Summary.
The draft bill proposes adding a benefit to the discount scheme for retirees, pensioners and older persons under Law 6 of 1987. Article 1 would add a numbered item to Article 1 of that law. The heading identifies Law 18 of 1989, Law 15 of 1992, Law 37 of 2001, Law 14 of 2003, Law 51 of 2005 and Law 30 of 2008 as laws that previously amended it. The provision making the addition instead lists Law 18 of 1998, Law 37 of 2011, Law 14 of 2003, Law 51 of 2005 and Law 30 of 2008 among its amending references.
The provision into which the item would be inserted covers Panamanian nationals or foreign residents in the national territory who are fifty-five years of age or older if women, or sixty years of age or older if men. It also covers all retirees and pensioners under the wording of the article that would receive the new item. The benefit would become part of that article’s list of discounts, with its reach expressed through the groups of people and ages stated in the provision. The proposal does not set out a separate class of waste collection beneficiaries in a different article.
Proposed item 26 would establish a 20% discount on payment of the waste collection fee. The Spanish provision writes the charge as “taza de aseo.” Its wording covers payment where the service is provided by a state-owned, private or mixed-ownership company. The discount thus concerns that particular charge and encompasses each of the three types of company named in the item. As framed in the draft bill, the reduction would be a benefit on payments made by persons falling within Article 1 of the law being amended.
Article 2 restates the scope of the amendment: adding a numbered item to Article 1 of the law governing benefits for retirees, pensioners and older persons. Its list of prior amending laws again names Law 18 of 1998, Law 37 of 2011, Law 14 of 2003, Law 51 of 2005 and Law 30 of 2008. Article 3 provides that, if enacted, the law would take effect upon its promulgation in the Official Gazette (Gaceta Oficial).
Given its subject matter, the draft bill relates to the National Assembly’s Labor, Health and Social Development Committee (Comisión de Trabajo, Salud y Desarrollo Social de la Asamblea Nacional) and to state-owned companies that collect the waste collection fee. Its provisions could concern or affect retirees, pensioners, older persons, and state-owned, private or mixed-ownership companies involved in collecting the charge in the national territory.
What it proposes.
- Benefits for retirees, pensioners and older persons.
- A 20% discount on payment of the waste collection fee.
- Addition of a numbered item to Article 1 of Law 6 of 1987.
Who it would affect.
- Panamanian or foreign-resident women aged fifty-five or older.
- Panamanian or foreign-resident men aged sixty or older.
- Retirees and pensioners covered by the proposed provision.
- State-owned, private or mixed-ownership companies involved in collecting the waste collection fee.
Key points.
- Proposes adding a numbered item to Article 1 of the law on benefits for retirees, pensioners and older persons.Art. 1
- The provision receiving the item covers resident women aged fifty-five or older and resident men aged sixty or older.Art. 1
- The provision also covers retirees and pensioners.Art. 1
- Proposed item 26 establishes a 20% discount on payment of the waste collection fee.Art. 1
- The discount is proposed for payments to a state-owned, private or mixed-ownership company.Art. 1
- Restates that the amendment adds a numbered item to Article 1 of the benefits law.Art. 2
- Provides for entry into force upon promulgation in the Official Gazette.Art. 3