Direitos sociais nos Legislativos municipais: um estudo de caso na Câmara Municipal de São Borja-RS

Abstract

This research sought to understand the role of the municipal legislative power in the formulation of social rights. To accomplish this, a literature review was carried out in Political Science articles from A1 journal, with the following themes: municipal autonomy, social rights in municipalities and municipal legislative power. When analyzing thirty-eight articles, were several limits noticed for the City Council to draft laws, considering the concentration of financial power and the broad atribution of legislative power by the Union. It was found that municipalities are responsible for implementing most social policies, but not for formulating them. Despite these limits imposed by the constitutional system, municipalities can carry out relevant policies to combat poverty by realizing the greatest limitations of citzens in social vulnerability. They can also act directly to increase the supply of work and income, fulfilling people's vocation and coordinating support groups to carry out work according to market demands. Finally, an analysis was made of all the legislation approved by the municipality of São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul, compared to the studied literature. It concluded that it was necessary to analyze the legislative agenda in a broad way, in a large number of municipalities and in several years, in order to assess the commitment of the legislature to the objectives of the Constitution, in a given period.