The Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico () is the territorial legislature of the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, responsible for the legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico. The Assembly is a

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

legislature consisting of an

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

(Spanish: ''Senado'') normally composed of 27 senators, and the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

(Spanish: ''Cámara de Representantes'') normally consisting of 51 representatives. Eleven members of each house are elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

rather than from a specific legislative district with all members being elected for a four-year term without

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

. The structure and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly are defined in Article III of the

Constitution of Puerto Rico The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico () is the primary organizing law for the unincorporated U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of Puerto Rico in nine art ...

which vests all legislative power in the Legislative Assembly. Every bill must be passed by both houses and signed by the

Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico () is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Elected to a 4 year-term through popular vote by the residents of the archipelago and island, ...

to become law. Each house has its unique powers. The constitution also states that each house shall be the unique judge on the legal capacity of its members. The constitution also grants

parliamentary immunity Parliamentary immunity, also known as legislative immunity, is a system in which politicians or other political leaders are granted full immunity from legal prosecution, both civil prosecution and criminal prosecution, in the course of the exe ...

to all elected members of the Legislative Assembly. The assembly currently in session is the 19th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, composed of the 27th Senate and the 31st House of Representatives. The Legislative Assembly convenes at the Capitol in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

History

The House of Representatives is the oldest legislative body in Puerto Rico. It was formed on November 25, 1897, when the

Spanish government The government of Spain () is the central government which leads the executive branch and the General State Administration of the Kingdom of Spain. The Government consists of the Prime Minister and the Ministers; the prime minister has the o ...

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta granted autonomy to the archipelago, creating a House that was composed of 32 members. In addition to the House, there was also an Administrative Council of 15 members, eight of whom were elected by a "Colegio de Compromisarios" and the other seven were named by the

Governor General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

in representation of the Spanish monarch. After Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States on July 25, 1898, as part of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, a military government was imposed archipelago. This was until April 12, 1900, when the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

approved the first civil government for Puerto Rico under the federal Foraker Act. The act granted the archipelago with a civil governor (named by the

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

) and a House of Delegates composed of 35 members elected by the people of Puerto Rico, as well as an Executive Council of 11 members, designated all by the U.S. president, and six sitting members consisting of the governor's cabinet. The political arrangement under the Foraker Act continued until 1917. On March 2 of that year, president

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

approved the Jones–Shafroth Act (), which provided for the creation of an completely separate

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

with regards to the Executive branch in sections 25-39 of the statute. It established a House of Representatives with 39 members and a Senate of 19 members, all elected directly by the people of the unincorporated territory. Puerto Rico was then divided into 7 senatorial districts and 35 house districts. The first Senate of Puerto Rico was elected in July 1917. The unincorporated territory is divided into 8 senatorial and 40 House districts. On July 25, 1952, the

was formally adopted, establishing the current House of Representantes and Senate as the bicameral houses of the Legislative Assembly (as stated in Article III).

Powers

The Constitution of Puerto Rico vests all legislative powers in the Legislative Assembly. Each house has the sole power to be the judge of the legal capacities of its members. The members of both houses are protected by parliamentary immunity, which Article III, Section 14 states "no member of the Legislative Assembly shall be imprisoned...", they also shall not be held accountable for anything said in the floor. Each House holds exclusive powers that are not given to the other. The House of Representatives has the exclusive power to initiate an

impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...

process and the Senate the exclusive power to pass judgement. All laws dealing with the commonwealth budget or taxes must originate in the House of Representatives. The Senate retains the exclusive power to extend its consent to appointments to government offices made by the governor (judges, cabinet secretaries and others) as stated by law or Constitution. The Legislative Assembly, with the consent of two-thirds of each chamber may propose amendments to the constitution. Proposed amendments are then subject to approval by the people of Puerto Rico in a referendum. It also has the power to consolidate or create municipalities.

Qualifications

Under Article III, Sections 5 and 6, members of the Legislative Assembly must be fluent in either Spanish or English, must be a citizen of the United States and Puerto Rico, and have resided in Puerto Rico for at least two years prior to their election. Senators must be at least 30 years old, while House representatives must be at least 25 years old. Both Senators and Representatives (except those elected

) must reside in their constituent district at least one year prior to their election.

Sessions

The following is a list of legislative assemblies, with a count starting on the legislature elected in the 1948 Puerto Rican general election, following the enactment of the Puerto Rico Elective Governor Act of 1947 by president

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...

Moves to unicameralism

Act No. 477 of September 23, 2004 provided for a referendum to be held on July 10, 2005, in which Puerto Rican voters were to indicate if they favored changing the Legislative Assembly to a single house, or maintain the bicameral legislature established by the 1917 Jones Act, which had been retained (with modifications) by the 1952 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. A vote for unicameralism would constitute a mandate for the Legislative Assembly to hold a second referendum on July 9, 2007, on the constitutional amendment that would establish a unicameral legislature by 2009. In the unicameral referendum held on July 10, 2005, Puerto Rican voters approved a mandate for the Legislative Assembly to hold a second referendum on the constitutional amendment that would establish

unicameral legislature Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

by 456,267 votes in favor, versus 88,720 against;

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

was only 22.6%, the lowest turnout figure in Puerto Rico's electoral history, vastly below the 81.7% that had gone to the polls just a few months earlier for the general election. Another referendum was scheduled for July 2007 to approve the specific amendments to the Constitution of Puerto Rico that are required for the change. However, the

Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the highest court of Puerto Rico, having judicial authority to interpret and decide questions of Puerto Rican law. The Court is analogous to one of the state supreme courts of the states of the United State ...

ruled in June that it could not force the Legislative Assembly to initiate a constitutional amendment process to become a single chamber legislature.José Córdova Iturregui y Otros vs. Cámara de Representantes del Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, 2007 TSPR 133 Further moves to unicameralism have been tabled.

Agencies

Agencies of the legislative branch include: * Commission on Civil Rights *

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

* Office of Legislative Services *

Ombudsman An ombudsman ( , also ) is a government employee who investigates and tries to resolve complaints, usually through recommendations (binding or not) or mediation. They are usually appointed by the government or by parliament (often with a sign ...

* Superintendency of the Capitol

Notes

References

External links

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

Senate of Puerto Rico

{{Authority control Legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...