of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Ricardo Lewandowski. 

According to MetropolisPacheco stated that the legislation currently in force "was designed for a different social, political, and constitutional context than ours." The statement refers to the fact that at the time the 1946 Constitution was in effect, which incorporated parliamentary influences that were superseded in the Constituent Assembly of 1988. 

“I believe that the bill, which replicates the text of the preliminary draft from the committee of jurists, will serve as a starting point for the Senate and Brazilian society to discuss — with balance, seriousness and consideration — the difficult equation between respect for popular sovereignty and disapproval of conduct that violates the Constitution,” said the parliamentarian.

According to the senator, the legislation remains in effect because it was partially accepted by the 1988 Constitution, which would have made the law "lacunose, incomplete, and inadequate." The report also highlights that Pacheco emphasized that "in both impeachment processes of presidents of the Republic, it was necessary to take the matter to court so that the Supreme Federal Court could establish a 'procedure' for the process of impeachment for crimes of responsibility."

The statement refers to the impeachment of Fernando Collor in 1992 and the 2016 coup that resulted in the removal of President Dilma Rousseff. 

The bill presented by Pacheco stipulates that the following could be held accountable for crimes of responsibility and face impeachment proceedings: the President of the Republic and the Vice-President; Ministers of State; Commanders of the Armed Forces; Ministers of the Supreme Federal Court (STF); members of the National Council of Justice (CNJ) and the National Council of the Public Prosecutor's Office (CNMP); the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR); the Attorney General of the Union (AGU); Ministers of the Superior Courts and the Court of Accounts of the Union; heads of permanent diplomatic missions; Governors, Vice-Governors, and Secretaries of State and Federal District governments; Judges and Justices of the Courts of Justice of the States and the Federal District; Judges and members of the Military Courts and the Regional Federal, Electoral, and Labor Courts; and members of the Courts of Accounts of the States, the Federal District, and the Municipalities, and of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Union, the States, and the Federal District.

The crimes of responsibility foreseen are those committed against the existence of the Union and national sovereignty; against democratic institutions, the internal security of the country and the free exercise of the constitutional powers of the Union, the states, the Federal District and the municipalities; against the exercise of fundamental rights and guarantees; against probity in the Administration; and against the budget law.