Mexico’s Senate approves further energy Reform Legislation

theyucatantimes.com

Mexico City.- On Monday July 21st, 2014, Mexico’s senate has officially approved further legislation governing the energy reform passed into law in December.

Senators voted 89 to 27 in favor of the new legal framework aimed to restructure state-owned power utility CFE and oil firm Pemex and convert them into productive and competitive state-owned entities with managerial autonomy and regulated by independent bodies.

This legislation is the third of four packages that comprise the secondary legislation governing the energy reform package approved in December, which allows both firms to form partnerships with private firms and opens up the sector to investment.

During 12 hours of debate on Sunday July 20th, 2014, senators expressed their approval and rejection of the law that creates a new legal framework for the two firms’ acquisitions, leasings, public works and service policies to make them more competitive in their respective markets, according to a senate press release.

The approved laws also regulate the management, functioning, operation, control, and evaluation of the two firms and their affiliates, as well as their salary structures, hiring policy and their evaluation of employee performance.

Both firms will also be responsible for safeguarding employees’ rights and establishing training programs for their staff, in conjunction with trade unions, to guarantee the firms’ efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.

Mexico’s Senate Debate

Senator Zoé Robledo Aburto of the left wing PRD party said that both firms should set operational and financial goals in order to measure performance, otherwise the task of evaluating the firms and ensuring transparency would be more difficult.

Senator Marín Orozco Sandoval of the PAN party said that the new legal framework for the state-owned firms will create more transparency and eliminate corruption due to the independence of the regulatory bodies created by the energy reform.

Ruling PRI party senator Ernesto Gándara Camou said the reforms ensure Pemex and the CFE will be governed by their own laws and will attract investment, stimulate economic growth and make both firms more efficient.

Source: http://www.bnamericas.com/

State Government Introduces Fines, Jail for Drunk Driving

by Maureen Dietrich

23 Jun 14 

mazmessenger.com

 

The Sinaloa government presented the state legislature with new regulations to curb accidents resulting from driving while inebriated or under the influence of drugs.

The proposal would increase fines to 1,600 to 18,000 pesos, allow administrative arrest of the offender for 12 to 24 hours, suspend licenses for six months for the first offence and three years for a second offence.

A report presented in May by the Secretary of Health and National Council of Accident Prevention stated 772 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in Sinaloa in 2013 and projected that number to rise to 814 this year. (from Noroeste)

Lawmakers at Mexico Summit Focus on Fighting Climate Change

laht.com

MEXICO CITY – Some 300 lawmakers from close to 60 countries are focused on achieving legislative changes in each of their nations that will help limit the rise of world temperatures, according to legislators consulted by Efe.

As part of the 2nd World Summit of Legislators, called by the Global Legislators Organization (GLOBE), that is being held in the Mexican capital and which concludes on Sunday, the lawmakers said they seek to establish commitments to pass laws that can best deal with the great global challenges of sustainable development.

“We’re working to agree on a resolution that commits the world’s legislators to use their formal powers to review and strengthen their national laws on climate change,” the president of GLOBE Mexico and host of the summit, Mexican Sen. Jesus Casillas, told Efe.

Casillas said the central points of the program that must be established are a reduction of emissions, management of natural resources, promoting the use of green energy, and doing something about transportation, starting with the promotion of non-motorized mass transport.

He warned that if no decisions are taken, “unfortunately we could have problems of food insecurity.”

Mexican lawmaker Silvia Guadalupe Garza told Efe that the summit is bent on coming up with proposals for the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.

For his part, Colombian Sen. Mauricio Ospina praised the announcement at Bonn by U.S. President Barack Obama about strengthening American action in this field.

GLOBE was created in 1989 by members of the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, Japan’s Diet and the Duma of Russia to deal with urgent environmental challenges through the formulation and passing of laws.