Pedro Pierluisi’s administration opens the year with a new status process

Washington DC – Unless the law is successfully challenged in court or rejected by the Fiscal Surveillance Committee (JSF), Governor Pedro Pierluisi will begin his term by encouraging the State Electoral Commission (EEC) to hold a new consultation on political status. .

Before leaving office, Governor Wanda Vázquez signed a call on December 30 for a publicly-funded consultation that would allow the election of six state lobbyists who must work full-time in the Federal Affairs Administration (Prfaa) without any another task than promoting Puerto Rico as the 51st state in the United States.

He also signed on that day the measure that governs Governor Pierluisi to appoint a new statute plebiscite, the definitions of which will be decided by decree without the approval of the Puerto Rican Legislature.

Puerto Rico’s Law 167 of December 30, 2020, which seeks to elect state lobbyists, requires candidates to be fluent in both English and Spanish, to swear to defend their statehood, to work full time, and to live in Washington DC, or San Juan.

The consultation – which would not offer voting options to people who do not believe in the statehood proposal – was called for May 16, following the November 3 referendum in which statehood won 52.5% of the vote. The referendum did not comply with the federal government’s public policy, according to the United States Department of Justice.

However, according to the law, from now until February 28, the lobbyists – four “special delegates” in the lower house and two in the Senate – can present their candidacies, although no one is yet clear about this process.

The EEC – which has just gone through an electoral nightmare in 2020 – must order the regulation of the process.

However, its president has not even decided which parties are entitled to a permanent presence in the EEC, according to Puerto Rico’s Independence Party (PIP) election commissioner Roberto Iván Aponte.

Commissioner Aponte also stressed that the law refers to early voting, which has caused so many problems during the last elections.

According to the representative of the New Progressive Party (PNP) José Enrique “Quiquito” Meléndez, before finishing his work, the legislature allocated funds to finance the consultation. It is not clear how much money was allocated. However, the law creating the lobbyists’ delegation does not address how the consultation will be funded.

In theory, the allocation of funds will require the Council’s approval, although the PNP argues that the Promise Act exempts the tax entity from dealing with status issues.

The draft statutes were approved by the last PNP legislature and signed by former governor Vázquez Garced on December 30, in order to avoid being presented to a lower house and a Senate that will not be under the control of Governor Pierluisi’s party. . Vázquez Garced did not announce the signing of the project.

The lower house’s presidential candidate, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández – of the People’s Democratic Party (PPD) – described both laws as undemocratic and warned that his delegation would legislate the convening of a state assembly in search of a trial. free. determination and negotiation with Congress.

Candidates for the state’s six lobbies will be assigned to the Federal Affairs Administration of Puerto Rico (PRFAA). Salary is not specified. The person who leads Prfaa has had a salary of $ 150,000 a year in recent years, and Washington-based commissioner Jenniffer González – like lawmakers – earns $ 174,000 a year.

If the referendum takes place, the six elected lobbyists must take office on July 1.

The next plebiscite

Before leaving La Fortaleza, Vázquez Garced also signed the measure that would allow Governor Pierluisi to appoint a new plebiscite status. Although experts question its constitutionality, the measure is the responsibility of the governor to establish the definitions, alternatives of status and the date of the consultation.

According to the new law 165 of December 30, 2020, the governor will decide “the alternatives that will be presented to the voters on the ballot paper and the question, if any, that will be addressed to the voters within it. In addition, the governor will determine “the meaning of each alternative printed on the ballot paper to be presented to voters.”

When the measure was presented, the general secretary of the PIP, Juan Dalmau, then a senator, considered that the legislation “will turn the governor into a colonial dictator”.