Legislation
Debate on Brazil’s gambling bill delayed at government’s request
By James - 20 May 2024
According to local press the government leader in the Senate, Senator Jaques Wagner personally worked for the postponement of the vote on PL 2234/2022 in the Senate’s Constitution Justice and Citizenship Committee (CCJ).
Senator Wagner argued to the president of the CCJ, Senator Davi Alcolumbre, in a confidential manner, that it was not the right time to vote on the matter in light of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul. Members of the CCJ had been scheduled to analyze the bill on 15 May but Davi Alcolumbre removed the proposal from the agenda announcing that further analyses on the issue would be resumed at the next meeting.
To journalists, the government leader also said that the President’s office does not yet have a position on the project. However, as reported by local media, government leaders from parties such as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (MDB) support the advancement of the initiative. Despite the postponement the Senate’s leadership believes that the project will be reanalyzed before the parliamentary recess in July.
Torrential rains have been battering the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul for almost three weeks. Heavy rains which caused widespread flooding have left hundreds of towns under water. At least 85 people died in the floods and about 150,000 have been displaced from their homes, officials said.
