President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva asked the National Congress to grant the urgency regime to the Complementary Law Project (PLC) No. 233/2023, which creates the Mandatory Insurance for the Protection of Victims of Traffic Accidents (Spvat), replacing to the old Dpvat, paid by motor vehicle owners. The order was published in this Thursday’s (25) edition of Official Diary of the Union.
The text is about to be voted on in the Federal Senate, but involves negotiations in relation to President Lula’s vetoes on parliamentary amendments and the opening of additional credit to the Union Budget. In the Chamber of Deputies, the project was approved with an amendment that changes the fiscal framework (Complementary Law 200/2023) allowing to anticipate the release of supplementary credit in the event of a surplus in public accounts, which could allow the limit for Union expenses to be increased by R$15.7 billion in 2024.
The PLC was already in constitutional urgency and would be voted on yesterday (24) by the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) of the Senate, but it was removed from the agenda at the request of the government leader in the House and project rapporteur, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA ). This Thursday, in a press interview, Wagner said that, after agreement, the issue should be voted on the CCJ agenda next week.
In total, the Annual Budget Law approved by the Legislature provided for 7,900 individual parliamentary amendments, from state benches and commissions, totaling R$53 billion. President Lula vetoed R$5.6 billion of the total of R$16.7 billion in commission amendments, which still account for R$11.1 billion, an amount even higher than last year (R$7.5 billion ). Through amendments, parliamentarians indicate where public budget resources should be invested.
According to the government leader, there was then an agreement on these values, with a commitment to approve the Dpvat text and change the fiscal framework. Of the R$5.6 billion vetoed, the government will allocate R$3.6 billion to amendments, with R$2.4 billion for the Chamber and R$1.2 billion for the Senate.
“To hit this hammer, it is necessary to locate where these R$3.6 billion are. So, in the Dpvat project itself, the location of this money was included. If it doesn’t appear, we vote and the government will have to block it, respecting the Fiscal Responsibility Law”, said Jaques Wagner.
“This year, there are R$53 billion in amendments. So, there are R$53 billion less discretion for the government. As we are in a tight spot, where there is a tight spot, everyone screams and everyone is right. Parliament is defending its part. The Executive, as it has an obligation to the nation to take care of A to Z, security, health, education, roads, everything, obviously wants a bigger space”, added the senator.
According to Wagner, the urgency regime speeds up the processing of the matter and allows the president of the CCJ, senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), a greater range of options to send the text to the plenary of the House and “that it can make the agreement viable ”.
Mandatory insurance
Created in 1974, DPVAT is mandatory insurance designed to compensate victims of traffic accidents occurring throughout the national territory. Compensation is paid in cases of death, total or partial permanent disability and for reimbursement of medical and hospital expenses from the private network for physical damage caused by accidents with land-based motor vehicles or their loads.
The charge was extinguished in 2021, when Caixa Econômica Federal took over the management of Dpvat resources and payments in place of Seguradora Líder, which was a consortium of private companies. At the time, there was a surplus of around R$4.3 billion, which allowed insurance payments to victims of traffic accidents to be maintained, even without charging drivers.
However, payment of compensation was suspended in November last year, due to lack of balance in the Dpvat fund. With the approval of the project, mandatory annual insurance will once again be charged to vehicle owners and will continue to be operated by Caixa Econômica Federal.
