The Congress of the Republic of Colombia () is the name given to Colombia's bicameral national legislature.

The Congress of Colombia consists of the 108-seat Senate, and the 188-seat Chamber of Representatives, Members of both houses are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms.

The composition, organization and powers of Congress and the legislative procedure are established by the fourth title of the Colombian Constitution. According to article 114 of the Constitution, the Congress amends the constitution, makes the law and exercises political control over the government and the public administration. In addition, the Constitution and the law grant other powers to Congress, including certain judicial powers and electing senior judges and other senior public officials.

Both houses of Congress meet at the neoclassical Capitolio Nacional ("National Capitol") building in central Bogotá, the construction of which began in 1847 and was not concluded until 1926. Each house has its own election procedure and individual powers distinguishing them from the other, which are further discussed in the article for each individual house.

Congress

Eligibility

Each house has its own eligibility requirements established by the Constitution, but there are common rules of ineligibility and incompatibility (régimen de inhabilidades e incompatibilidades), determined by the Constitution.

Anyone who has been sentenced to deprivation of liberty (detention) at any time except for political crimes and culpable negligence; hold dual citizenship and are not native-born citizens; held a public employment position with political, civil, administrative or military authority or jurisdiction within the year prior the election; participated in business transactions with public entities or concluded contracts with them, or were legal representatives of entities which handled taxes or quasi-fiscal levies within the six months prior to the election; lost their mandate (investidura) as members of Congress or holds ties of marriage or kinship with civil servants holding civil or political authority may not be elected to Congress. In addition, relatives through marriage or kinship who are registered candidates for the same party for an office elected on the same day may not be members of Congress. The constitution also bans election to or membership in more than one office or body, even if the terms only overlap partially.

  1. Inauguration of the President of the Republic, or the Vice President when acting as President
  2. Receive foreign heads of State and government
  3. Election of the Comptroller General
  4. Election of the Vice President in the case of a vacancy
  5. Recognizing the physical incapacity of the Vice President
  6. Electing magistrates of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Superior Council of the Judiciary
  7. Deciding on censure motions against cabinet ministers

In joint sessions of Congress, the President of the Senate acts as President of the Congress and convenes, chairs and directs the session.

Sessions

The Congress meets twice a year in two ordinary sessions: the first from 20 July to 16 December, and the second from 16 March to 20 June. These two sessions form a single legislative year, legally known as a legislature (legislatura), of which there are four during the course of a single congressional term.

The executive branch can call for extraordinary sessions at any time, but never after 20 June in an election year, and Congress may only discuss the issues submitted for its consideration by the government during these sessions.

Commissions

Each house elects permanent commissions, whose number, composition and responsibilities are determined by law. These commissions, whose existence stems from the Constitution, are known as permanent constitutional commissions and there are currently 14 in Congress - seven in each house. The current permanent commissions are:

  • First commission (19 senators, 35 representatives): responsible for constitutional amendments, statutory laws, constitutional rights and duties, territorial organization, regulation of control organisms, peace, structure organization of the central administration, ethnic affairs and other administrative matters.
  • Second commission (13 senators, 19 representatives): responsible for foreign policy, defence, the military and police, treaties, diplomatic and consular appointments, foreign trade, borders, citizenship, immigration and aliens, military service, public honours and monuments, harbours and other foreign trade matters.
  • Third commission (15 senators, 29 representatives): responsible for finance, taxes, monetary policy, central bank, authorization of loans, monopolies, economic regulation, national planning, financial markets, stock markets, insurance and savings.
  • Fourth commission (15 senators, 27 representatives): responsible for budget laws, fiscal supervision, disposition of national goods, industrial property, patents, trademarks, management of national public institutions and offices, quality and price control for administrative contracts.
  • Fifth commission (13 senators, 19 representatives): responsible for agriculture, the environment, natural resources, land management, fishing and maritime affairs, mining and energy.
  • Sixth commission (13 senators, 18 representatives): responsible for communications, fees, public calamities, service delivery, communications media, scientific and technological research, radio and television, geostationary orbit, digital communication and computer systems, air space, public works and transport, tourism, education and culture.
  • Seventh commission (14 senators, 19 representatives): responsible for civil servants, trade unions, mutual aid societies, social security, benefits, recreation, sports, health, community organizations, housing, economic solidarity, women and the family.

Legal commissions are those created by the law, responsible for specific matters outside the competence of the constitutional commission. Three legal commissions exist in both houses - human rights, ethics and congressional rules and document accreditation; two legal commissions exist only in the House of Representatives - public accounts and the investigation and accusation commission. In addition, there are special commissions and incidental commissions.

Senate

The Senate has 102 elected members for four-year terms.

Electoral system

According to the Colombian Constitution, 100 senators (senadores) are elected from a single national constituency. The remaining two are elected in a special national constituency for Indigenous communities. The current threshold in order to obtain seats is 3% of valid votes nationally.

Eligibility

To be a senator, a person must be a natural-born Colombian citizen over the age of 30 at the time of the election. Representatives of indigenous communities seeking election as a representative of indigenous communities in the Senate must have held a traditional authority role in their community or have been the leader of an indigenous organization.

Exclusive powers of the Senate

  1. Approve or reject the resignations of the President and the Vice President.
  2. Approve or reject all military promotions conferred by the government on commissioned officers.
  3. Grant leaves of absence for the President in cases other than sickness, and determine the qualification of the Vice President to serve as President.
  4. Allow for the transit of foreign troops through Colombian territory.
  5. Authorize the Government to declare war on a foreign nation.
  6. Elect the Constitutional Court justices.
  7. Elect the Attorney General.
  8. Take cognizance of the charges brought by the House of Representatives against the President (or whoever replaces him/her) and members of the Comisión de Aforados even if they may have ceased to exercise their functions. The Senate determines the validity of the charges concerning actions or omissions that occurred in the exercise of these duties, and adopts disciplinary measures if need be. The Senate's impeachment powers are limited, as the Constitution explicitly states the punishments which may be imposed, and, the accused faces trial before the Supreme Court of Justice for common crimes.

Chamber of Representatives

The House has 166 elected members for four-year terms.

Electoral system

The House of Representatives is elected in territorial constituencies, special constituencies and an international constituency.

Each department (and the capital district of Bogotá D.C.) form territorial electoral constituencies (circunscripciones territoriales). Each constituency has at least two members, and one more for every 365,000 inhabitants or fraction greater than 182,500 over and above the initial 365,000. For the current legislative term (2014-2018), 161 of the 166 House members are elected in territorial constituencies.

There are also three special constituencies, electing the remaining five members: one for Indigenous communities currently with one representative, one for Afro-Colombian communities (negritudes) currently with two representatives and one for Colombian citizens resident abroad currently with one representative. As a result of the 2015 constitutional reform, the number of seats allocated to Colombian citizens resident abroad will be reduced to one, from 2018 onward, as an additional special seat will be created for the territorial constituency of Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina to represent the archipelago's Raizal community.

The current threshold in order to obtain seats is 50% of the electoral quotient (total votes divided by total seats) in constituencies with over two seats and 30% of the electoral quotient in constituencies with two seats. Seats are then distributed using the distributing number, or cifra repartidora method explained in article 263 of the Constitution.

Eligibility

To be a representative, a person must be a Colombian citizen (by birth or naturalization) over the age of 25 at the time of the election.

Exclusive powers of the House

  1. Elect the Ombudsman.
  2. Examine and finalize the general budgetary and treasury account presented to it by the Comptroller General.
  3. Bring charges to the Senate, at the request of the investigation and accusation commission, for the impeachment of the President (or whoever replaces him/her) and members of the Comisión de Aforados.
  4. Take cognizance of complaints and grievances presented by the Attorney General or by individuals against the aforementioned officials and, if valid, to bring charges on that basis before the Senate.
  5. Request the aid of other authorities to pursue the investigations.

Legislative process

Congress's main power is to enact, interpret, amend and repeal laws (Article 150). Under this responsibility, some of its specific legal powers include approving the national development plan and related appropriations, defining the division of the territory, determining the structure of national administration (including creating, merging or abolishing ministries, departments and other national public institutions), authorizing the conclusion of contracts, loans and asset sales by the government; vesting the President with exceptional powers to issue decrees with force of law for a six-month period; establishing national revenues and expenditures; ratifying international treaties signed by the government and granting amnesties or commutations for political crime (with a two-thirds majority).

Types of laws

The Constitution differentiates between several different types of laws.

Organic laws (leyes orgánicas) regulate legislative activity, including the rules of Congress and both houses, the budgetary process and the approval of the national development plan. Their approval requires an absolute majority of the members of both houses (Article 151 of the Constitution).

Statutory laws (leyes estatutarias) regulate fundamental rights and duties and the procedures for their protection; the administration of justice; political parties and movements; electoral regulations; mechanisms for citizen participation (plebiscite, referendum etc.); states of exception; the military criminal justice system and electoral equality before major presidential candidates. Their approval, amendment and repeal require an absolute majority of the members of both houses and must be completed within a single legislative year. This procedure also includes prior revision by the Constitutional Court (Article 152).

Legislative acts (actos legislativos) amend the Constitution, and they may be presented by ten members of Congress although they may also be introduced by the government, 20% of municipal councillors and departmental deputies or a number of citizens equivalent to at least 5% of registered voters. The procedure for their approval is longer, as they must be approved in two consecutive ordinary sessions. Legislative acts are not the only method to amend the Constitution, nor does Congress hold exclusive powers of constitutional amendment.

Legislative initiative

Bills may originate in either house at the proposal of their respective members. However, legislative initiative is not limited to members of Congress. Bills may be proposed by the government through the appropriate minister(s); the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, the Council of Judicial Government, the Council of State, the National Electoral Council, the Inspector General, the Comptroller General and the Ombudsman may also propose bills on matters related to their duties. Finally, a number of citizens equivalent to at least 5% of registered voters at the time or 30% of municipal councillors or departmental deputies also hold legislative initiative under article 155, and these bills benefit from an accelerated procedure (see below).

The above notwithstanding, in certain cases bills may only be initiated by the government (see the second paragraph of article 154). Bills related to taxes may only be introduced in the House of Representatives and those involving international relations may only be introduced in the Senate.

All bills introduced must comply with certain requirements; among others, a title and number, articles and a statement of motives explaining the importance of the bill and the reasons for it.

Legislative procedure

Upon the bill's introduction, the presidents of both houses decide to which permanent constitutional commission the bill will be sent. Once sent to a commission in each house, the chair of said commission will assign one or more member as speaker (ponente), who will study the bill and present a report (ponencia) on the bill's benefits (or lack thereof), potential improvements to be made or recommending that the bill be rejected. Upon publication of this report, the commission as a whole meets for debate and discussion on the contents of the report. The commission votes on the bill. A bill rejected during this first debate may be reconsidered by the respective house at the request of its author, a member of the house, the government or a spokesperson in case of a popular initiative.