Advanced Search

Law Organic 4/2006, 26 May, Modification Of Law 3/1984 Of 26 March, Regulating Popular Legislative Initiative.

Original Language Title: Ley Orgánica 4/2006, de 26 de mayo, de modificación de la Ley Orgánica 3/1984, de 26 de marzo, reguladora de la Iniciativa Legislativa Popular.

Subscribe to a Global-Regulation Premium Membership Today!

Key Benefits:

Subscribe Now for only USD$40 per month.

TEXT

JUAN CARLOS I REY OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following organic law.

Single item.

The following amendments are made to the Organic Law 3/1984, of March 26, regulating the Popular Legislative Initiative. First. A full wording of the Preamble is given as follows:

" The Constitution conforms to the Spanish political regime as a parliamentary monarchy and, therefore, as a representative democracy. The popular participation in the government of the State and in the management of the public thing is basically being channelled through the election of popular representatives in the governing bodies that reaches its maximum expression in the elections. legislative, in which the people appoint their representatives in the General Courts. This does not mean that, in the light of the trend of the most modern democratic states, the Constitution will, as stated in Article 9 (2), increase the participation of citizens and groups in public life. For this purpose, the fundamental rule articulates several forms of direct participation of citizens, such as public participation or in the management of public funds held with public funds. In this same vein, the Constitution also provides for the direct participation of citizens in the normative production process, by setting up the people, through the presentation of 500,000 signatures, as the subject of the legislative initiative. This constitutional recognition of the popular legislative initiative allows, on the one hand, to implement the direct participation of the holder of the sovereignty in the task of elaboration of the norms that govern the life of the citizens, and it allows, another part, the opening of channels to propose to the legislative power the approval of norms whose need is widely felt by the electorate, but which, however, do not find an echo in the political formations with parliamentary representation. The constitutional regulation of the popular legislative initiative also includes the limitations of this institute, derived from the historical teachings. Hence, the Constitution, in addition to excluding particularly sensitive normative fields from the popular initiative, entrusts the legislature with the task of regulating, by means of organic law, the concrete form of the exercise of the popular initiative. The organic law tries to collect with the utmost fidelity and simplicity the constitutional mandate, regulating the exercise of the initiative in such a way that, respecting to the maximum the institutional role of the political parties as organs of manifestation of the popular will and fundamental instruments of political participation, the exercise of the initiative is channeled with the maximum guarantees. Thus, it is excluded from the popular legislative initiative not only the subjects that are expressly provided by article 87.3 of the Constitution, but also those whose regulatory initiative reserves the fundamental norm to organs State concrete. The elapsed time and experience gained since the approval of the Organic Law 3/1984, of March 26, make advisable some adjustments of the institution of popular participation to avoid unnecessary requirements and to incorporate improvements to facilitate their exercise. The implementation of the procedure requires the Commission to submit to the Bureau of the House an articulated text with a substantive unit preceded by a statement of reasons. In order to avoid unnecessary expenditure and efforts, the Bureau shall carry out an examination of admissibility which, if negative, may result in the Promoter Commission bringing an action under appeal to the Constitutional Court. The parameters of the admissibility judgment, in addition to the generals for any Project or Proposition of Law, are those provided for in Article 5.2 that require the adaptation of the initiative to the constitutional requirements, which will not be seen on issues The bill is clearly different from one another and that there is no bill or Proposition of Law to be seen in the Congress of Deputies or the Senate, which will be viewed on the same subject of the popular legislative initiative that is in the process of amendment or other more advanced or the initiative to be the reproduction of another of equal or equal content substantially equivalent presented during the legislature. Once the proposal is accepted, the procedure for the collection of signatures is initiated, which can be carried out in the traditional documents, which may be in Spanish or, together, with any of the co-official languages in the territories of the State; It will also be possible to collect signatures electronically, provided that the authentic will of the citizen who subscribes to the popular legislative initiative is guaranteed. The deadline for the collection of signatures is extended to nine months to be extended by three others when it is the most appreciated by the Congressional Bureau. The guarantee of the regularity of the procedure of collection of the signatures is entrusted to the Central Electoral Board. This is due to the relative similarity between the electoral process and the collection of signatures and computation of the same, as well as the infrastructure, which covers the entire Spanish territory, which the Central Electoral Board has. The inscription of the signatory in the Electoral Census, which must be shown accompanying certification, is also due to the same reasons given in the electoral process, as are, for example, crediting the ability of the signatory and to avoid a possible multiplicity of signatures for the same citizen. The signatories, for their part, are assured of the knowledge of the text that they support by means of the obligation to incorporate the signatures of signatures, which are sealed and numbered by the Central Electoral Board. Finally, the authentication mechanism of the firms is made considerably easier by allowing the Promoter Commission to add, to those who usually give the public faith, special fedarios that can, with total freedom of movement, dedicate themselves to the exclusively to the work of authentication. The required signatures are collected, the parliamentary procedure begins. The Bureau of the House shall include the position on the agenda of the plenary session for consideration within the maximum period of six months. In this process, the participation of a person appointed by the Promoter Commission may be considered in accordance with the provisions of the regulations. The failure of the parliamentary work to be completed by the dissolution of the Chambers, either by the end of the legislature or the early dissolution, does not make the Proposition to be declared, but the Bureau will be able to take it back without in any case necessary. present a new certification of meeting the minimum required signatures. Finally, there has been a substantial improvement in the state compensation for the expenditure incurred, provided that the number of signatures required for the initiative to succeed is reached, and the necessary channels have been provided for the government to include the expenditure obligations in the General Budget of the State of the following financial year for the economic compensation of legislative initiatives which have reached their parliamentary procedure. "

Second. Article 3.2 (b) of the Organic Law 3/1984 is deleted.

Third. Article 5.2 (f) of the Organic Law 3/1984 is deleted, and a new wording is given to paragraph c) of this Article, with the following text:

"c) The fact that the text of the Proposition is seen on clearly distinct and non-homogeneous subjects."

Fourth. Article 7 (3) of the Organic Law 3/1984 of 26 March, regulating the Popular Legislative Initiative, will be worded as follows:

" 3. The procedure for collecting signatures must be completed with the delivery to the Central Electoral Board of the signatures collected, within nine months of the notification referred to in the previous paragraph. This time limit may be extended for three months when a higher cause is appreciated by the Congressional Bureau. After the expiry of the period without the signature of the signatures collected, the initiative shall lapse. "

Fifth. A new paragraph 4 is added to Article 7 of the Organic Law of the following wording:

" 4. Signatures may also be collected as an electronic signature in accordance with the provisions of the relevant legislation. "

Sixth. A second paragraph is inserted in Article 8.1 of Organic Law 3/1984, with the following wording:

" The documents must be written in Spanish. For the collection of signatures on the territory of an Autonomous Community with another official language, this other language may be used together. "

Seventh. Article 11 of Organic Law 3/1984 is worded as follows:

" 1. The documents containing the signatures collected will be sent to the Central Electoral Board, who will forward them to the Electoral Census Bureau to accredit the registration of the signatories in the Electoral Census as old, and carry out the check and the initial count of those signatures. The Electoral Census Bureau, within 15 days, will transmit to the Central Electoral Board the certification of all of this. 2. The Promoter Commission may collect at any time from the Central Electoral Board the information it considers relevant to the number of signatures collected. "

Eighth. Article 13 (1) and (2) are reworded with the following text:

" 1. Having received the notification stating that the number of signatures required has been met, the Bureau shall order the publication of the Proposition, which shall be placed on the agenda of the plenary session within the maximum period of six months for consideration. 2. The parliamentary procedure shall be carried out in accordance with the Regulations of the Chambers which may provide for the participation of a person appointed by the Promoter Commission. "

Ninth. A new wording is given to Article 15 (2):

" 2. Expenditure shall be duly justified by the Promoter Commission. The state compensation will in no case exceed EUR 300,000. This amount shall be reviewed annually by the governing bodies of the Chambers of the General Courts in accordance with variations in the Consumer Price Index. "

10th. A new additional disposition (second) is created with the following text:

" The Government will have to include as an obligation of expenditure in the General Budget of the State of the following year the economic compensation of the popular legislative initiatives that have reached its fulfillment. "

Repeal provision.

As many provisions of equal or lower rank are repealed, they are contrary to the provisions of this Organic Law.

Final disposition.

This Organic Law shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the "Official Gazette of the State".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this organic law.

Madrid, 26 May 2006.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government, JOSÉ LUIS RODRÍGUEZ ZAPATERO