Bill 11.

Summary.

The bill would add a chapter to Law 105 of 1973 governing the transition between the outgoing chief authority and the incoming elected authority of each Community Board (Junta Comunal). Reelection of the authority would remove the need for a transition. The process consists of coordinated, periodic meetings and acts of handover and receipt. Its guiding principles include coordination, continuity, governability, efficiency, transparency, public access to information and accountability. A Community Board may regulate its own process before it begins, consistently with those principles and the law.

Both authorities participate, with the cooperation of the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República), the National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information (Autoridad Nacional de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información), and the National Decentralization Authority (Autoridad Nacional de Descentralización). Identified and registered technical teams and delegates may also participate. If the elected authority’s mandate is revoked and another authority is proclaimed, the process proceeds with the newly proclaimed authority. It starts when the incoming authority receives the proclamation certificate and ends when the outgoing authority leaves office and delivers a written diagnostic report. An election dispute proceeds in parallel.

Meetings are public, announced in advance, and attended by representatives of the Local Development Board (Junta de Desarrollo Local). Records and documents follow the asset registration and inventory rules set by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas) or the competent authority, and are published through the Community Board’s or municipality’s digital channels. The Government Innovation Authority (Autoridad de Innovación Gubernamental) assists with digital records and storage when required. The Comptroller General’s office attends working sessions, supplies documents and prepares a Final Audit Report at the start of the transition. The audit examines finances, assets, personnel, obligations, contracts, services, investments and projects. Either authority may request corrections once; the report and any reasoned amendments are published. The transparency and decentralization authorities issue favorable or unfavorable assessment reports, subject to the same correction and publication procedure. Any of those reports may authorize the incoming authority to act as a private complainant on behalf of the Community Board in the corresponding criminal case.

During the transition, the National Bank of Panama (Banco Nacional de Panamá) or the decentralization authority, as applicable, withholds 50% of the Annual Operating Budget, excluding the execution of investment projects. The Comptroller General’s office refuses approval for disbursements that breach that limit or imminently endanger subsequent operations, unless they address an evident emergency approved by the Municipal Council (Consejo Municipal). The outgoing authority identifies the bank accounts, and the authorities arrange for the incoming authority’s signing authority to take effect on the first day of the new term. Within one calendar month, the outgoing authority delivers internal rules, personnel files, inventories, the budget, and information on services, projects, public requests, contracts and legal proceedings. Both authorities prepare and publish a diagnostic report. Keys, digital access, petty cash, inventoried assets and staff are handed over by the start of the new administration.

The bill would also add a title to Law 106 of 1973 establishing a corresponding municipal transition process, covering institutional participation, public meetings, records, audits, assessment reports, potential criminal complaints, budget withholding, bank accounts and handovers. Municipalities must also notify the Community Boards in the district’s corregimientos (districts), and the municipal audit covers sources of revenue. The bill provides for entry into force upon promulgation. Its provisions concern municipal and community authorities, staff, suppliers, residents and people submitting requests or complaints; they also assign functions to the public bodies identified above.