The rules governing each autonomous community are set out in the corresponding Statute, and the Statute of Autonomy itself is the collection of laws or legislation that governs the autonomous community.
It functions as a constitution for an autonomous region inside the main State.
The name, borders, language, institution names, organisation and powers are strictly and specifically spelt out in the Statute of Autonomy.
On the basis of the 1978 Constitution, 17 autonomous communities that make up the nations and countries of the Spanish State were set up, and the powers were divided between the autonomous communities and the central government.
The parliament in the autonomous communities has only one chamber. Spain is like some decentralised states in Europe, similar to Germany and Italy.
The names of these chambers vary in the Statutes of each Autonomous Community: Parliament, Provincial Assembles, Regional Assembly, Assembly, General Council, “Cortes”, etc… The reason for the different names can be found in the historical bases.
Local representatives of the autonomous community meet in the provincial parliaments. They choose the president. So, the members can pass a vote of no-confidence, just as they can in the Congress against the Spanish Prime Minister.
The members of these parliaments are mostly referred to as autonomous community members of parliament. The largest number of them is 135 (in Catalonia) and the smallest, 35 (in Cantabria and La Rioja); they are all elected through universal suffrage from among those who are registered in the autonomous community.
The most important functions of the autonomous community parliament are as follows: to represent the community, to approve the budgets of each community or region, to support and monitor the work of the Executive power, and pass laws in the areas in which it has powers. The powers are not the same in all of them: some autonomous communities have greater powers than other.
Once again, the autonomous community laws, like those of the State, can be examined by the Constitutional Court.