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Email this citationCIAO DATE: 11/03
The Spring 2002 Term of the Mexican Congress
Jeffrey A. Weldon
May 2003
Abstract
The spring session of the second year of the 58th Legislature in Mexico, in comparison with most recent years, was more productive than average. Although there were a few major negative incidents, the strained relationship between the executive and legislative branches did not lead to complete paralysis on executive legislation.
The spring term in the Mexican Congress is very short, running from March 15 through April 30, for a total of six and a half weeks. Considering that little gets done in any legislative term in the first month, plus the fact that the Easter week vacation eliminates at least half a week of floor sessions, there is usually only two or three weeks of debate on bills in the spring session. Thirteen bills have been introduced to lengthen the spring term from the current 47 days. All but one of the proposals calls for a spring term of at least three months, and the more recent bills propose between four and five and a half months. Regardless of its short length, and despite the criticism from the press and the private sector that Congress was unproductive during the spring 2002 term, a statistical analysis of bills introduced and approved demonstrates that the Mexican Congress was more productive than average. This was accomplished in spite of all of the fierce rhetoric inside and outside of the chambers.
The statistical analysis that follows is based on databases created by the author of all bills introduced in the Senate for the 58th Legislature (2000 to the present) and for the Chamber of Deputies for the 54th through 58th Legislatures (1988 to the present). The information is from the Diario de los Debates and the Gaceta Parlamentaria of each chamber. All of the information is available online.
