Text also readjusts the salary of DF security force agents by 18%; goes to presidential sanction
The Federal Senate approved this Wednesday (1.Nov.2023) the project that creates the program to clear the INSS (National Social Security Institute) waiting list. The text also readjusts the salaries of firefighters, military police officers and civilians in the Federal District by 18%. Approved earlier by the CAE (Economic Affairs Commission), the proposal now goes to presidential approval.
In July this year, the government sent the proposal to Congress through the MP (Provisional Measure) 1,181/2023. The measure expires on November 14th. However, on September 12, Planalto resent the text as a bill (PL 4,426/2023), to facilitate the articulation of the proposal. The Chamber approved the text on October 4th.
The committee’s rapporteur of the proposal, Senator Weverton (PDT-MA), avoided making changes to the text so that the project would not need to return to the Chamber. According to the congressman, by September 2023, there were 635,842 people in the medical examination queue and another 999,263 in the administrative pending queue. The INSS has been facing difficulties in reducing the queue for months. Altogether, they are 1.6 million people waiting in line at the organ.
The vote on the proposal in the Senate was carried out symbolically – when there is no record of a roll call vote.
The PEFPS (Social Security Queue Combating Program) aims to tackle this problem. The central focus will be to reduce the time it takes to analyze administrative processes to obtain INSS benefits and carry out expert medical examinations and analyze documents for those who wish to receive subsidies.
The initiative covers processes with more than 45 days of analysis or that have already expired. The government will make 2 extra payments per process to the INSS professional who joins the program: one to reduce the general queue, worth R$68 and another to reduce the federal medical examination queue, worth R$75.
Employees who occupy positions in the social security careers, federal medical expert, medical expert supervisor and social security medical expert, who work at the INSS or the Ministry of Social Security, may participate in the program.
The expense to comply with the measure is within this year’s Union budget and the INSS “will only authorize activities within budgetary availability”. The impact estimate, according to the text’s rapporteur, is at least R$ 115 million for 2023, with the same value in 2024. The program will have duration of 9 months, which can be extended for a further 3 months.
The text determines that INSS’s expert medical services may be provided via telemedicine.
REMUNERATION OF SECURITY AGENTS
The project readjusts the remuneration of security force employees (firefighters and military and civil police officers) in the Federal District by 18%, in addition to firefighters and military police officers in Amapá, Rondônia and Roraima. The 1st installment was paid in July 2023, the time of publication of the MP that gave rise to the project, and the 2nd will be paid in January 2024.
It was established in the text that the federal government may grant bonuses to security forces. Are they:
- Civil Police Function Representation Compensation “with its own budget allocation, not linked to the Constitutional Fund of the Federal District”; It is
- compensation to military personnel from the Federal District, active, inactive and pensioners, to compensate for organic wear and tear and psychosomatic damages accumulated and resulting from the performance of activities.
According to the approved project, the estimated impact on the adjustment will be R$445 million in 2023 and R$1.656 billion for 2024 and 2025 in the 3 States and the Federal District. The amounts referring to Brasília will come from the FCDF (Constitutional Fund of the Federal District).
PUBLIC OFFICES
The proposal transforms 13,375 vacant permanent positions that, according to the government, even at the time of the provisional measure, were “misaligned with the needs of Public Administration”in 8,935 new positions.
Of the new positions, 2,243 are commissioned positions, which can be filled without a public competition, and trust positions, intended for employees who already have permanent positions in the Executive. According to the text, the rest of the functions (6,692) continue to be permanent positions, but relocated to economic, Environment and Culture areas, for example.
During the discussion of the text, the leader of the Opposition, Senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), highlighted the idea of removing the commissioned positions. The highlight was rejected by 51 votes against and 18 in favor of the change. There was one abstention.
Furthermore, it determines that 10% to 30% of Funai (National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples) competition places are reserved for indigenous peoples.
