Diario Libre reports on several legislative bills on health, pensions, civil and commercial relations, and judicial procedures that need to be heard in the next legislative session that opens 16 August 2019. Among the bills pending for approval is the Social Security Law 87-01, where commissions paid to Pension Fund Administrators (AFPs) are up for discussion. It will need to be submitted again.
One of the most controversial pieces of legislation is the Penal Code and its references to abortion, as well as longer jail sentences. The Code had passed in Congress, but President Medina vetoed it. Medina favors exceptions to the ban on abortion in the case of rape or incest, a non-viable fetus and imminent danger to the mother’s life. Likewise, legislators have discussed total sentences of up to 60 years in jail. The present maximum is 30 years.
The Civil Code dates back to 1997 and discussions are ongoing. Among the controversial issues is restricting marriage to those 18 years of age.
Other bills that have languished in Congress are the bill that regulates domestic work, one on identity protection, changes to the Civil Code Procedures; the water bill and a bill on waste management. A bill to organize the nation’s territories is pending, as is another that protects parks, water resources, land use and zoning.
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Diario Libre
29 July 2019