Alfredo Pacheco, the long-standing president of the Chamber of Deputies, is optimistic the Penal Code will be passed in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, 30 July 2025.
At the request of the legislators, President Luis Abinader issued Decree 409-25 that has extended the legislature through 5 August 2025 that concluded on 26 July 2025. The next legislature sessions are scheduled for 16 August.
The Chamber of Deputies had created a short special committee of six deputies to present recommendations for amendments to the Penal Code bill as received from the Senate.
The Chamber of Deputies invited the participation of members of the Attorney General Office (Procuraduria General de la República), the National Police and the Public Defendor’s Office (Defensoría Pública). Pacheco said the committee has issued its concluding recommendations.
Once the Deputies pass the bill, it then needs to return to the Senate for approval.
The bill is mostly criticized for bloopers, human rights violations, women’s and children’s rights violations, supporting corruption, among other detractions. The bill has been studied in Congress for decades, with the legislators even spending time away from Congress in resorts on different occasions to study and draft better legislation for the century-old code.
The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Pacheco also re-entered the bill for rentals, seeking its approval in the current extraordinary legislation period. The bill had passed in the Chamber of Deputies but failed to pass in the Senate because of one missing vote in favor.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital
Noticias SIN
La Lupa del Sur
Decree 409-25
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
El Dia TV – interview minute 1:08
El Caribe
Diario Libre
30 July 2025