The Porto Alegre City Council approved a bill (PL) that establishes the provision of psychology and social services in the municipal education network of Porto Alegre. The project was authored by councilor Jonas Reis (PT) and was voted on in the ordinary session this Monday (18).
In addition to the project, an amendment proposed by the NOVO party bench in the Chamber was also voted on, whichwhich aims to adapt the proposal to federal law nº 13,935/2019, which proposes the same practices at federal level. The amendment was going through a 15 to 15 tie, but was approved with a favorable vote from the president of the chamber, councilor Hamilton Sossmeier (PTB).
The PL was approved with 15 YES votes against 14 NO votes.
Points of divergence
Psychologist councilor Tanise Sabino (PTB) opened the scores in relation to the PL, pointing out that the issues addressed in the project are the responsibility of the municipal executivein addition to the similarity of the 2019 federal law, indicating that the legislative management would only be responsible for regulating the federal law in Porto Alegre.
Councilor Karen Santos (PSOL) also addressed the executive’s responsibilities on this issue, recalling a meeting with Mayor Sebastião Melo (MDB), which took place in August 2022, in which the moves to regulate federal law in Porto Alegre began, but they depended on a financial feasibility study that should be prepared by the municipal executive. According to Karen, the study has not received any feedback to date, making it impossible to continue the process. The opposition parliamentarian indicated that councilor Tanise was also present at this meeting.
Another point that generated disagreements throughout the debate was the opening that the amendment allows for temporary hiring to fill vacancies, without mandatory public examinations.
The PSOL bench voted against approving the amendment due to the temporary hiring made possible in the text of federal law. Councilor Karen Santos highlighted that unions related to psychology and other social istance activities covered by the PL took a position against the amendment.
Despite PSOL’s position, PT councilors voted in favor of the amendmentin a rare moment of divergence between the opposition parties of the current parliamentary administration.