TITLE III. OF THE LEGISLATIVE POWER
CHAPTER I. OF ITS CONFORMATION
Article 76. Composition of Congress
The Legislative Power is exercised in the name of the people by the National Congress, formed by the Senate of the Republic and the Chamber of Deputies.
Article 77. Election of the legislators [feminine and masculine]
The election of senators and deputies shall be by direct universal suffrage in the terms established by the law.
- When for any reason vacancies of senators or deputies occur, the corresponding chamber will choose their substitute from a terna [list of three names] presented to it by the superior organism of the party that nominated them;
- The terna will be submitted to the chamber where the vacancy occurred within the thirty days following its occurrence, if the Congress is meeting and, in case this is not so, within the first thirty days of its meeting. After the specified time without the competent organ of the party having submitted the terna, the corresponding chamber will make the election;
- The offices of senator and deputy are incompatible with another public function or employment, except for teaching. The law regulates the regime of other incompatibilities;
- The [feminine and masculine] senators and deputies are not bound by imperative mandate, they always act with attachment to the sacred duty of representation of the people who elected them, before whom they must render account.
SECTION I. OF THE SENATE
Article 78. Composition of the Senate
The Senate is composed of members elected on the basis of one per each province and one for the National District, with an exercise term lasting four years.
Article 79. Requirements to be a senator [masculine] or senator [feminine]
To be a senator [feminine] or senator [masculine] it is required to be Dominican [feminine] of Dominican [masculine] in full exercise of their civil and political rights, to have turned twenty-five years of age, to be a native of the territorial demarcation that elected them or having resided in it for at least five consecutive years. In consequence:
- The senators [feminine] and the senators [masculine] elected by a demarcation will reside therein during the period for which they are elected;
- Naturalized persons can only be elected to the Senate ten years after having acquired the Dominican nationality, provided they have resided in the jurisdiction that elects them during the five years that precede their election.
Article 80. Attributions
The exclusive attributions of the Senate are:
- To take cognizance of the accusations formulated by the Chamber of Deputies against the [feminine and masculine] public officials specified in Article 83, numeral 1. The declaration of culpability removes the person from their office, and they may not perform any public function, whether or not of popular election, for a time of ten years. The removed person shall be subject, if that is the case, to be accused and tried by the ordinary tribunals, in accordance with the law. This decision will be adopted with the vote of the two-thirds part of the registry of members;
- To approve or disapprove the appointments of ambassadors and heads of permanent missions accredited abroad that the President of the Republic submits to it;
- To elect the members of the Chamber of Accounts from the ternas presented by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of the two-thirds part of the senators present;
- To elect the members of the Central Electoral Board and their substitutes, with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present;
- To elect the Defender of the People, his substitutes and his adjuncts, from the ternas presented by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of the two-thirds part of those present;
- To authorize, on prior request of the President of the Republic, in the absence of an agreement that permits it, the presence of foreign troops on military exercises within the territory of the Republic, as well to determine the time and conditions of their stay;
- To approve or disapprove the sending of troops abroad for missions of peace authorized by international organs, establishing the conditions and duration of such mission.
SECTION II. OF THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
Article 81. Representation and composition
The Chamber of Deputies will be composed in the following manner:
- One hundred seventy-eight deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected by territorial circumscription in representation of the National District and the provinces, distributed in proportion to the population density, but in no case less than two representatives for each province;
- Five deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected at a national level by accumulation of votes, preferably from parties, alliances or coalitions that did not obtain seats and that have reached no less than one percent (1%) of the votes validly emitted. The law will determine their distribution;
- Seven deputies [feminine] or deputies [masculine] elected in representation of the Dominican community abroad. The law will determine their form of election and distribution.
Article 82. Requirements to be a deputy [feminine] or deputy [masculine]
To be a deputy [feminine] or deputy [masculine] the same conditions to be a Senator are required.
Article 83. Attributions
The exclusive attributions of the Chamber of Deputies are:
- To accuse before the Senate the public functionaries [feminine and masculine] elected by popular vote, and those elected by the Senate and by the National Council of the Magistrature, for the commission a grave faults while in exercise of their functions. The accusation can only be formulated with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of the registry of members. When it concerns the President and the Vice President of the Republic, the favorable vote of the three-fourths part of the registry of members will be required. The accused person will remain suspended in their functions from the moment the Chamber declares the accusation as valid;
- To submit to the Senate the ternas for the election of the members of the Chamber of Accounts with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of those present;
- To submit to the Senate the ternas for the Defender of the People, his or her substitutes, which cannot be more than two, and the adjuncts, which cannot be more than five, with the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of those present.
CHAPTER II. OF PROVISIONS COMMON TO BOTH CHAMBERS
Article 84. Quorum of the sessions
The presence of more than half of its members for the validity of the deliberations is necessary in each chamber. The decisions are adopted by an absolute majority of votes, except those previously declared cases of urgency, which, in their second discussion, will be decided by the two-thirds part of those present.
Article 85. Immunity for opinion
The members of both chambers enjoy immunity for the opinions expressed in the sessions.
Article 86. Protection of the legislative function
No senator or deputy shall be deprived of their freedom during the legislature, without the authorization of the chamber to which they belong, except in the case of being apprehended at the moment of the commission of a crime.
If a legislator [masculine] or legislator [feminine] has been arrested, detained or deprived of their freedom in any form, the chamber to which they belongs, whether in session or not, and including one of its members, may require their release to freedom for the time of the duration of the legislature. To such effect, the President of the Senate or of the Chamber of Deputies, or a senator or deputy, as the case may be, will make a request to the Procurator General of the Republic and, if necessary, will give the order of release directly, by which all of the support of the public force may be required and must be provided.
Article 87. Scope and limits of the immunity
The parliamentary immunity consecrated in the previous Article does not constitute a personal privilege of the legislator, but instead a prerogative of the chamber to which they belong and it does not prevent the initiation of the actions that proceed by law after the cessation of the congressional mandate. When the chamber receives a request from the competent judicial authority, with the goal of having the protection of one of its members removed, it shall proceed in accordance with what is established in its internal regulations and will decide to that effect within the maximum time of two months from the remission of the requirement.
Article 88. Loss of investiture
The legislators [feminine and masculine] must attend the sessions of the legislature and submit themselves to the regime of disabilities and incompatibilities in the form and terms defined in this Constitution and in the internal regulations of the corresponding legislative chamber. Those who do not comply with the aforementioned will lose their investiture, after prior political trial in accordance with the norms instituted by this Constitution and the regulations, and will not be able to opt for a position in the National Congress within the ten years following their destitution.
Article 89. Duration of the legislatures
The chambers will meet in ordinary form on February 27th and August 16th of each year. Each legislature will last one hundred and fifty days. The Executive Power can convoke them in an extraordinary form.
Article 90. Directive Bureaus of the chambers
On August 16th of each year the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall elect their respective directive Bureaus, integrated by a president, a vice-president and two secretaries.
- The President of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies will have, during the sessions, disciplinary powers and will represent their respective chambers in all legal acts;
- Each chamber will designate its functionaries, and administrative and auxiliary employees in accordance with the Law of the Administrative Career of the National Congress;
- Each chamber shall regulate what concerns its interior service and the execution of the matters that are peculiar to it, and may, in use of its disciplinary faculties, establish the corresponding sanctions.
Article 91. Rendition of accounts of the presidents
The presidents of both chambers must convoke their respective plenaries during the first week of the month of August of each year, to render a report concerning the legislative, administrative and financial activities undertaken during the preceding period.
Article 92. Rendition of accounts of the legislators
The legislators must render every year a report of their activities before the voters that they represent.
CHAPTER III. OF THE ATTRIBUTIONS OF THE NATIONAL CONGRESS
Article 93. Attributions
The National Congress legislates and supervises in representation of the people, and as a consequence it corresponds to it:
- General attributions in legislative matters:
- To establish the general taxes, tributes or contributions and to determine the mode of their collection and investment;
- To take cognizance of the observations made by the Executive Power concerning the laws;
- To provide for all matters concerning the conservation of monuments and the historical, cultural and artistic patrimony;
- To create, modify or suppress regions, provinces, municipalities, municipal districts, sections and sites and determine all matters concerning their limits and organization, by the procedure regulated in this Constitution and with previous study that establishes the justified political, social and economic desirability of the modification;
- To authorize the President of the Republic to declare the states of exception to which this Constitution refers;
- In case the national sovereignty is found exposed to a grave and imminent danger, the Congress can declare that a state of national defense exists, suspending the exercise of the individual rights, with exception of the rights established in Article 263. If the Congress is not meeting, the President of the Republic can dictate the same provision, which shall entail an immediate convocation thereof to be informed of the events and the provisions taken;
- To establish the norms concerning the matters of immigration and the regime of foreigners;
- To increase or to decrease the number of courts of appeal and to create or suppress tribunals and also provide for all matters related to their organization and competence, with previous consultation of the Supreme Court of Justice;
- To vote annually the Law of the General Budget of the State, as well as to approve or to reject the extraordinary expenses for which the Executive Power solicits a credit from it;
- To legislate concerning the public debt and to approve or to disapprove the credits and loans signed by the Executive Power, in accordance with this Constitution and the laws;
- To approve or disapprove the contracts submitted to it by the President of the Republic, in accordance with what is established in Article 128, numeral 2), literal d), as well as the subsequent amendments or modifications that alter the conditions originally established in such contracts at the moment of their legislative sanction;
- To approve or to disapprove the international treaties and conventions subscribed by the Executive Power;
- To declare by law the necessity for a Constitutional Reform;
- To grant honors to distinguished citizens [feminine] and to citizens [masculine] who have rendered recognized services for the Country or for the humanity;
- To concede authorization to the President of the Republic to travel abroad when it is for more than fifteen days;
- To decide the transfer of the seat of the legislative chambers due to causes of force majeure or for other duly motivated circumstances;
- To grant amnesty for political causes;
- To legislate concerning any matter that is not within the competence of another power of the State and that is not contrary to the Constitution;
- To pronounce through resolutions concerning the problems or the situations of national or international order which are of interest for the Republic.
- Attributions in the matters of supervision and control:
- To approve or reject the state of collection and investment of the income that must be presented to it by the Executive Power during the first ordinary legislature of each year, taking as a base the report of the Chamber of Accounts;
- To see to the conservation and fruition of the national assets in benefit of society and to approve or to reject the transfer of the assets of private domain of the Nation, except as provided in Article 128, numeral 2, literal d);
- To summon ministers, vice-ministers, directors or administrators of autonomous and decentralized organs of the State before the permanent commissions of the Congress, to edify them concerning the budget execution and the acts of their administration;
- To annually review all acts of the Executive Power and approve them, if they are adjusted to the Constitution and to the laws;
- To appoint the permanent and special commissions, at the request of its members, to investigate any matter that results of public interest, and submit the corresponding report;
- To supervise all the public policies implemented by the government and its autonomous and decentralized institutions, regardless of their nature and scope.
Article 94. Invitations of the chambers
The legislative chambers, as well as the permanent and special commissions that they constitute, may invite ministers, vice-ministers, directors and other functionaries [masculine] and functionaries [feminine] of the Public Administration, as well as any physical or juridical person, to provide relevant information concerning the matters for which they are empowered.
Paragraph
The refusal of the people summoned to appear or to make the required statements, will be sanctioned by the penal tribunals of the Republic with the penalty provided by the current legal provisions for the cases of contempt of the public authorities, upon request from the corresponding chamber.
Article 95. Interpellations
To interpellate ministers and vice-ministers, the Governor of the Central Bank and the directors or administrators of autonomous and decentralized organs of the State, as well as those of entities that administer public funds concerning matters within their competence, when agreed to by the majority of the members present, at the request of at least three legislators, as well as to collect information from other public functionaries competent in the matter and dependent on the aforementioned.
Paragraph
If the cited functionary [masculine] or functionary [feminine] does not appear without justified cause or their statements are considered unsatisfactory, the chambers, with a vote of the two-thirds part of the members present, can emit a vote of censure against them and recommend their removal from the office to the President of the Republic or to the corresponding superior hierarchy for breach of a responsibility.
CHAPTER IV. OF THE FORMATION AND EFFECT OF THE LAWS
Article 96. Initiative of the law
The following have the right of initiative in the formation of the laws:
- The senators [masculine] or senators [feminine] and the deputies [masculine] and the deputies [feminine];
- The President of the Republic;
- The Supreme Court of Justice in judicial matters;
- The Central Electoral Board in electoral matters.
Paragraph
The legislators [feminine and masculine] that exercise the right of initiative in the formulation of the laws, can sustain their motion in the other chamber. In equal manner, the others that have this right can do so in both chambers personally or through a representative.
Article 97. Popular legislative initiative
The popular legislative initiative is established, through which a number of citizens [masculine] and citizens [feminine] not less than two percent (2%) of those inscribed in the registry of electors, may present Bills of law before the National Congress. A special law shall establish the procedure and the restrictions for the exercise of this initiative.
Article 98. Legislative discussions
All Bills of law admitted in one of the chambers will be submitted to two different discussions, with an interval of at least one day between one and the other discussion. In case of being previously declared of urgency it shall be discussed in two consecutive sessions.
Article 99. Procedure between the chambers
With the Bill of law approved in one of the chambers, it will be passed to the other for its timely discussion, observing the same constitutional formalities. If this chamber makes modifications, it will return the modified Bill to the chamber where it was initiated, in order for it to take cognizance of it again in a unique discussion and, if such modifications are accepted, this last chamber will send the law to the Executive Power. If they are rejected, the Bill will be returned to the other chamber and if this one approves them, it will send the Bill to the Executive Power. If the modifications are rejected, the Bill is considered rejected.
Article 100. Effects of extraordinary convocations
The extraordinary convocation conducted by the Executive Power to the legislative chambers will not cause effects for the purposes of the preemption of the pending Bills of law.
Article 101. Promulgation and publication
Any law approved in both chambers will be sent to the Executive Power for its promulgation or observation. If it does not make observations of it, it will promulgate the law within ten days of receiving it, if the matter was not declared of urgency, in which case it will be promulgated within five days of receipt, and will publish it within ten days from the date of the promulgation. Once the constitutional deadline for the promulgation and publication of the laws sanctioned by the National Congress has expired, they will be deemed promulgated and the President of the chamber that had remitted them to the Executive Power will publish them.
Article 102. Observation of the law
If the Executive Power makes observations of the law that was sent to it, it will return it to the chamber from which it came within a time of ten days, to be counted from the date it was received. If the matter was declared of urgency, it will make its observations within the time of five days from being received. The Executive Power shall submit its observations indicating the Articles on which they fall and stating the reasons that motivate the observations. The chamber that received the observations will include them in the agenda of the next session and will discuss the law again in one reading. If after this discussion, the two-thirds part of the members present of this chamber approves them again, it will be sent to the other chamber; if this one approves them with an equal majority, it will be considered law definitively and will be promulgated and published in the terms established in Article 101.
Article 103. Time to take cognizance of the observations of the Executive Power
All laws observed by the Executive Power to the National Congress have a time of two ordinary legislatures to be decided, otherwise the observation will be considered accepted.
Article 104. Validity of a Bill of law
The Bills of law that are left pending in one of the two chambers at the closing of the ordinary legislature, without prejudice to what is established in Article 100, will follow the constitutional procedures in the following legislature, until being converted into law or rejected. When it does not occur this way, the Bill will be considered as not initiated.
Article 105. Inclusion in the agenda
All Bills of law received in one chamber, after being approved in the other, will be included in the agenda of the first session to be held.
Article 106. Extension of the legislatures
When a Bill of law is sent to the President of the Republic for its promulgation and the remainder of the term of the legislature is less than what is established in Article 102 to make observations of it, the legislature will remain open to take cognizance of the observations, or the procedure will be continued in the next legislature without prejudice to what is set forth in Article 103.
Article 107. Rejected Bill of law
The Bills of law rejected in one chamber cannot be presented in either of the two chambers until the following legislature.
Article 108. Headings of the laws
The laws and bicameral resolutions will be headed in this manner: “The National Congress. In name of the Republic”.
Article 109. Entry into force of the laws
The laws, after being promulgated, will be published in the form determined by the law and will be given the widest possible dissemination. They shall be obligatory once the time has elapsed for them to be known throughout the national territory.
Article 110. Non-retroactivity of the law
The law only provides for and is applied for the future. It has no retroactive effect except when it is favorable to the one who is undergoing trial or serving sentence. In no case may the public powers or the law affect or alter the judicial security derived from the situations established in accordance with previous legislation.
Article 111. Laws of public order
The laws concerning public order, police and security, obligate all the inhabitants of the territory and cannot be derogated by specific conventions.
Article 112. Organic laws
The organic laws are those that by their nature regulate the fundamental rights; the structure and organization of the public powers; the public function; the electoral regime; the economic and financial regime; the public budget, planning and investment; the territorial organization; the constitutional procedures; the security and defense; and the matters expressly referred to by the Constitution and others of similar nature. For their approval or modification will require the favorable vote of the two-thirds part of those present in both chambers.
Article 113. Ordinary laws
The ordinary laws are those that by their nature require for their approval the absolute majority of the votes of those present in each chamber.
CHAPTER V. OF THE RENDITION OF ACCOUNTS TO CONGRESS
Article 114. Rendition of accounts of the President of the Republic
It is the responsibility of the President of the Republic to render accounts annually, before the National Congress, of the budgetary, financial and management administration that occurred in the previous year, according to that established by Article 128, numeral 2, literal f) of this Constitution, accompanied by an explanatory message of the macroeconomic and fiscal projections, the economic, financial and social results expected and the principal priorities that the government proposes to execute within the Law of the General Budget of the State approved for the current year.
Article 115. Regulation of the procedures of control and supervision
The law shall regulate the procedures required by the legislative chambers for the examination of the reports of the Chamber of Accounts, the examination of the acts of the Executive Power, the invitations, the interpellations, the political trial and the other mechanisms of control established by this Constitution.
Article 116. Rendition of the report of the Defender of the People
The Defender of the People shall render to the National Congress an annual report of his administration, not later than thirty days before the end of the first ordinary legislature.
CHAPTER VI. OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND OF THE JOINT MEETING OF BOTH CHAMBERS
Article 117. Conformation of the National Assembly
The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies will celebrate their sessions in a separate form, except when they meet in the National Assembly.
Article 118. Quorum of the National Assembly
The chambers will meet in National Assembly in the cases indicated in this Constitution, when more than half of the members of each chamber must be present. Their decisions will be taken by an absolute majority of votes, except when convoked to reform the Constitution.
Article 119. Directive Bureau of the National Assembly
The National Assembly or the Joint Meeting of both chambers will be governed by its regulation of organization and functioning. In both cases, the President of the Senate will assume the presidency; the President of the Chamber of Deputies the vice-presidency, and the secretaries of each chamber, the secretariat.
In case of a temporary or definitive absence of the [feminine or masculine] President of the Senate and while a substitute has not been elected by that Legislative Chamber, the President [feminine] or President [masculine] of the Chamber of Deputies will preside over the National Assembly or the Joint Meeting,
In case of temporary or definitive absence of the President [feminine] or President [masculine] of both chambers, the Vice-President [feminine] or Vice-President [masculine] of the Senate and, in their default, the Vice-President [feminine] or Vice-President [masculine] of the Chamber of Deputies, will preside over the National Assembly or Joint Meeting.
Article 120. Attributions of the National Assembly
It corresponds to the National Assembly:
- To take cognizance of and to decide concerning the constitutional reforms, acting in this case, as a Revisory National Assembly;
- To examine the records of election of the President [feminine] or President [masculine] and of the Vice-President [feminine] or Vice-President [masculine] of the Republic;
- To proclaim the [feminine or masculine] President and Vice-President of the Republic, to receive their oaths or to accept or to reject their renunciations;
- To exercise the faculties that this Constitution and the organic regulation confers on it.
Article 121. Joint Meeting of the chambers
The chambers will meet jointly for the following cases:
- To receive the message and the rendition of accounts of the [feminine or masculine] President of the Republic and the reports of the ministries;
- To celebrate commemorative acts or acts of protocol nature.
