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Representative Aponte presses OGP for permit documents; House authorizes action if deadline missed
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Summary
Representative José Aponte Hernández asked the House to enforce a deadline for the Office of Permits to submit documents connected to a gas‑station permit inquiry and the chamber authorized steps to compel compliance if the agency failed to comply.
Representative José Aponte Hernández used his floor initial turn to press concerns about the Office of Permits (Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos, OPE) and missing documentation for permits tied to a proposed gas station development in San Lorenzo. Aponte said his office and the chamber’s economic development committee had asked OPE for files and that the agency had failed to provide evidence of required public hearings and a statutory feasibility study during the committee review.
Aponte said a resolution previously ordered the committee to investigate permits for the project at PR‑183, km. 11.1, Barrio Cerro Gordo, and that the committee had held public views where witnesses said a 2004 public hearing existed but had not produced documentary proof. Aponte said he gave the agency a deadline (15 days after a June hearing) and later extended timeframes, but by the Sept. 25 session the requested documents still had not been furnished.
On the floor he asked that the House secretary be instructed not to receive further documents after the deadline that OPE had been given and that, if OPE did not comply, the House be authorized to begin legal action to compel the agency to produce the files. The clerk recorded “Habiendo gestión, se autoriza” — the chamber authorized the requested measure to proceed (the transcript records the authorization during the petitions and notifications portion of the session). Later in the day Aponte notified the chamber that OPE had submitted the requested material to the committee.
Action: The House authorized the clerk/secretary to act on Representative Aponte Hernández’s petition to enforce the deadline and use legal remedies if OPE failed to provide required documentation. Aponte later reported to the chamber that OPE had produced the requested records to the committee.
