“…Although studies on the Brazilian legislative branch highlight the multiparty system and the dynamics of the coalition government (Pereira & Melo, 2012;Pereira & Mueller, 2000;Praça, Freitas, & Hoepers, 2011;Raile, Pereira, & Power, 2011;Zorzal & Carlos, 2017), in general such literature does not cover the role of the legislature at local level (Castro;Anastasia & Nunes, 2009). More recently, even though a few studies focus on the city council role (e.g., Lopez & Almeida, 2017;Sartorelli & Pires, 2012), still being scarce the attention dedicated to the budgetary surveillance by municipal PACs in Brazil. This paper goes beyond the committees' skills and capabilities as the central barrier to the effective operation of committees.…”