The administration of Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia opens the year with a new process related to status

Washington dc – Unless the law is successfully challenged in court or rejected by the Board of Fiscal Supervision (JSF), Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia will begin his term by urging the State Election Commission (EEC) to hold a new consultation on political status.

Before ceasing her duties, Governor Wanda Vázquez turned into law on December 30 the call for a consultation that, with public funds, would allow to choose intriguing 06:00 of the state that will have to work full time from the Federal Affairs Administration (Prfaa) with no other task than to promote Puerto Rico to the 51st state in the United States.

He also signed on that day the measure that leaves it in the hands of Governor Pierluisi to convene a new plebiscite for the state, the definitions must be decided by decree, without the approval of the Legislature of Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rican Law 167 of December 30, 2020, which seeks to choose intriguing statesmen, requires candidates to be fluent in both English and Spanish, swear to defend their statehood, work full-time, and reside in Washington DC. or St. John.

The consultation – which would not offer options on the ballot to people who do not believe in the proposed state of residence – was called for May 16, after the referendum on November 3 in which the state of get 52.5% of the vote. This referendum did not comply with the federal government’s public policy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

But, according to the law, from now until 28 February the aspirants to intriguers – 04:00 ‘special delegates’ in the lower house and two in the Senate-, can present their candidacies, despite that no one is clear about the process yet.

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

However, its president has not even decided which parties have the right to a permanent presence in the EEC, according to the electoral commissioner of the Puerto Rican Independentist Party (PIP), Roberto Iván Aponte.

Commissioner Aponte also stressed that the law refers to the early vote that caused so many problems during the last election.

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 unclear how much money he has taken allocated. The law that creates the delegation of intriguers, however, does not allude to how the consultation will be funded.

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

The projects for the state were approved by the last Legislature of the PNP and signed by the now ex-governor Vázquez Garced on December 30, in order to avoid having to present it to a lower house and Senate that will not be under the control of Governor Pierluisi’s party. Vázquez Garced did not announce the signing of the project.

The candidate for president of the lower house, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández – from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) – described the two laws as anti-democratic and warned that his delegation would legislate the convening of a Status Assembly, in the search for a process of self-determination and negotiation with Congress.

Applicants for the state’s six intriguing posts will be assigned to the Federal Affairs Administration of Puerto Rico (Prfaa). The salary is not required. The person who runs Prfaa has had a salary of $ 150,000 a year in recent years and Washington-based commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez – like congressmen – earns $ 174,000 a year.

If the referendum is held, the six elected intriguers will have to begin their duties on 1 July next.

The next plebiscite

Before leaving the Fortress, Vázquez Garced also signed the measure that would allow Governor Pierluisi to convene a new plebiscite for the state. Although experts question its constitutionality, the measure leaves it up to the governor to establish the definitions, alternatives for the status and 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 voters on the ballot and the question, if any, that will be posed to voters in the same ballot “. In addition, the governor will determine “the meaning of each printed alternative to the ballot paper that will be presented to voters.”

When the measure was introduced, PIP general secretary Joan Dalmau, then a senator, considered that the legislation “would turn a governor into a colonial dictator”.