1 - About the Senate
The Federal Senate is an institution of the Federal Legislative Branch, and along with the Chamber of Deputies, creates laws valid for the whole country.
Another of Senate’s duties is to oversee the performance of the Executive Branch regarding government funds spending and compliance with the laws.
The Senate has 81 members, 3 from each state and from the Federal District, who are elected to serve for a term of 8 years. The senators are elected along with two alternate members.
Every four years, elections are held to choose new senators. The renewal of representation occurs alternately, by one and two thirds.
Senate is also in charge of trials of high government officials in case of impeachable offenses.
The Senate shall effect the legal proceeding and trial of: the President of the Republic, or the Vice President;
the Ministers of State; the Commanders of the Armed Forces; the Justices of the Federal Supreme Court, the members of the National Council of
Justice and of the National Council of the Public Prosecution; the Attorney-General of the Republic, and the Advocate-General of Union.
It is also Senate’s role to give consent on the selection of Justices of the higher courts,
justices of the Federal Court of Accounts, governor of territory, president and directors of the Central Bank of Brazil,
Attorney-General of the Republic, ambassadors, among other high government officials.
Additionally, it is Senate responsibility to authorize foreign loans made by the country, the states, the Federal District and municipalities.
It also examines the conditions under which the loans were granted and their impact on the finances of states and municipalities.
2 - Get in touch with the Senate
There are several ways to get in touch with the Senate and the senators.
The phone number 0800-6112211 is free of charge and messages are forwarded both to the members of parliament and the institution, through the Ombudsman’s Office.
The Ombudsman’s Office can also be contacted by messages sent over the internet.
It is possible to register doubts, suggestions, praises, criticisms, requests and complaints within the Senate Ombudsman’s Office,
in addition to sending messages to members of parliament individually or in groups. The messages are analyzed and forwarded to the competent departments with a view to possible further arrangements.
The replies are sent to citizens by e-mail. Information not obtained through the Ombudsman’s Office
may be requested on a specific form, according to Act 12,527, of 2011, known as the Access to Information Act.
The institution may also be contacted through Senate’s official profiles on social networking sites.
Some departments of the Senate provide specific contact channels:
Women’s Special Office of the Senate aims at ensuring, monitoring and promoting women’s rights and it acts in order to empower the female gender.
The Observatory on Violence against Women, in turn,
collects and analyzes official data on the subject.
Specific questions regarding the lawmaking procedure - on the development of draft bills or if certain proposal has already become a law, for instance
- are answered by specialized staff at the Lawmaking Procedure Helpdesk.
Press demands, in turn, can be directly forwarded to the Senate Press Relations Office.
Journalists must be previously accredited to work in Senate’s premises.
3 - Who are the senators?
The Senate is composed of 81 senators, 3 from each state and from the Federal District,
who are elected to serve for a term of 8 years. Senators are elected along with two alternate members,
who take office in case of vacancy resulting from the leaving of the incumbent.
Every four years, elections are held to choose new members of parliament. The renewal of representation occurs alternately, by one and two thirds.
There are senators who hold management positions within the institution, making up the Steering Committee.
The Senate president is usually the member of the Steering Committee best known to the population.
There are also leadership positions in political parties and blocs (groups of parties).
Some departments of the Senate provide specific contact channels:
Women’s Special Office of the Senate aims at
ensuring, monitoring and promoting women’s rights and it acts in order to empower the female gender.
The Observatory on Violence against Women, in turn, collects and analyzes official data on the subject.
Each senator has their own official web page, with key information regarding parliamentary business, such as proposals,
statements, matters reported as rapporteur, votes, participation in committees and missions.
In the senator's web page, there is also information on the spending of its office.
4 - Follow Senate sessions online
All Senate’s meetings, in committees or in the plenary, are broadcast and registered by means of audio, video and written records.
Sessions schedule is available at the Senate web site.
Sessions audio is broadcast by the Senate Radio and it remains available at the institution’s website.
The Senate TV broadcasts most of the legislative business live. The videos are filed on the Senate website and YouTube.
5 - Find out what happens in the Senate
Senate has its own news broadcast system,
which is divided into radio, TV, website and profiles on social networks.
The system covers Senate legislative business and broadcast them in real-time.
The Senate News Agency provides real-time news content on the Senate web site.
The daily material produced by Senate photographers
is also available on the internet. The Agency also releases
a newsletter to which it is possible to subscribe by e-mail.
Additionally, “Arquivo S”
are special reports on historical issues related to the Senate.
The programming of The Senate TV is related to culture and citizenship, in addition to broadcasting
Senate legislative business, both live and recorded. Besides being available on internet, copies of the videos broadcast by Senate TV may be requested by e-mail.
The Senate Radio broadcasts Brazilian popular music
and audios of Senate main legislative business. Senate Radio podcasts are available on major audio streaming services and platforms as well. Senate TV and
Radio broadcasts can be followed over the internet. Learn how to tune into Senate TV and Radio. Any radio station can
sign up to receive Senate Radio news for its own broadcast.
The Senate has profiles on the main social networks sites. In addition to information on legislation and citizenship, the official accounts on social network web sites release news about the Senate.
The Communication Handbook of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Federal Senate is available online for the entire population. Guidelines, principles and values for the Social Communication Secretariat are also available in English.Other services provided are: the Legislative Glossary, the Privacy Policy and the Terms of Use of Senate web site and its Social Networks accounts.
6 - Learning
The Senate offers online and face-to-face courses.
Face-to-face activities require some
criteria for enrollment, since there are physical space constraints. Courses are free of charge and available online
for all citizens. However, some of the classes are available on YouTube regardless of enrollment. Senate also has
graduate programs accredited by the Ministry of Education, which are available to public servants from the Chamber of Deputies,
the Federal Court of Accounts, the Chamber of Deputies of the Federal District and other partner agencies.
It also organizes workshops for municipal chambers and state legislative assemblies providing several kinds of training.
The website also provides information on how to become a Senate intern.
7 - Visit us
The Federal Senate building is located at the
Três Poderes Square where the headquarters of the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative Branches are placed.
The Senate building is open to the population
and it is possible to schedule guided tours online in Portuguese, English, Spanish, French or the Brazilian Sign Language.
It is also possible to take part in non-scheduled groups on weekends.
The building also hosts the Senate Museum,
which can be visited free of charge, and periodically holds cultural events that are open to the population.
To ensure accessibility, the Inclusive Senate Program makes available free of charge equipments and assisted access to visitors, in addition to provide publications in Braille.
It is possible to personally follow the Plenary sessions,Committees meetings, Public Hearings; it is only required to observe locations capacity,
to avoid overcrowding.
The Legislative Agenda provides the dates and times for all parliamentary meetings held by the Senate.
Committees meetings
and plenary sessions are, in full details, available on the internet.
8 - Search our collections and documents
The Senate has a comprehensive historical collection, including original documents of the Nation’s
founding pieces of legislation, such as the Lei Áurea [Golden Act], which abolished slavery in the country.
The entire content is available for general public consultation. It is possible to research the material available in the Senate’s Archives
by requests through online forms, e-mail or on-site.
The Senate Library also provides services to the public on-site, by e-mail and by phone.
It provides access to its online database for reference research of the collection,
which enables further consultation of the works on-site and the making of copies according to the legislation.
The Digital Library provides free access and download of thousands of works in digital format.
9 - Download for free or buy our Publications
The Senate issues a large number of publications regarding legislation, history and citizenship.
There are several ways to access them. Most books in the Senate Bookstore can be free downloaded from the internet.
All publications are sold at cost price.
Senate’s official publications are available in the website,
such as the annals and gazettes of the Senate and Congress, as well as legislative and budgetary studies,
magazines and publications for children.
10 - Learn all about laws and draft bills
All legislative information is available on the Senate website.
From the time a draft bill is submitted until it becomes law - or is filed - the history of Brazilian legislation is recorded by the Senate.
The Legislative Agenda provides the dates and
times for all parliamentary meetings held by the Senate. Committees
meetings and plenary sessions are available in full details on the internet, as well as the speeches (statements)
made by senators throughout the events.
The population can also monitor on the website how each member of parliament has voted, in the open ballot sector.
Moreover, the details of each draft legislation are also available online. The website of each bill has the draft legislation provided in full,
including the amendments proposed, the bodies in which it has already passed, where it still needs to be voted and information regarding
the name of its authors, rapporteurs and deadlines.
If one is interested in specific bills, it is possible to subscribe by e-mail for following up and stay on top of the whole law making procedure of the
subject via push or even subscribe to RSS.
The outcomes of all those activities are presented in reports:
Monthly reports of voting and debates; statistics of monthly legislative business
and Report of the Presidency.
The federal pieces of legislation are available on the website;
be it the Constitution, Senate Rules
of Order or other types of laws which can also be found through
the search system of legislation and case law.
The DataSenado, conceived to carry out opinion polls with the population,
presents the reports which release national surveys of public opinion
on topics under debate in the National Congress and the outcomes of surveys made through the website.
11 - Learn about the Federal Government Budget
Detailed information on the Federal Government Budget is available on the Senate website.
From the complete legislation
and studies carried out by Senate consultants up to Siga Brasil tool,
an information system providing easy access to the Financial Management System (SIAF, in the Portuguese acronym)
and other databases on public plans and budgets.
A video series called Orçamento Fácil (literally, Easy Budget) explains in plain language and with animation the importance of the public budget and how it is drafted in Brazil.
12 - Take part
Technology allows everyone to participate more and more actively in the country’s political life.
The e-Citizenship is a tool created for this purpose. Any citizen is entitled to submit their own legislative idea,
which may become a law; they can monitor and participate through the internet in debates taking place in
the Senate and give their opinion on the bill under consideration by the senators.
Every year the Senate awards 27 high school students
from public schools funded by the states, aged up to 19, in the scope of the Young Senator Program.
The students are selected in an essay
contest and brought to Brasília, where they can act as (young) senators, submitting and debating draft bills.
The draft bills can be further analyzed by the senators elected by the population and even become law.
13 - Transparency
As part of its commitment to transparency,
the Senate publishes on the internet information on the funds used by the
Senate executive department and the members of Parliament.
Information regarding the senators covers data about flight tickets,
travel subsistence allowance, subsidies, earnings, retirement pension and their offices spending.
As for the Senate administrative bodies,
information provided covers organizational chart with contact details of all its departments,
bulletins with internal rules and regulations, information on the
Senate strategic management, results of the Senate participation
in assessment processes of governance and management,
management reports,
information on the consumption of office supplies and on Parliament’s property, procurements
carried out, via ComprasNet System [an electronic procurement portal],
with access to the electronic procurements and instructions to suppliers in order to request the Certificate of Registration.
There is also information on all contracts made, separated under the headings “in force” and “closed”.
It is possible to search by the name of the contracted company, by the subject matter, and by workforce contracts.
Data on the minutes of price registration are also available.
The website provides information on the permanent public servants, the on-appointment public servants,
the ones who receive the survivor’s pension, interns, outsourced personnel, young apprentices and all data on civil service exams carried out by the Senate.
The Transparency website also provides the official statements based on the Budget Guidelines
Law and in compliance with the provisions of the Joint Ordinance No. 5, signed by the Federal Government
Budget Department (SOF, in the Portuguese acronym), the Federal Senate and the Federal Public Prosecution Office;
there are also available information on the Senate revenues, broken down by the financial fiscal year and information on daily expenses,
broken down by the topic and the expenditure flow; reports on supplies granted and the expenditure executed with supplies, broken down by fiscal year, and report containing information on the Senate’s
budget implementation, broken down by four-month periods,
in compliance with articles 54 and 55 of the Tax Liability Law (Supplementary Law No. 101/2000), in addition to reports on open data.
All available pieces of legislation on transparency within the public services is organized on the website,
in addition to the yearly report and monthly reports of the Access to Information Act.
In order to make it easier for citizens to search for information,
a set of frequently asked questions related to the transparency
content and a handbook of the Legislative Transparency Index were organized in a format to be applied by the whole society.
The minutes of the meetings and other information on
the Transparency and Social Control Council of the Senate are also available on
the website, as well as the panels containing reports on Senate cost savings.
Contact
0800 0 61 2211
Letter
Talk to the Senate
Senado Federal - Via N2
Anexo D BL 4
CEP: 70165-900