Sturzenegger’s bill targeting ‘obsolete’ laws, bureaucracy reaches Congress

President Javier Milei’s government on Monday sent Congress a bill that would repeal some 70 laws as part of a drive to slash bureaucracy and red tape.

The so-called ‘Ley Hojarasca,’ or “Leaf litter bill,” targets legislation that the Milei administration considers to be “useless, obsolete or that restrict” the freedom of individuals.

The laws targeted for repeal span back as far as the Arturo Frondizi (1958-1962) Presidency and were introduced by both military and democratic governments. 

The sweeping anti-bureaucracy reform push is the brainchild of Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger, the former Central Bank governor who was appointed to Milei’s Cabinet in July.

Sturzenegger was the key figure behind the sweeping ‘Ley de Bases’ mega-reform package that the Milei administration successfully passed through Congress – albeit in a stripped down form – earlier this year.

In a post on social media on Sunday, the deregulation czar said the bill’s passage would simplify Argentina’s current regulatory framework and remove “limits on individual freedom.”

“The law promotes legal security and removes obstacles to personal development and the development of the country as a whole,” argued Sturzenegger.

The bill, formally christened the “Ley de Derogación de Legislación Obsoleta,” is based on the principle that “everything that is permitted by the National Constitution does not need specific laws,” he wrote.

Sturzenegger went on to list some of the laws targeted by the Milei government, some of which he claimed “generated unnecessary expenses for taxpayers.”

Examples include a law that “imposes prison sentences for Argentines who defend human rights in the country in international forums” and obliged “the broadcasting of certain types of music that the state considered should be listened to,” said the official.

Restrictions on the organisation of public meetings in closed spaces are also targeted, given they represent “a flagrant violation of personal freedom,” said Struzenegger, as well an obligation for all radio and television broadcasters to dedicate an hour each day to national tourism.

In a nod to President Milei’s constant criticism of the “political caste,” the government will also seek the repeal of a law dating back to the Isabel Perón (1974-1976) presidency that granted all lawmakers freedom of movement and free parking.

“There are few examples of privilege as clear as that which this law makes evident,” said Sturzenegger, who branded those rules “unacceptable in a democratic society.”

He said the reform bill was based on six key criteria: laws that had been replaced/modernised; those that have been superseded by technology; restrictions on individual freedoms; the “de-bureaucratisation” of the state; laws that have no reason to exist; laws that created public state bodies.

According to a diagram shared by Sturzenegger on social media, the majority of the laws to be stripped away date back to the 1970s and 1980s.

– TIMES/NA