Justice Flávio Dino of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) has ordered the federal government and Congress to present, by November 30, 2026, a joint proposal to create a single tracking code for congressional earmarks, the emendas parlamentares through which lawmakers direct federal money to projects and municipalities. The ruling was released on Wednesday (Sept 9) in a case brought by the Psol party demanding more transparency in federal spending, according to news site G1.
The code must bind each lawmaker's designation to the corresponding disbursement in the federal budget platforms Transferegov.br and Siafi, the government's integrated financial management system. "The report to be presented on 11/30/2026 shall include a joint proposal, accompanied by the respective implementation schedule, for the creation of a single identifier for congressional earmarks," Dino wrote in the ruling.
The Denasus audit
In the same decision, Dino informed the parties of a report by the National Audit Department of the SUS (Denasus), the body that audits Brazil's public health system, which examined earmarked transfers for public health. The audit covered 100 accounts of municipalities and states. In a complementary round of 25 audits, 17 cases, or 68%, led to proposals to return or recompose public funds. The review found R$ 8.42 million in irregularly spent money: R$ 7.74 million in damages to the public treasury and R$ 677,800 in misuse of purpose. Bench earmarks, requested jointly by a state's congressional delegation, accounted for 78% of the loss, R$ 6.58 million, including a single case of R$ 4.5 million. Only 4% of the audits confirmed clear public disclosure of how the money was spent.
State deadlines
Dino also summoned the attorneys general of 22 states and the Federal District to report, within 30 days, the corrective measures taken on their local transparency portals. The order follows Psol's complaint that states still fail to publish execution documents and data on final beneficiaries. Maranhão received a separate 30-day deadline to prove that its transparency portal works fully.
Groups that monitor the federal budget described the core problem raised in the case: the codes now used by Congress are not preserved in Siafi and Transferegov.br, which prevents a precise link between each designation, its disbursement and the final beneficiary. In a filing with the court, the Chamber of Deputies acknowledged "the possibility of adopting improvement measures". The Senate said that preserving a single identifier along the entire path of the funds "depends primarily on the architecture of the execution systems maintained by the Executive Branch".
The calendar now has two deadlines. States and the Federal District must detail their fixes within 30 days. The government and Congress have until November 30 to deliver the joint proposal with the schedule for the single identifier. Dino follows compliance as the justice assigned to the case at the STF.