Introduction

Analyses of public policy decision-making process in Brazil in the years following the enactment of the 1988 Constitution generally emphasise lawmaking initiatives by the executive. When such studies involve the legislature, they take a predominantly pessimistic tone, contending that interaction between policymakers does not occur under favourable conditions for the formulation and approval of an agenda focused on issues with a broader public interest. Nevertheless, and after intense debate in the 1990s, the more pessimistic view gave way to a nuanced perspective in which the National Congress appears as one of the main political actors in defining crucial stages in the decision-making process concerning major public policies.

However, Brazilian legislative studies still virtually agree on the lack of rules and procedures capable of spawning the development of expertise and training of Congress members for public policy formulation and implementation. In other words, the Brazilian Congress still needs to develop informational mechanisms for its lawmaking work. This chapter examines the public policy decision-making process in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, within which, it is argued, it is possible to detect institutions that play informational roles, more specifically, the Chamber's standing technical committees and its staff structure (with particular emphasis on the Consultoria Legislativa or Legislative Consulting Body). The chapter further argues that it is essential to grasp the nature and dynamics of these institutions in order to understand how the public policy decision-making process operates in the Brazilian legislature.

The chapter is organised in four sections, in addition to this introduction and a conclusion. The next or second section maps the recent literature, showing how the legislature is seen as a central component in the analysis of public policies in democratic Brazil; the third examines in greater detail the informational perspective applied to the Brazilian case; the fourth defines the study's more general characteristics and explains the decision to focus on the advisory structure of the Chamber of Deputies; the fourth discusses the results of interviews with legislative advisors and consultants, a group of highly influential public employees in analysing bills under review by the legislature. The conclusion provides a more general commentary on the study's findings and its impacts on the current discussion of the legislative branch and public policies in Brazil.