The council have no legislative authority and works only on development and services in their respective governorates to reduce the pressure on the parliament.
The 2015 decentralization law aims at establishing governorate councils to reduce pressure on the parliament, so that the latter can focus solely on its legislative and government oversight roles.
[1] The Parliament also enacted the new municipality laws and shed the "one man one vote system" and introduced proportional representation.
In a 15 August 2016 interview, King Abdullah II described the new decentralization law as "a very important link in the chain of reforms".
[5] By 6 July 2017, 1,195 men and 119 women have registered with the Independent Electoral Commission to run for governorate council membership.