First Meeting of the International Legislative Modernization Working Group

Last week, POPVOX Foundation held the first meeting of its International Legislative Modernization Working Group, an initiative that promotes the exchange of experiences and insights about modernization efforts across the globe. Participants who work in the legislatures of Brazil, Ghana, Mexico, Portugal, and the United States presented recent legislative modernizing initiatives from their countries and identified opportunities for cross-country experience sharing.

The meeting helped the POPVOX Foundation team identify a continuum of issues that will be discussed in the future, as the group will continue to meet monthly from now on. Topics discussed ranged from civil service and staff training to leveraging technology within the legislative process. A summary of each country’s presentation can be found below.

As highlighted by one of the participants, “modernization” is an alluring word often equated only with the adoption of technology. However, technology by itself is no silver bullet. POPVOX Foundation’s goal with the International Legislative Modernization Working Group is to help legislative staffers think about how to change existing practices with the help of technology, which includes bringing legislatures and legislators closer to citizens.

Stay tuned for more posts on modernization experiences from these countries and notes from future meetings!

Brazil

Brazil’s bicameral Congress has led the transition from in-person to remote floor operation since the COVID-19 pandemic – it was the first legislature to fully implement a remote deliberation system. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate also implemented civil service reforms 50 years ago, creating stable careers for professionals supporting the legislative process.

Ghana

Ghana’s unicameral Parliament also took advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to digitize its legislative process. Indeed, the pandemic served as a catalyst for reducing the resistance to technology among legislators. The legislature is now interested in further expanding this effort, which includes changing existing rules to fully accommodate remote and digitized legislative practices. It has also developed a system to register the attendance of legislators. Finally, the legislature has been creating a stakeholder database so that legislative staff and legislators are able to reach out to constituents and other groups that are in touch with Parliament.

Mexico

Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies has recently invested in two main initiatives. First, since 2018, it has worked to implement a 20-year old civil service career reform program. So far, the legislature has about 100 civil servants working at Centros de Estudio (similar to the United States’ Congressional Research Services). The Chamber now wants to further equip the Centros de Estudio to better assist legislators. Second, it has developed a new webpage called Portal Ciudadano. The webpage helps citizens understand the functioning of the Chamber and get in touch with their representatives.

Portugal

Portugal’s unicameral Parliament has transitioned to a fully digitalized legislative process. The legislature has also invested in transparency at all stages of the legislative process, including various bills being available online. More recently, the Portuguese Parliament is adapting its internal rulebook to accommodate remote legislative work (which was also initiated at the time of the pandemic). Finally, the legislature has invested in drafting technical notes related to each bill, such as the ones that assess the impact of bills in terms of gender.

United States

Several aspects of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress experience were highlighted at the meeting, including the bipartisan nature of committee membership, composed equally of Democrats and Republicans. Further, the majority requirement to pass recommendations (8 out of 12 votes) was also emphasized as it fostered unanimous decisions. Indeed, the Committee's work on civility and collaboration was at the center of the meeting’s discussion. Finally, its contributions to the institution more broadly, such as the creation of the House Digital Service (a digital modernization effort charged with using technology to improve how lawmakers work and interact with their constituents) and the Congressional Staff Academy (which offers courses for House staff and interns on a variety of topics).