Senate Committee approves salary increase for judges and prosecutors | Brazil

The Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) of the Federal Senate approved this Wednesday (17) a Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that creates an additional payment for time served in the salaries of public agents in legal careers. The measure provides for a 5% salary increase every five years (five years), up to a limit of 35%. This percentage is not included in the calculation of the constitutional ceiling – the maximum amount that a public servant can receive.

Presented by senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), president of the Senate, the measure initially benefited judges and prosecutors and prosecutors from the Public Ministry, but an amendment included by the rapporteur, senator Eduardo Gomes (PL-TO) extended the additional to the careers of the federal and state public law, Public Defender’s Office, police chiefs and auditors’ court advisors.

The PEC received 18 votes in favor and 7 against and will now be analyzed by the Senate plenary. As it is a constitutional amendment, it must be approved in two rounds of voting to proceed to the Chamber of Deputies.

In justifying the project, Pacheco argued that the salaries of judges and prosecutors at the beginning and end of their careers are very similar, and that it is necessary to create ways to retain these professionals in the Justice system.

“We want prosecutors and prosecutors who have functional independence and who are entirely dedicated to defending the democratic order. So, for us to have it, we need to provide an attractive environment or we will lose highly qualified professionals to other careers that pay better”, says Pacheco in the PEC justification.

“We need to spend public money better and perhaps spending better means spending better on good public servants in the legal career (or) in any other career”, argued Senator Eduardo Gomes, rapporteur for the matter.

Impact on public coffers

Parliamentarians opposed to the measure highlighted the impact of increases on the public budget. “This will have an impact on the 26 states and the Federal District. The pressure on governors will be immense. As a former governor, it is the worst personnel management policy we have, the annual or five-year policy, because it does not talk about meritocracy, it is the vegetative increase in payroll, independent of the manager, and therefore, in my opinion it does not encourage the improvement of public service”, stated the government leader in the Senate, Jacques Wagner (PT-BA), who governed Bahia between 2007 and 2014.

He also cited a projection from the Ministry of Finance, which foresees an increase of R$42 billion to public coffers. “I’m not speaking on behalf of the government, I’m speaking on behalf of the country, fiscal responsibility and the impact this decision could have”, insisted Wagner.

In another technical note, from 2022, the Public Leadership Center (CLP) calculated annual impacts of R$2 billion, when the measure was still restricted to magistrates and members of the Public Ministry. Furthermore, the universe of civil servants reached was 38 thousand, an insignificant number when compared to the 11 million public servants existing in the country, in all administrative spheres.