Congress of Colombia


The Congress of the Republic of Colombia is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.
The Congress of Colombia consists of the 108-seat Senate, and the 188-seat Chamber of Representatives, Members of both houses are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.
The composition, organization and powers of Congress and the legislative procedure are established by the fourth title of the Colombian Constitution. According to article 114 of the Constitution, the Congress amends the constitution, makes the law and exercises political control over the government and the public administration. In addition, the Constitution and the law grant other powers to Congress, including certain judicial powers and electing senior judges and other senior public officials.
Both houses of Congress meet at the neoclassical Capitolio Nacional building in central Bogotá, the construction of which began in 1847 and was not concluded until 1926. Each house has its own election procedure and individual powers distinguishing them from the other, which are further discussed in the article for each individual house.

Congress

Eligibility

Each house has its own eligibility requirements established by the Constitution, but there are common rules of ineligibility and incompatibility, determined by the Constitution.
Anyone who has been sentenced to deprivation of liberty at any time except for political crimes and culpable negligence; hold dual citizenship and are not native-born citizens; held a public employment position with political, civil, administrative or military authority or jurisdiction within the year prior the election; participated in business transactions with public entities or concluded contracts with them, or were legal representatives of entities which handled taxes or quasi-fiscal levies within the six months prior to the election; lost their mandate as members of Congress or holds ties of marriage or kinship with civil servants holding civil or political authority may not be elected to Congress. In addition, relatives through marriage or kinship who are registered candidates for the same party for an office elected on the same day may not be members of Congress. The constitution also bans election to or membership in more than one office or body, even if the terms only overlap partially.
Members of Congress may not hold another public or private office ; manage matters or conclude contracts, in their name or that of someone else, with public entities or persons administering taxes or serve as a member of any board or executive committee of decentralized public entities or institutions administering taxes.
Violations of the rules of ineligibility, incompatibility, conflict of interest lead to the loss of one's mandate as congressmen; as does an absence to six plenary sessions, failing to take their seat within eight days following the first meeting of the house, improper use of public funds or duly proven influence peddling. The Council of State rules on the loss of mandate within twenty days of the request made by a citizen or the executive committee of the appropriate house.
Members of Congress enjoy immunity for their opinions and the votes that they cast in the exercise of their office. For crimes committed during their term, only the Supreme Court of Justice may order the arrest and try them.

Replacement of members

Members of Congress do not have alternates and are only replaced in the event of a temporary or permanent absences, as decreed by law, by the next non-elected candidate on the list from which he/she was elected, ranked in order of registration or votes received. Permanent absences include death, physical incapacity, nullification of the election, justified and accepted resignation, disciplinary sanctions and the loss of one's mandate. Temporary absences include maternity leave and temporary deprivation of liberty from crimes other than those signalled in the paragraph below.
In the wake of the parapolitics scandal, a political reform in 2009 created the so-called silla vacía mechanism, according to which anyone who has been sentenced for membership, promotion or funding of illegal armed groups; drug trafficking; intentional wrongdoing against the public administration or mechanisms of democratic participation or crimes against humanity cannot be replaced. Likewise, any congressmen who resigns after having been formally indicted in Colombia for any of these crimes or who is temporarily absent after an arrest warrant has been issued for any of these crimes is not replaced. These rules not only apply to Congress, but to all other directly elected bodies - departmental assemblies, municipal councils and local administrative boards. These provisions were strengthened by the 2015 constitutional reform, which added fraudulent wrongdoings against public administration as a crime not resulting in replacement.

Shared powers

Although each house of Congress serves a particular role and have individual powers distinguishing them from one another, both houses have certain powers in common, according to Article 135 of the Constitution; namely:
  1. Electing its executive committees and its secretary general for a two-year period
  2. Request from the government the information that the house may need, except information regarding diplomatic instructions and classified documents
  3. Determine the convening of sessions reserved to address oral questions by congressmen to cabinet ministers and the answers of the latter
  4. To fill the positions established by law necessary for the execution of powers
  5. Seek from the government the cooperation of government agencies to improve the performance of their duties
  6. Organizing its internal maintenance of order.
  7. To summon and require ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of administrative departments to attend sessions. In cases the officials fail to attend without an excuse deemed reasonable by the house, the house may file a censure motion.
  8. Propose censure motions against ministers, permanent secretaries and heads of administrative departments for matters related to their official duties or for ignoring the summons of Congress. A censure motion must be tabled by at least a tenth of the members of the respective house, and the vote takes place after the conclusion of a debate with a public hearing of the respective official. Approval of the motion requires an absolute majority, and, if successful, the official is removed from office. If unsuccessful, no new motion on the same matter may be proposed unless it is supported by new facts. The decision of a single house is binding on the other.
  9. Commissions of either house may also summon any natural or juridical person to testify during a special session on matters directly related to investigations pursued by the committee.

    Joint sessions

The Congress meets as a single body only on exceptional occasions, determined by article 18 of Law 5 of 1992. These occasions are:
  1. Inauguration of the President of the Republic, or the Vice President when acting as President
  2. Receive foreign heads of State and government
  3. Election of the Comptroller General
  4. Election of the Vice President in the case of a vacancy
  5. Recognizing the physical incapacity of the Vice President
  6. Electing magistrates of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary
  7. Deciding on censure motions against cabinet ministers
In joint sessions of Congress, the President of the Senate acts as President of the Congress and convenes, chairs and directs the session.

Sessions

The Congress meets twice a year in two ordinary sessions: the first from 20 July to 16 December, and the second from 16 March to 20 June. These two sessions form a single legislative year, legally known as a legislature, of which there are four during the course of a single congressional term.
The executive branch can call for extraordinary sessions at any time, but never after 20 June in an election year, and Congress may only discuss the issues submitted for its consideration by the government during these sessions.

Commissions

Each house elects permanent commissions, whose number, composition and responsibilities are determined by law. These commissions, whose existence stems from the Constitution, are known as permanent constitutional commissions and there are currently 14 in Congress - seven in each house. The current permanent commissions are:
  • First commission : responsible for constitutional amendments, statutory laws, constitutional rights and duties, territorial organization, regulation of control organisms, peace, structure organization of the central administration, ethnic affairs and other administrative matters.
  • Second commission : responsible for foreign policy, defence, the military and police, treaties, diplomatic and consular appointments, foreign trade, borders, citizenship, immigration and aliens, military service, public honours and monuments, harbours and other foreign trade matters.
  • Third commission : responsible for finance, taxes, monetary policy, central bank, authorization of loans, monopolies, economic regulation, national planning, financial markets, stock markets, insurance and savings.
  • Fourth commission : responsible for budget laws, fiscal supervision, disposition of national goods, industrial property, patents, trademarks, management of national public institutions and offices, quality and price control for administrative contracts.
  • Fifth commission : responsible for agriculture, the environment, natural resources, land management, fishing and maritime affairs, mining and energy.
  • Sixth commission : responsible for communications, fees, public calamities, service delivery, communications media, scientific and technological research, radio and television, geostationary orbit, digital communication and computer systems, air space, public works and transport, tourism, education and culture.
  • Seventh commission : responsible for civil servants, trade unions, mutual aid societies, social security, benefits, recreation, sports, health, community organizations, housing, economic solidarity, women and the family.
Legal commissions are those created by the law, responsible for specific matters outside the competence of the constitutional commission. Three legal commissions exist in both houses - human rights, ethics and congressional rules and document accreditation; two legal commissions exist only in the House of Representatives - public accounts and the investigation and accusation commission. In addition, there are special commissions and incidental commissions.