Overnight legislation

Legislation in Hungary since 2010 practically became executive orders pushed through a mock legislative process. 

After his landslide election victory (aka “Revolution at the Ballots”) Viktor Orbán almost immediately began to demolish democratic checks and balances. 

This included a complete remodeling of the legislative procedure. The old system was roughly in line with most European systems. On first glance the new system also seems to be okay. As always, the devil is in the details. 

Most of the procedure was moved to committees. The Committee on Legislation oversees the procedure. Orbán’s party has ⅔ majority since 2010. This allows them to block any bill that comes from the opposition before the debate stage. 

The rules include fixed times for debate so there is no room for filibuster. If the opposition uses up all the allocated time, they might delay the legislation by a day. The government can push through anything within 2-4 weeks in the regular procedure.

But the ⅔ majority has the opportunity to override regular procedure. An expedited procedure can be ordered by a ⅔ majority vote 6 times every half-year. This allows literally overnight legislation. A super-expedited procedure (4 times per half-year) can also be ordered. This means legislation on the spot. All in all, the governing party with its ⅔ majority has 20 opportunities per year to get overnight legislation. 

In the first term of Orbán’s new regime (2010-2014) it led to roughly 60% more laws than in the previous terms. Since then the number of new legislation per year went back to normal as every major law is now replaced by a new, Orbán-friendly one. But whenever the need arises the regular procedure is sped up or overnight procedure is ordered.