Esperidião Amin Helou Filho, born in Florianópolis/SC on December 21, 1947, holds degrees in Business Administration from the State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC) and Law from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). His father, who was Lebanese, came to Brazil as a fabric salesman and served as a city councilman in Florianópolis between 1959 and 1963, representing the National Democratic Union (UDN). He is married to former federal congresswoman Ângela Amin.

During his youth, at the Faculty of Law of Santa Catarina, he helped found the Catarinense University Party (PUC) in 1964, which brought together students with a conservative ideological orientation. In 1967 and 1968, he ran for president of the XI de Fevereiro Academic Center, but was defeated in both elections by the alliance between the Third Force Movement (MTF) and the Academic Renewal Party (PRA).

Political Career

Esperidião Amin's political career began in 1969, during the military dictatorship, when he assumed administrative positions in the Education Secretariat of the governments of Ivo Silveira (1966-1971) and Colombo Machado Salles (1971-1975) , being a member of ARENA (later PDS , PPR and PP ).

In 1975, he became mayor of Florianópolis and, in 1978, was elected federal deputy, receiving the most votes in Santa Catarina with 72,380. In 1982, at the request of then-governor Jorge Bornhausen , he assumed the position of Secretary of Transportation and Public Works. Also in 1982, he ran for governor of the state of Santa Catarina and won the election, becoming, at age 35, the youngest Brazilian governor.

In 1988, Amin was elected mayor of Florianópolis by the PDS. Early in his term, in 1989, he took a leave of absence from the mayor's office to compete with Paulo Maluf for the PDS presidential nomination, but was defeated.

In 1990, he was elected senator, at the same time that his wife, Ângela Amin , was elected federal deputy. In 1993, Amin assumed the presidency of the Progressive Reform Party (PPR), resulting from the merger of the PDS with the Christian Democratic Party (PDC). In 1994, he ran for president of the republic, but finished in 6th place.

Amin was re-elected governor in 1998 by the PP party, but lost in 2002 and 2006 to Luiz Henrique da Silveira. In 2010, he was elected federal deputy, being re-elected in 2014 as the most voted in the state. In 2018, he was elected senator for the second time and in 2022 he ran for governor, but was not elected, thus remaining as a senator.

Performance in the National Congress

Esperidião Amin has distinguished himself through his work on issues related to urban infrastructure, transportation policies, support for micro-enterprises, and the management of public resources. He is a critic of unilateral decisions in higher courts, such as those of the Supreme Federal Court (STF), and advocates for limits to these practices.

In 2016, Esperidião Amin voted in favor of the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and supported the Spending Cap Amendment (PEC do Teto dos Gastos) during the Temer administration, but opposed the Labor Reform . In 2017, he voted for the investigation of President Michel Temer . In 2019, as a senator, he voted in favor of the Pension Reform. In 2023, he voted in favor of the Tax Reform .

Among his main achievements are:

• Co-author of Constitutional Amendment Proposal 8/2021 , which limits monocratic (individual) decisions in the Supreme Federal Court (STF) and other superior courts;

• Author of Bill 41/2019 , which proposes evaluating tax benefits based on three aspects: job creation and maintenance; business competitiveness; and benefits to the consumer, without indiscriminate cuts;

• Co-author of Bill 6012/2023 , which amends the Pronampe laws to strengthen small businesses and guarantee permanent resources for the program;

• Rapporteur for Bill 508/2024 , which consolidates federal legislation on foreign trade and provides for Import and Export Taxes.

He is currently the president of the Parliamentary Front for Support of Microcredit and Microfinance and president of the Permanent Subcommittee on Cyber ​​Defense (CREDC).