Government re-files bill to sweep dead letter regulations

The Argentine government has sent back to Congress a bill aimed at eliminating laws that are outdated or that can no longer be applied due to incompatibilities with newer laws or the Constitution. Known as “Hojarasca Law,” or “Dead Leaves Law,” the provision’s goal is to sweep 70 regulations that have become obsolete. The bill is part of President Javier Milei’s model of reducing state bureaucracy and flexibilizing regulations. It was created by Deregulation Minister Federico Sturzenegger. It had already been filed in October 2024, but the government decided to file it again given tha lawmakers never debated it in over a year since of its presentation. Old laws The bill seeks to overturn 62 laws and modify or eliminate sections of nine others, including some that have become outdated due to technological advances, or others that are related to institutions that no longer exist. Some of the laws that the government wants to eliminate include one from 1868 that establishes a cash reward to individuals who discover a coal mine. Law 94, dating back to 1864, establishes a 10-year ban on holding public office for officials who have whipped someone. Such floggings, the bill points out, are banned by the Constitution. Other examples include a specific law on smallpox vaccination superseded by the general vaccination law, an old law allowing color television broadcasts, a 2015 regulation of carrier pigeons, and a 1983 norm stating mandatory hospitalization for patients with leprosy, which the government considered violates constitutional rights. One 1974 norm even regulated hitch-hiking, creating a “backpackers’ permit,” which is not enforced nor known about in current times. The government has said it was likely a pretext allowing the security forces to shake down anyone they suspected of belonging to what at the time were known as “subversive” groups. The Milei administration has stated that keeping those old laws adds to the complexity of Argentina’s legal system for no reason. In addition, they argue that some of the laws affect individual liberties or respond to control logics that are no longer in place under the current democratic system. Most of the laws that aim to be eliminated or modify were issued during the presidency of María Estela “Isabel” Martínez de Perón (1974-1976), and dictators Alejandro Agustín Lanusse (1971-1973) and Reynaldo Benito Bignone (1982-1983). Sturzenegger called these laws “obsolete” and said there will be a “normative depuration” if the bill is approved. “Less laws means more justice. Like our president has demanded, Argentina will be the most free country in the world,” he wrote on X on Friday.