Title III. On the Legislative Power
Chapter I. On its formation
Article 76. The 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 male and female legislators
The election of senators and deputies shall be made by universal direct suffrage by the terms established by law.
- When for any reason vacancies of senators of deputies occur, the corresponding chamber shall select its substitute from the shortlist presented to it by the superior body of the party that nominated them.
- The shortlist shall be submitted to the chamber where the vacancy was produced within the thirty days following its occurrence, if the Congress was meeting and, in the case that it was not, within the first thirty days of its meeting. If the indicated time passes without the appropriate body of the party having submitted the shortlist, the corresponding chamber shall make the choice.
- The offices of senator and deputy are incompatible with other offices or public employment, except for work as a teacher. The law shall regulate the regimen of other incompatibilities.
- The male and female senators and deputies are not tied by imperative order, they always act in adherence to the sacred duty of representation of the people that elected them, to whom they must be accountable.
Section I. On the Senate
Article 78. Composition of the Senate
The Senate is composed of elected members, one for each province and one for the National District, who shall exercise their role for four years.
Article 79. Requirements for being a male or female senator
In order to be a male or female senator one is required to be a male or female Dominican in full exercise of civil and political rights, to have reached twenty-five years of age, to be a native of the territory that elects him or to have resided in it for at least five consecutive years. Consequently:
- The male and female senators elected for a territory shall reside in the same during the period for which they are elected.
- Naturalized persons may only be elected to the Senate ten years after having acquired Dominican nationality, always having resided in the jurisdiction that elect them during the five years that precede their election.
Article 80. Powers
The exclusive powers of the Senate are:
- To be familiar with the accusations made by the Chamber of Deputies against the public officials designated in Article 83, section 1. The declaration of culpability leaves the person stripped of their office, and may not exercise any public office, whether or not by popular election, for a term of ten years. The person so stripped shall remain subject, if that is the case, to be accused and judged before the ordinary courts, in accordance with the law. This decision shall be adopted with the vote of two thirds of the membership.
- To approve or disapprove the appointments of ambassadors and heads of permanent authorized missions abroad that are submitted by the President of the Republic.
- To choose the members of the Chamber of Accounts from the shortlists presented by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of two thirds of the senators present.
- To choose members of the Central Electoral board and their substitutes, with the vote of two thirds of those present
- To choose the Defender of the People, his substitutes and his adjuncts, from the shortlists presented to them by the Chamber of Deputies, with the vote of two thirds of those present.
- To authorize, at the request of the President of the Republic, in the absence of a convention that permits him, the presence of foreign troops in military exercises in the territory of the Republic, as well as to determine the time period and the conditions of their stay.
- To approve or disapprove the sending of troops on missions of peace abroad, authorized by international bodies, fixing the conditions and duration of said mission.
Section II. On the Chamber of Deputies
Article 81. Representation and composition
The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed in the following manner:
- One hundred and seventy-eight male or female deputies elected by territorial constituencies in representation of the National District and the provinces, distributed in proportion to the population density, with their being at least two representatives for each province in all cases.
- Five male or female deputies elected at the national level by an accumulation of votes, preferably from parties, alliances, or coalitions that have not obtained seats and have achieved no less than one percent (1%) of the valid votes cast. The law shall determine their distribution.
- Seven male or female deputies elected in representation of the Dominican community abroad. The law shall determine their form of election and distribution.
Article 82. Requirements for being a male or female deputy
In order to be a male or female deputy one must meet the same requirements as to be a senator.
Article 83. Powers
The exclusive powers of the Chamber of Deputies are:
- To accuse before the Senate public officials elected by popular vote, those elected by the Senate and by the National Counsel of the Magistrature for the commission of serious wrongs in the exercise of the offices. The accusation may only be made with the favorable vote of two thirds of the membership. When they are about the President and the Vice President of the Republic, they shall require the favorable vote of three quarters of the membership. The accused person shall have their office suspended from the moment in which the Chamber declares that the accusation has been made.
- To submit to the Senate the shortlists for the election of the members of the Chamber of Accounts with the favorable vote of two thirds of those present.
- To submit to the Senate the shortlists for the Defender of the People, their substitutes, of which there cannot be more than two, and the adjuncts, of which there may not be more than five, with the favorable vote of two thirds of those present.
Chapter II. On the Common Provisions of Both Chambers
Article 84. Quorum of sessions
In each chamber the presence of more than half of the members is necessary for the validity of the deliberations. The decisions are adopted by the absolute majority of votes, except the issues previously declared to be urgent, which in their second discussion shall be decided by two thirds of those present.
Article 85. Immunity for opinion
The members of both chambers shall enjoy immunity for the opinions that they express in the sessions.
Article 86. Protection of the legislative function
No senator or deputy may be deprived of his liberty during the legislature, without the authorization of the chamber to which he belongs, except in the case that he is apprehended in the act of committing a crime.
If a male or female legislator has been arrested, detained, or deprived in any other form of his or her liberty, the chamber to which he or she belongs, whether or not it is in session, and including one of its members, shall demand his freedom for the duration of the legislature. To this effect, the President of the Senate or of the Chamber of Deputies or a senator or deputy, according to the case, shall make a request to the Attorney General of the Republic and, if it is necessary, shall give the order to free him directly, for which all the support of the public force may be required and should be given to him.
Article 87. Reach and limits of immunity
Parliamentary immunity authorized in the previous article does not constitute a personal privilege of the legislator, but rather a prerogative of the chamber to which he belongs and does not stand in the way of the initiation of actions that proceed by law at the end of the congressional mandate. When the chamber receives a request from an appropriate judicial authority, with the goal of removing the protection of one of its members, it shall proceed in accordance with that established by its internal rules and shall decide to that effect within a maximum period of two months from the issuance of the request.
Article 88. Loss of investiture
Male and female legislators should attend the sessions of the legislatures and submit themselves to the rule of ineligibility and conflict of interest in the form and terms that the present Constitution and the internal regulations of the corresponding legislative chamber define. Those who do not comply with the preceding shall lose their investiture given political trial in accordance with the norms instituted by this Constitution and the regulations and may not run for a position in the National Congress within the ten years following his dismissal.
Article 89. Duration of the legislatures
The Chambers shall meet in ordinary form the 27th of February and the 16th of August of each year. Each legislature shall last one hundred and fifty days. The Executive Power shall be able to convoke them in an extraordinary manner.
Article 90. Directive offices of the chambers
On the 16th of August of each year the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall elect their respective directive offices, formed by a president, a vice president and two secretaries.
- The President of the Senate and of the Chamber of Deputies shall have, during the sessions, disciplinary powers and shall represent their respective chamber in all legal acts.
- Each chamber shall designate its officials, administrative employees, and assistants in accordance with the Law of the Administrative Civil Servants of the National Congress.
- Each chamber shall regulate that concerning its internal service and the handling of issues particular to it, and may, in the use of its disciplinary abilities, establish the sanctions that follow.
Article 91. Rendition of accounts of the presidents
The presidents of both chambers shall convoke their respective plenaries the first week of the month of August of every year, in order to give them a report on the legislative, administrative, and financial activities realized during the preceding period.
Article 92. Rendition of accounts of the legislators
The legislators shall render each year a report on their administration before the electors that they represent.
Chapter III. On the Powers of the National Congress
Article 93. Powers
The National Congress legislates and supervises in representation of the people. Consequently, it corresponds to it:
- General powers in legislative matters:
- To establish the taxes, tributes, or general contributions and to determine the means of their collection and investment;
- To be familiar with the observations that the Executive Power makes on the laws;
- To provide for all that concerns the conservation of monuments and the historical, cultural, and artistic patrimony;
- To create, modify or eliminate regions, provinces, municipalities, municipal districts, sections and expanses and to determine all that concerns their borders and organization, by the procedure regulated in this Constitution and given study that demonstrates the political, social, and economic advantages that justify the modification;
- To authorize the President of the Republic to declare the states of exception that this Constitution describes;
- In the case that the national sovereignty finds itself exposed to a grave and imminent danger, the Congress may declare that a state of national defense exists, suspending the exercise of individual rights with the exception of the rights established in article 263. If the Congress is not meeting, the President of the Republic may dictate the same provision, which will bring with it an immediate convocation of the same so it may be informed of the events and of the provisions taken;
- To establish the norms relative to migration and the rules on foreigners;
- To increase or reduce the number of appellate courts and to create or eliminate courts and to provide for all that is related to their organization and competence, given consultation with the Supreme Court of Justice;
- To vote annually on the Law of the General Budget of the State, as well as to approve or reject the extraordinary expenses for which the Executive Power solicits credit;
- To legislate on that which concerns the public debt and to approve or disapprove the credit and loans signed by the Executive Power, in accordance with this Constitution and the law;
- To approve or disapprove contracts submitted to it by the President of the Republic, in accordance with that provided by Article 128, number 2, section d, as well as the later corrections or modifications that alter the conditions originally established in the specified contracts at the time of their legislative authorization;
- To approve or disapprove the international treaties and conventions that the Executive Power endorses;
- To declare by law the necessity of Constitutional Reform;
- To grant honors to distinguished male and female citizens who have given recognized service to the nation or to humanity;
- To grant authorization to the President of the Republic to travel abroad when it is for more than fifteen days;
- To decide on the movement of the seat of the legislative chamber because of force majeure or because of other duly motivated circumstances;
- To grant amnesty for political reasons;
- To legislate on all matters that are not the realm of another power of the State and that are not in opposition to the Constitution;
- To declare itself through resolutions about problems or situations on a national or international level that are of interest for the Republic.
- Powers in matters of supervision and control:
- To approve or reject that state of collection and investment of the income that the Executive Power should present it during the first ordinary legislature of each year, taking as a base the report of the Chamber of Accounts;
- To safeguard the conservation and fruition of the national assets in benefit of society and to approve or reject the transfer of title of the assets of private domain of the Nation, except as provided for by Article 128, number 2, section d;
- To summon ministers, vice ministers, directors or administrators of autonomous and decentralized bodies of the State before the permanent commissions of Congress to edify them about the budgetary execution and the acts of their administration;
- To annually examine all the acts of the Executive Power and to approve them if they match with the Constitution and the law;
- To appoint permanent and special commissions, at the request of its members, so they may investigate whatever matter is of the public interest and render a corresponding report;
- To supervise all the public policies that the government and its autonomous and decentralized institutions implement, no matter their nature and reach.
Article 94. Invitations to the Chambers
The legislative chambers, as well as the permanent and special commissions that they create, may invite ministers, vice ministers, directors, and other male and female officials of the Public Administration, as well as any physical or juridical person to offer pertinent information about the matters over which they have power.
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The unwillingness of the summoned people to appear or to render the required declarations, shall be sanctioned by the criminal courts of the Republic, with the penalty provided for by the legal provisions in force for cases of contempt of public authority, at the request of the appropriate chamber.
Article 95. Questionings
To question ministers and vice ministers, the Governor of the Central Bank and the directors or administrators of autonomous and decentralized bodies of the State, as well as those from entities that administer public funds about matters of their competence, when agreed to by the majority of the present members, at the request of at least three legislators, as well as to gather information from other public functionaries that are competent in the subject and dependents of those previously specified.
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If the male or female official summoned does not appear without a justifiable reason or his or her declarations are considered unsatisfactory, the chambers, with the vote of two thirds of their present members, may emit a vote of censure against him or her and recommend his or her dismissal from office to the President of the Republic or to the appropriate hierarchical superior for breach of responsibility.
Chapter IV. On the Formation and Effect of the Laws
Article 96. Initiative of law
They have the right to initiative in the formation of the laws:
- Male or female senators and male and female deputies
- The President of the Republic
- The Supreme Court of Justice in judicial matters
- The Central Electoral Board in electoral matters
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Male and female legislators who exercise the right to initiative in the formation of the laws, may sustain their motion in the other chamber. In the same manner, the others that have this right may make it in both chambers personally or through a representative.
Article 97. Popular legislative initiative
The popular legislative initiative is established through which a number of male and female citizens no less than two percent (2%) of those registered in the registry of electors, may present projects 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 projects of law admitted in one of the chambers shall be submitted to two different discussions with an interval of one day at least between one and the other discussion. In the case that it was already declared of urgency it must be discussed in two consecutive sessions.
Article 99. Procedure between the chambers
Once a project of law has been approved in one of the chambers, it shall pass to the other for its opportune discussion, observing the same constitutional formalities. If this chamber makes changes to it, it shall return said modified project to the chamber where it began, to be made known again in unique discussion and, if said modifications are accepted, this last chamber shall send the law to the Executive Power. If they are rejected, the project shall be returned to the other chamber, and if it approves it, it shall send the law to the Executive Power. If the modifications are rejected, the project shall be considered thrown out.
Article 100. Effects of extraordinary convocations
Extraordinary convocations realized by the Executive Power to the legislative chambers, shall not have effects for the prevention of projects of law in progress.
Article 101. Promulgation and Publication
All laws approved in both chambers shall be sent to the Executive Power for their promulgation or observations. If he does not make observations about them, he shall promulgate them within ten days of receiving them, if the matter was not declared urgent, in which case he shall promulgate them within five days of receiving them, and he shall make them published within ten days from the date of the promulgation. One the constitutional period for the promulgation and publication of the laws authorized by the National Congress has passed, they shall be considered promulgated and the President of the chamber that has given them to the Executive Power shall publish them.
Article 102. Observations to the law
If the Executive Power makes observations to the law that was submitted to him, he shall return it to the chamber from which it came in the term of ten days, counting from the date on which it was received. If the matter was declared urgent, he shall make his observations in the term of five days from when it was received. The Executive Power shall submit his observations indicating the articles where they occur and the reasons that motivate the observation. The chamber that received the observations shall make them included in the agenda of the day of the next session and shall discuss the law again in one reading. If after this discussion, two thirds of the present members of said chamber approve it anew, it shall be submitted to the other chamber, and if that chamber approves it by an equal majority, it shall be definitively be considered law and it shall be promulgated and published in the periods established in Article 101.
Article 103. Period to become familiar with the observations of the Executive Power
All laws for which the Executive Power makes observations to the National Congress have a period of two ordinary legislatures to be decided, otherwise the observation will be considered accepted.
Article 104. Validity of a project of law
Projects of law that remain pending in one of the two chambers at the close of the ordinary legislature, without prejudice to that established in Article 100, follow the constitutional process in the following legislatures, until they are converted to law or rejected. When it does not occur this way, the project shall be considered as if it was not initiated.
Article 105. Inclusion in the agenda of the day
All projects of law received in a chamber, after being approved in the other, shall be included in the agenda of the day of the first session that is held.
Article 106. Extension of the legislatures
When a law is sent to the President of the Republic for its promulgation and the time that is left for the term of the legislature is less than that established in Article 102 for observations, the legislature shall remain open to become familiar with the observations, or the process shall be continued in the following legislature without prejudice to that provided in Article 103.
Article 107. Rejected project of law
The rejected projects of law in one chamber may not be presented in either of the two chambers until the following legislature.
Article 108. Headers of the laws
The bicameral laws and resolutions shall be headed: The National Congress. In the name of the Republic.
Article 109. Entry into effect of the laws
The laws, after being promulgated, shall be published in the form that the law determines and shall be given the broadest diffusion possible. They shall be obligatory once the periods for them to be considered known in all the national territory have passed.
Article 110. Non-retroactivity of the law
The law only provides for and is applied to the future. It does not have retroactive effect unless it is favorable to one who is subject to justice or completing a sentence. In no case may the public powers or the law affect or alter the juridical security derived from established situations according to a previous legislation.
Article 111. Laws of public order
The laws relative to the public order, policy and security obligate all the inhabitants of the territory and may not be diminished by individual conventions.
Article 112. Organic laws
The organic laws are those that by their nature rule the fundamental rights, the structure and organization of the public powers, the public function, the electoral rules, the rules of economic financing, the public budget, planning, and investment, the territorial organization, the constitutional proceedings, the security and defense, the matters expressly referred to by the Constitution and others of an equal nature. For their approval or modification the favorable vote of two thirds of those present in both chambers shall be required.
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. On 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 his accounts annually, before the National Congress, of the budgetary, financial, and management administration that occurred in the previous year, according to that established in Article 128, number 2, section f of this Constitution, accompanied by a message that explains the macroeconomic and fiscal projections, the economic, financial, and social results expected and the principal priorities that the government proposed to execute within the Law of the General Budget of the State approved for the year in course.
Article 115. Regulation of procedures of control and supervision
The law shall regulate the procedures required for the two legislative chambers for examination of the reports of the Chamber of Accounts, examination of the acts of the Executive Power, invitations, questionings, political trial and the other mechanisms of control established by this Constitution.
Article 116. Rendition of report of the Defender of the People
The Defender of the People shall render to the National Congress the annual report of his activities, no more than thirty days before the close of the first ordinary legislature.
Chapter VI. On the National Assembly and the Joint Meeting of Both Chambers
Article 117. Conformation of the National Assembly
The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies shall hold their sessions separately, except when the National Assembly meets.
Article 118. Quorum of the National Assembly
The chambers shall meet in National Assembly in the cases indicated in this Constitution, more than half of the members of each chamber must be present. Their decisions shall be made by absolute majority of votes, except when they are convoked to reform the Constitution.
Article 119. Directive Office of the National Assembly
The National Assembly or the Joint Meeting of both chambers is ruled by their rules of organization and functioning. In both cases, the President of the Senate shall assume the presidency, the President of the Chamber of Deputies shall assume the vice presidency, and the secretariat shall be assumed by the secretaries of each chamber.
In the case of the temporary or definitive absence of the male or female President of the Senate and while his substitute has not been elected by said Legislative Chamber, the male or female President of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside over the National Assembly or the Joint Meeting.
In the case of the temporary or definitive absence of the male or female President of both chambers, the male or female Vice President of the Senate, and in his absence, the male or female Vice President of the Chamber of Deputies shall preside over the National Assembly or Joint Meeting.
Article 120. Powers of the National Assembly
It is the responsibility of the National Assembly:
- To be familiar with and to decide over constitutional reforms, acting in this case as National Review Assembly.
- To examine the acts of election of the male or female President and of the male or female Vice President of the Republic.
- To declare the male or female President and Vice President of the Republic, to receive their oath and to accept or reject their resignation.
- To exercise the functions that the present Constitution and the organic rules give them.
Article 121. Joint meeting of the chambers
The chambers meet jointly in the following cases:
- To receive the message and the rendition of accounts of the male or female President of the Republic and the reports of the ministries
- To celebrate acts that are commemorative or a matter of protocol.
