Fundacion Milenio again produces a very relevant report, translation in its entirety follows:

Adopted laws and their contents between 2006 and September 2012

From the new political Constitution of the State (CPE) that governs from the 2009, the legislature is called Pluri-national Legislative Assembly (ALP), and its essential faculty is: “[…] approve and sanction laws that govern for all Bolivian territory”(Art. 145). The role of the previous legislature was also, among others, develop and adopt laws. Existing CPE establishes the total number of the Legislative at 166, divided into 130 Deputies and 36 Senators. From 2006 the MAS, party in the Government, had majority in the legislative branch, and according to the electoral results of December 2009 has increased its presence in the ALP, reaching the absolute control. The Senate pro-Government with 26 (72 per cent), and in the Lower Chamber or Deputies 88 (68 per cent). The balance in the two chambers, is divided between political parties or groupings of the opposition.

From 2006 to September 30, 2012, 1,097 laws, an average of 157 per year have been approved. This profusion of laws is striking. In this context we intend to examine the character of the adopted laws. For that purpose has been to classify the whole of laws passed according to its substance, in the following categories:

I. Elections and referenda: summon elections, impeachment, referendums and/or modify articles or subsections of the Electoral regime. Example: Law 125 (05/27/2011), amending Law No. 26 of the Electoral regime, “(Revoke subparagraphs b) and e) of paragraph I; subsections a) and b) of paragraph II and paragraph IV of article 82 of the law No. 026 dated June 30, 2010, the Electoral regime”.

II. Culture and heritage: refer to cultural activities and Declaration of heritage tangible and intangible of the pluri-national State (of the Republic of Bolivia before 2010) and regional. Examples: Law 237 (04/20/2012), “Declares as intangible and cultural patrimony of the pluri-national State of Bolivia, the ‘(encounter) Tinku Ritual’, with geographic location and origin in the North of Potosí and as its capital the town of Macha of the municipality of Colquechaca, province of the Department of Potosí and Cultural Heritage”; Law 136 (06/14/2011), “declares cultural heritage and intangible patrimony of the plurinational State of Bolivia to the Llamerada dance”.

III. Conventions, agreements and treaties: their content is usually the ratification of international conventions with different countries and international organizations, in the social, educational and economic fields. Extradition agreements are also established. Examples: Law 267 (07/31/2012), “Confirms the cooperation agreement between the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Government of the plurinational State of Bolivia, on prevention of abuse and suppression of illicit drug trafficking”.

IV. Creation or cancellation of a territorial or institutional entity: includes the creation of municipalities, nationalizations, cancellations of decentralized entities and the creation or elimination of ministries. Example: Law 3507 (10/27/2006), “creates the Bolivian administrator responsible for the planning and management of the basic road network roads ABC”; Law 034 (08/08/2010) ‘create the municipality of Chua Cocani, Omasuyos province in the Department of La Paz, with its capital of the same name”

V. Awards: meritorious people. Example: Law 4051 (07/07/2009) “Declares national hero and martyr of the struggle for liberation, sovereignty and dignity of the Guarani people APIAGUAIKI TUMPA”.

VI. Economics: allocate national resources, credit and determine resource transfers: for example: law 050: “Approves the amended budget of resources and expenditure for management year 2010”

VII. Enunciative Economics: declare a national or departmental priority without allocating resources or determine deadlines. Examples: “declared national priority, the improvement of agricultural and livestock production in peasant communities of the provinces Sajama, Litoral, Tomás Barrón, Cercado, Mejillones, Saucarí, Nor Carangas, Carangas Center, South Carangas, San Pedro de Totora, Sabaya and Ladislao Cabrera in the Department of Oruro”; Law 0141 (06/14/2011) “declared national priority production, industrialization and marketing of hot pepper and peanuts, in the regions that possess this productive vocation in the plurinational State of Bolivia”.

VIII. Education: have measures in the field of education. Example: Law 3940 (10/10/2008), “authorized to” the Prefecture of Potosi, create program of strengthening schools and colleges of the Department of Potosí”.

IX. Institutional organization: assigned powers. Examples: Law 3351 (02/21/2006), “Law of organization of the Executive Branch”; Law 031 (07/19/2010), “regulates the regime of autonomies and the bases of Territorial Organization of the State”

X. Health: determine policies and competences. Example: Law 4034 (05/26/2009) “Implements support centers effective for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, within the framework of the national standard of the Municipal of Intercultural Community family health network and services network (SAFCI)”.

XI. Transfer and/or disposal of public goods: determine transfers or disposal of public property. Example: Law 268 (07/31/2012), establishes “the alienation, gratuitously, of a plot of land owned by Municipal self-government in Carapari, in favor of YPFB [Bolivian Fiscal Oilfields], with exclusive destination to the construction of a service station”.

XII. Other: they are various laws that determine, for example, renaming of municipalities, given specific tasks to ministries and amending other laws. Example: Law 238 (04/30/2012) “incorporates in the final part of article 7 of Law No 2640 of March 11, 2004, exceptional compensation to victims of violence in periods of unconstitutional Governments”.

817 Laws, with an average of 91 laws by year were adopted in the framework of the previous CPE, from 2006 to 2009. Of these 261 were economic enunciative (31.9 per cent); economic 197 (24.1 per cent); 100 transfer and/or disposal of public property (12.2 per cent); 90 cultural and heritage (11.0 per cent); 49 Convention, agreements or treaties (6.0 per cent) (see table 1).

Since the term of the ALP, between 2010 and 2011, 222 laws, i.e. an average per year of 111 laws were passed. Taking into account the approved until September 2012, it reaches 280 standards. The count shows that from 2010 to September 2012, the laws on conventions and economic reach 151 (53.9 percent), 37 cultural and heritage (13.2 per cent) and enunciative economic 24 (8.6 per cent).

The adoption of these laws, and the operation of the ALP, between 2006 and 2011, had a cost which, according to information from budgets to the National Congress and the ALP, reached Bs. 1,233.1 million (see table 2).

Economic Indicators

Monetary Indicators (MM of dollars)

The original Spanish version can be found here: Coy 176 – Leyes aprobadas y sus contenidos entre 2006 y septiembre de 2012 

While it appears a lot of job, you dear reader, notice the quality and depth of those examples… please also remember that important laws such as the one for mining, continues, for years, in the draft stage; while there were dead people as a result of violent confrontations among miners, let alone violent takeovers from national and international mining companies. Many legal disputes on the line, and the mining law remains at the draft stage…

By the way, have you noticed Laws that boost competitive productivity and increase employment? I haven’t.