Plans are being pushed forward to reform government structure on two fronts: ex-President Jose Maria Figueres would like to gather plans from a number of people for a referendum and the National Agenda group would like to pursuade lawmakers.

The avowed goal of both groups is to create a more “governable” nation because, in the words of University of Costa Rica professor Jaime Ordonez, the “country is atrophied.”

Although both movements have yet to polish their plans, Figueres appears to be targeting the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV). As with the Supreme Court in the United States, many politicians view the court as overstepping its mandate of legislating law instead of uphold it.

The two-year-old Agenda is a group that intends to knock on politicians’ doors to gather support for reforms. It appears that the reforms it will put forward are more piecemeal than the Figueres jumble of ideas rolled into one referendum.

An Agenda proposal presented this week to the Bar Association (Colegio de Abogados) is one backers say will assure that no new taxes will be placed on the public, but will change the Ministry of Finance to allow spending transparency and equity.

At first glance, the proposed plan sounds much like the Tea Party movement in the United States that brought the issue of debt payment to the forefront, then wound up freezing progress in Congress.

“We’re drafting documents to serve as a basis of negotiation,” Ordonez says, focusing on 20 reforms to aid the government’s functioning through 2030. One of these reforms would entail direct election of lawmakers instead of tying it to percentage of votes for each party.

The reform would continue the surge toward decentralization of power by giving broader decision making powers to municipal governments. It also proposes changes to balance foreign investment with home-grown industry.

Other changes would be a clearer definition of policies of environmental protection, telecommunication and human rights.

Besides diminishing the influence of Sala IV, Figueres wants an aggressive drive to convert to biofuels and alternate energy in the next 15 years. Figureres says energy independence would save the $2 billion the country spends annually, mostly for fossil fuels for road transport.

Source: Fijatevos.com