House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico
Type
Type	Lower house
Leadership
Speaker of the House	Jennifer González, (PNP) since January 12, 2009
Majority Leader	Rolando Crespo, (PNP) since 2009
Minority Leader	Héctor Ferrer, (PDP) since 2009
Structure
Members	51
Political groups	New Progressive Party Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
Election
Last election	November 4, 2008
Meeting place
House Chamber, Puerto Rico Capitol, San Juan, PR, US
Web site
http://www.camaraderepresentantes.org/

Puerto Rico

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Puerto Rico

Constitution United States Constitution Puerto Rico Constitution Executive Government Governor: Luis Fortuño (PNP)(R) Executive departments Public corporations Legislature Legislature: 16th Senate President of the Senate: Thomas Rivera Schatz President pro Tempore: Margarita Nolasco Majority Leader: Roberto Arango Minority Leader: Jose Luis Dalmau Santiago House of Representatives Speaker: Jennifer González Majority Leader: Rolando Crespo Minority Leader: Héctor Ferrer Ríos Judiciary Judiciary Supreme Court Elections Elections Political Parties New Progressive Party Popular Democratic Party Political party strength Divisions Municipalities Federal Relations Federal representation United States House of Representatives Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi (PNP)(D) Politics of the United States Insular Cases

Other countries · Atlas  Politics portal view • talk • edit

The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House is composed of 40 district representatives and eleven representatives elected at-large.

The House convenes in the Capitol Building in San Juan.

Contents 1 History 2 Composition 2.1 Leadership 2.2 Current composition 2.3 Members of the House of Representatives 3 Speakers of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives 4 External links

[edit] History

Created in 1900 as the House of Delegates under the Foraker Act, the lower body of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly was the only elected body until the Senate was created in 1917 under the Jones-Shafroth Act, creating a bicameral legislature.

In 1969, the House was controlled by the New Progressive Party, which also controlled the governorship, but not the Senate, Puerto Rico's first experiment with "split" governments. Angel Viera Martinez, a former prosecutor and freshman representative was elected to the first of three stints as Speaker.

In 1973, the Popular Democratic Party reacquired control of the House but was ousted as the majority party in the 1976 elections, won by the NPP. Viera Martinez was elected in 1977 to his second stint as Speaker.

As a result of the 1980 elections, the new House in 1981 was tied, unable to elect a Speaker, as required, by an absolute majority. House Secretary Cristino Bernazard, who normally would have presided over the House until it elected its new Speaker in its inaugural session, became the first unelected Acting Speaker of the House until, after political wrangling, the House elected Viera Martinez once again as Speaker for the remainder of 1981 and maverick PDP Rep. Severo Colberg as Speaker for the remainder of the term until 1984. During Bernazard's incumbency, he appointed co-chairs to the House standing committees and required that all House decisions and legislation be approved by consensus.

Jose Ronaldo "Rony" Jarabo, served as Speaker from 1985 to 1992 and was succeeded by the first woman Speaker, Zaida Hernandez Torres, who served until 1996.

Edison Misla Aldarondo, Hernandez' Speaker pro Tempore, became Speaker in 1997. After he left office in 2000 he was convicted of corruption charges in federal and state courts. He was succeeded in office by Carlos Vizcarrondo during the 2001-2004 term.

In 2005, as a PDP governor took office but the NPP controlled the Senate and the House, José Aponte Hernández, a loyalist of NPP President Pedro Rossello, was elected as Speaker of the House. In addition to the tension with the executive branch, Aponte's term has been tinged with greater-than-average tension with the Senate, in which his support for Rossello's bid to oust Senate President Kenneth McClintock, whom he has called a "traitor" to his party, took him to lead over 20 NPP representatives to converge on the Senate floor in opposition to McClintock's permanence as Senate President, considered by many the all-time historical low-point in Senate-House relations.

[edit] Composition

In order to elect the members of the House, Puerto Rico is divided into forty representative districts. Article VIII of the Constitution of Puerto Rico divides Puerto Rico into eight senatorial districts, each one of them composed of five of the aforementioned representative districts.

For each one of the constituent representative districts, the people of Puerto Rico elect one representative. In addition, the people are allowed to vote for one representative at-large of their preference. The eleven at-large representatives serve alongside district representatives, which totals 51 members.

Article III, Section 5 of the Constitution of Puerto Rico states that no person shall be a member of the Senate unless he:

• is capable of reading and writing in either Spanish or English;
• is a citizen of the United States;
• has resided in Puerto Rico for at least two years immediately prior to the date of his election or appointment;
• is over twenty-five years of age.

[edit] Leadership

Position	Name	Party	District
Speaker of the House	Jenniffer González Colón	NPP	At-Large
Speaker Pro Tempore	Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló	NPP	District 13
Majority Leader	Rolando Crespo	NPP	At-Large
Majority Whip	Angel Perez	NPP	District 6
Minority Leader	Héctor Ferrer	PDP	At-Large
Minority Whip	Luis Raúl Torres Cruz	PDP	District 2

[edit] Current composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	New Progressive	Popular Democratic	Independence		Vacant
End of previous legislature	32	18	1	51	0
Begin	37	14	0	51	0
Latest voting share	72.5%	27.5%

[edit] Members of the House of Representatives

District	Name	Party
1	José López Muñoz	NPP
2	Luis Raúl Torres Cruz	PDP
3	Albita Rivera Ramírez	NPP
4	Liza Fernández Rodríguez	NPP
5	Jorge Navarro Suárez	NPP
6	Angel Perez Otero	NPP
7	Luis Pérez Ortíz	NPP
8	Antonio Silva Delgado	NPP
9	Angel Rodríguez Miranda	NPP
10	Bernardo Márquez García	NPP
11	María Vega Pagán	NPP
12	Héctor Torres Calderón	NPP
13	Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló	NPP
14	Paula Rodríguez Homs	NPP
15	Arnaldo Jiménez Valle	NPP
16	Iván Rodríguez Traverzo	NPP
17	José Rivera Guerra	NPP
18	David Bonilla Cortés	NPP
19	Carlos Hernández López	PDP
20	Norman Ramírez Rivera	NPP
21	Lydia Méndez Silva	PDP
22	Waldemar Quiles Rodríguez	NPP
23	Julissa Nolasco Ortíz	NPP
24	Luis León Rodríguez	NPP
25	Víctor Vasallo Anadón	PDP
26	José Jiménez Negrón	NPP
27	José Torres Ramírez	PDP
28	Rafael Rivera Ortega	NPP
29	Pedro Cintrón Rodríguez	NPP
30	Jorge Ramos Peña	NPP
31	Sylvia Rodríguez Aponte	PDP
32	José Varela Fernández	PDP
33	Angel Peña Ramírez	NPP
34	Cristóbal Colón Ruiz	NPP
35	Narden Jaime Espinosa	PDP
36	Carlos Méndez Nuñez	NPP
37	Angel Bulerín Ramos	NPP
38	Eric Correa Rivera	NPP
39	Roberto Rivera Ruiz de Porras	PDP
40	Elizabeth Casado Irizarry	NPP
At-Large	José Chico Vega	NPP
At-Large	Rolando Crespo Arroyo	NPP
At-Large	Jenniffer González Colón	NPP
At-Large	María de Lourdes Ramos Rivera	NPP
At-Large	Iris Miriam Ruiz Class	NPP
At-Large	Héctor Ferrer	PDP
At-Large	Jorge Colberg Toro	PDP
At-Large	Luis Vega Ramos	PDP
At-Large	José Aponte Hernández	NPP
At-Large	Carmen Cruz Soto	PDP
At-Large	Luis Farinacci Morales	PDP
At-Large	Rafael Hernández Montañez	PDP
At-Large	Brenda López de Arrarás	PDP
At-Large	Jaime Perelló Borrás	PDP

[edit] Speakers of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives

Years	Speaker	Party
1901—1905	unknown
1905—1917	Jose De Diego	Union of Puerto Rico
1917—1933	unknown
1933—1941	Miguel A. García Méndez	Republican Union/Coalition
1941—1945	Samuel R. Quiñones	Popular Democratic
1949—1963	Ernesto Ramos Antonini	Popular Democratic
1963—1965	Santiago Polanco Abreu	Popular Democratic
1965—1969	unknown
1969—1973	Angel Viera Martinez	New Progressive
1973—1977	Luis Ernesto Ramos Yordan	Popular Democratic
1977—1981	Angel Viera Martinez	New Progressive
January—April 1981	Cristino Bernazard (acting)	New Progressive
April—December 1981	Angel Viera Martinez	New Progressive
December 1981—1985	Severo Colberg Ramirez	Popular Democratic
1985—1993	Jose Ronaldo Jarabo	Popular Democratic
1993—1997	Zaida Hernandez Torres	New Progressive
1997—2001	Edison Misla Aldarondo	New Progressive
2001—2005	Carlos Vizcarrondo	Popular Democratic
2005—2009	José Aponte Hernández	New Progressive
2009—present	Jenniffer González Colón	New Progressive

[edit] External links

• Puerto Rico House of Representatives

v • d • e Legislatures of the United States United States Congress United States House of Representatives · United States Senate State legislatures Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S) Territorial legislatures American Samoa (H, S) · District of Columbia · Guam · Northern Mariana Islands (H, S) · Puerto Rico (H, S) · U.S. Virgin Islands