GD's legal framework could come through PL 5829

Recently, the Chamber of Deputies approved the request for urgent processing of PL 5829 (Bill 5829/2019), authored by parliamentarian Silas Câmara (Republicanos/AM).

After this decision, DG (distributed generation) professionals and consumers have had doubts about what the next steps should be and how the solar sector could be impacted.

Firstly, it is important to understand how the processing of a bill works in the Brazilian Legislative Houses: the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate.

According to the regulations of these Houses, before a PL is voted on, it goes through the process of preparation and analysis, with each type of proposal following a different path (procedure). In this case, a bill may be presented:

• by any parliamentarian, whether from the Senate or the Chamber of Deputies;
• by any committee of the Chamber, Senate or National Congress;
• by the president; by the STF (Supreme Federal Court);
• by the higher courts; by the Attorney General of the Republic or;
• by citizens (through a popular initiative).

To understand the processing of PL 5829, prepared and presented by deputy Silas, let's consider how it is processed in the Chamber of Deputies.

According to the regulations of this Legislative House, after the presentation of a bill, which is when the bill is presented and filed with the Board of Directors, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, who is currently deputy Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ), distributes the PL to thematic committees that deal with matters related to it, up to a maximum of three. These committees are known as “merit committees”, as they analyze the merit of each proposal.

Generally, the PL is assigned to the committees that deal with the topic to which the bill fits. Currently, the Chamber of Deputies has permanent and temporary committees, with legislative and supervisory functions, where a legislative proposal is discussed. There are 25 permanent committees in operation, in addition to dozens of temporary committees – which include parliamentary inquiry committees (CPIs) – and mixed committees, formed by deputies and senators.

After receiving the proposal, each president of the committee designated to analyze the PL chooses a deputy to be rapporteur. This parliamentarian will be responsible for issuing an opinion on the text of the bill, which will then be voted on by the members of the respective committee.

Most projects being processed in the Chamber only need to go through committees. In other words, there is conclusive processing in the commissions. If they are approved by all of them, they go directly to the Senate – or for presidential sanction, if they have already passed through the Senate. If they are approved by some and rejected by others, they go to the Plenary.

PL 5829

This bill was presented in November 2019 and forwarded, by deputy Rodrigo Maia, to the CME (Mining and Energy Commission), the CFT (Finance and Taxation Commission) and the CCJC (Constitution, Justice and Citizenship Commission) .

Upon being received at the CME, the president of the committee chose deputy Benes Leocádio (Republicanos/RN) as rapporteur, who in turn presented a report proposing changes to the proposal presented by deputy Silas.

This report must be forwarded to the Plenary rapporteur, who may or may not consider Deputy Benes' opinion. For PL 5829, deputy Lafayette de Andrada was appointed as rapporteur, as expected. The parliamentarian will be responsible for presenting the text that will be voted on urgently.

As already mentioned, Lafayette, as Plenary rapporteur, may or may not consider the changes proposed by Representative Benes.

In an exclusive interview to Canal Solar, deputy Lafayette clarified that a substitute text is being worked on along the lines of what had already been previously disclosed.

According to him, the proposal divides solar energy generators into four different categories with different treatments:

• Remote minigeneration (solar farm) starts by paying Fio B in full;
• Commercial shared remote minigeneration starts by paying 50% of Fio B, and in a progressively staggered manner over ten years it will pay Fio B in full;
• Residential shared remote minigeneration starts by paying 10% of Fio B, and progressively over ten years will pay Fio B in full;
• Local microgeneration starts by paying 10% of Fio B and over ten years, gradually, it will pay Fio B in full”, stated Lafayette.

According to Lafayette, his text will be presented as a substitute and will replace the text of PL 5829, prepared by deputy Silas Câmara. He also stated that this text is being developed in conjunction with the ANEEL (National Electric Energy Agency), with the MME (Ministry of Mines and Energy) and with associations in the DG sector.

“We will be resolving the issue of reviewing Resolution 482 of the ANEEL. The “new resolution” will come by law”, highlighted Lafayette.

PL 5829 is being processed on an urgent basis, which means that formalities in the processing procedure are dispensed with, speeding up the process. This means, according to advisors from the Chamber of Deputies, that it can be placed on the Agenda.

Now, we have to wait for the presentation of the replacement text, which will be presented by Congressman Lafayette, and follow the political movement to see what changes will happen in the distributed generation segment in the country.