Popular Initiative Law (Law No. 8491) – how to propose a law or constitutional reform as a citizen

The Popular Initiative Law (Law No. 8491, of 21 February 2006) allows citizens to directly propose a bill or a partial amendment to the Constitución Política, without needing a deputy to present it.

Who may exercise it (Article 1): a group of citizens who collect signatures from at least 5 % of the electoral roll during the regular session period of the Asamblea Legislativa. It does not apply to projects dealing with budgetary, tax, fiscal matters, loan and contract approvals, or administrative acts — those topics are excluded from the popular initiative.

Procedure (Article 2):

• Any citizen or group of citizens (organized or not formally) submits the bill to the Asamblea Legislativa together with the collected signature sheets.
• Each signature sheet must include a summary of the bill, and the name, ID number and signature of each supporter.
• Those responsible for collection must identify themselves to the Asamblea (name, ID number, qualifications).
• The Asamblea publishes the bill in La Gaceta (state‑run) and, within a maximum period of 8 days, forwards it to the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) for review.

Signature verification (Article 3): the TSE has 30 calendar days to verify the legitimacy of the signatures — discarding duplicates and doubtful signatures. If the required 5 % is not reached, an additional non‑extendable period of 90 calendar days is given to complete the missing signatures; if it is still not completed, the initiative is archived.

Legislative processing (Articles 4‑6): once the signatures are verified, the TSE transfers the bill to the Asamblea Legislativa, which processes it through the ordinary legislative procedure (no need to republish). The maximum time for a first‑debate vote is 2 years from the moment the Secretaria del Directorio Legislativo receives it — if the deadline passes without a vote, the law obliges it to be brought to a vote in the next session, exempt from further procedures if it was not previously ruled on. If the bill is a constitutional reform, it follows instead the procedure set out in Article 195 of the Constitución Política (see the Constitution fact‑sheet).

Free advice (Article 7): the Oficina de Iniciativa Popular of the Asamblea Legislativa, as well as the Defensoría de los Habitantes in its offices throughout the country, provide free technical assistance to draft the bill and guide the procedure.

Note: this fact‑sheet summarizes the entire procedure of the law (only 7 articles). To collect signatures and submit a real initiative, the most practical step is to first go to the Oficina de Iniciativa Popular of the Asamblea Legislativa for concrete advice on the specific project.