{"id":6611,"date":"2026-06-03T16:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/?p=6611"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:03:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T19:03:39","slug":"como-nasce-uma-lei-no-brasil-da-proposta-a-aprovacao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/como-nasce-uma-lei-no-brasil-da-proposta-a-aprovacao\/","title":{"rendered":"How a law is born in Brazil: from proposal to approval."},"content":{"rendered":"

From the presentation of a proposal to its entry into force, learn about the steps that transform ideas into laws and discover how citizens can follow this process. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, the legislative process seems distant from the average citizen. However, understanding how laws and proposals arise in politics is a fundamental part of exercising more active citizenship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a bill? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

An Ordinary Bill (PL) is a legislative instrument used to develop, change, or repeal laws in Brazil, and can address various topics of public interest, such as education, public safety, health, citizens' rights, organization of public administration, and social policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who can propose it? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The entities responsible for drafting bills come from the Brazilian Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches \u2013 and can originate from the President, Ministers, Federal Deputies, Senators, Civil Society, Ministers of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), Superior Courts, and the Attorney General's Office. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, bills begin their legislative process in the Chamber of Deputies. The procedure only differs when the proposals are initially presented by a senator or Senate committee \u2013 in these cases, the legislative process begins in the Senate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, it can also arise from a popular initiative. In these cases, the bill must be proposed by at least 1% of the national electorate, distributed across at least five states. In each state, at least 0.3% of the voters must sign it. It is worth noting that the legislative process is the same as for an ordinary bill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of a legislative project that arose from the will of the people is the Clean Slate Law, which celebrates 16 years in effect this year. This is one of the best-known examples of direct societal participation in lawmaking \u2013 it emerged in 2010 from a large national mobilization that collected thousands of signatures in support of the project that sought to change the rules of ineligibility in the country. According to the law (no. 135\/2010)<\/a>Individuals convicted by a collegiate body are ineligible to run for office, even with the possibility of appeal. This ineligibility applies for eight years after the end of their term or the completion of their sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being drafted, the bill is officially presented to the relevant legislative body. At this point, it is officially registered, receives its own number, and is published on official channels, making its content accessible to the public. From this stage, the proposal formally becomes part of the legislative agenda and begins its legislative process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of committees <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once drafted, the Bill is distributed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Board of Directors \u2013 or by the President of the Senate, if the bill originated in that house \u2013 to the thematic committees that work with topics relevant to the Bill. These committees are known as "merit committees" and are dedicated to analyzing the merits of each proposal. For each bill, a maximum of three committees can participate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These groups of parliamentarians analyze different aspects of the proposal, such as the constitutionality of the text, its financial and administrative viability, as well as its impacts on society. A rapporteur is appointed by the committee chairman, and it is at this point that the other parliamentarians can suggest changes \u2013 amendments \u2013 to adapt the project before the vote in the Plenary. After the rapporteur's opinion is voted on, the project goes to the other committees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are cases in which a Special Committee may be created to analyze the proposal. This occurs when more than four committees \u2013 there are 30 in the Chamber of Deputies \u2013 are designated for the analysis. To avoid a lengthy process for the project, the special committee comes into play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, after merit committees, the bill goes through the Finance and Taxation Committee (CFT) and the Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJC) \u2013 which assess the areas of public finance and whether they are in accordance with the Constitution. This stage is known as admissibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debate and the vote in plenary session. <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If approved by all designated committees of the Chamber of Deputies, the bills complete the legislative process and go directly to the Senate \u2013 or to the President for approval if they have already passed the Senate. However, in cases where the proposal is approved by some committees and rejected by others, the decision goes to the full Senate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To vote on an ordinary bill, the quorum in the plenary session must be 257 deputies \u2013 an absolute majority. And for the bill to be approved, a simple majority of votes is required in a single round. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also in the Plenary that draft codes, popular initiatives, committee projects, projects approved by the Senate Plenary, projects under urgent procedure, and those that are being processed in a conclusive manner but have received divergent opinions in the committees, or that have been the subject of an appeal, are voted on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approval or veto: the Executive's decision.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are several possible paths after the bill is approved in the Chamber of Deputies: if it originated in the House of Representatives, the bill goes to the Senate for analysis and voting. If it undergoes changes by the senators, the text returns to the Chamber, which analyzes the suggestions, deciding whether it makes sense to keep them or revert to the original version. After that, the bill goes to the President of the Republic for approval or veto, with a deadline of 15 working days for a decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the bill originated in the Senate and was approved without changes, it goes directly to the President of the Republic for approval or veto. In cases of amendments, it returns to the Senate, which analyzes the changes proposed by the Chamber of Deputies, and subsequently goes to the President for veto or approval \u2013 also with the same timeframe for consideration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approval by Congress and presidential sanction do not necessarily mean that the law comes into effect immediately. After sanction, the text is published in the Official Gazette of the Union, at which point it officially comes into existence in the Brazilian legal system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can citizens follow this process?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Following the progress of bills allows citizens to understand public decisions even before they become rules that affect their daily lives. More than understanding how a law is created, knowing the legislative process is a way to exercise citizenship more consciously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible to follow projects through the websites of municipal chambers, state legislative assemblies, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Federal Senate. Many of these portals also offer alert systems and participation tools, such as public hearings, consultations, and the submission of opinions on the proposals under discussion. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Da apresenta\u00e7\u00e3o de uma proposta \u00e0 entrada em vigor, conhe\u00e7a as etapas que transformam ideias em leis e descubra como cidad\u00e3os podem acompanhar esse processo.  Por vezes, o processo legislativo parece estar distante do cidad\u00e3o comum. No entanto, compreender como as leis e propostas surgem na pol\u00edtica \u00e9 parte fundamental do exerc\u00edcio de uma cidadania […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1955,7],"tags":[2059,2060,1902,1905,1897],"class_list":["post-6611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conscientizacao","category-noticias","tag-como-nasce-uma-lei","tag-legislacao-brasileira","tag-lideranca-politica","tag-processo-democratico","tag-renovabr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renovabr.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}