After five hours of negotiations and heated discussions, 27 of 49 lawmakers at 8:10 p.m. voted to pass President Luis Guillermo Solís' budget proposal for next year, in an unorthodox Saturday session at the Legislative Assembly.
Budget talks ended in a stalemate Thursday at the Legislative Assembly, with Assembly Vice President Marcela Guerrero adjourning the session at 6 p.m. without a deal. Costa Rica's Constitution states that legislators must pass next year's budget by Nov. 30, meaning that lawmakers will have to work Saturday toward a second and final round of voting.
In a tight 25-26 vote, lawmakers on Monday afternoon voted in a first round of debate against the proposed national budget for next year in a hectic session marked by controversy and heated exchanges.
The National Liberation Party’s top lawmaker, Juan Luis Jiménez Succar, on Thursday submitted his party’s first bill to reform the "Lawmakers' Salaries Law” in order to eliminate automatic wage increases of 5 percent that legislators receive twice a year.
Thanks to a 2010 law passed by lawmakers governing their own salaries, members of Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly currently receive 5 percent raises on their salaries twice a year, while other public workers receive 0.43 percent.
