On June 9, the Urban Development Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved the Bill that establishes the National Policy of Air Quality, which in turn will create the National System of Air Quality Information. Although there is still a long way to go for its full approval, this is a partial victory. “The rapporteur incorporated the suggestions arising from the dialogues promoted by the initiative of the civil society organizations that form the Coalizão Respirar together with the technical representatives from the CNI and FIESP. The work consisted of more than 14 meetings that analyzed, article by article, the version of the Bill revised by the Coalizão Respirar, seeking a possible consensus in order to enable its progress,” explained the Health and Sustainability Institute (ISS), which is a grantee of iCS.
“The approval by the Urban Development Commission is the first step in the progress of the Bill. Now, in the Environment and Development Commission, there should be more public debate regarding the project, which has already been discussed significantly in technical groups. Civil society must continue the monitoring and coordination of the interested actors for the Bill to progress, by participating in the public hearings and contributing technically to the improvement of the text. Once passed by this commission, the Bill is sent to the Constitution and Justice Commission, where it is expected that the proposal will be more consensual and will have a quicker approval,” explains Marcel Martin, coordinator of the iCS Transport portfolio.