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House approves bill to expand benefits and powers for municipal police after heated debate
Summary
The Puerto Rico House of Representatives approved Proyecto de la Cámara 139, a measure to extend benefits and some powers to municipal police and shift associated costs to the Commonwealth; the bill drew sustained debate over its interaction with the ongoing police reform and potential fiscal and civil‑rights implications.
Representative Ángel Morey, author of Proyecto de la Cámara 139, told the House on April 22 that the bill seeks “to do justice” for municipal police by extending benefits and privileges now enjoyed by state police and having the Commonwealth assume the increased cost rather than municipalities.
The measure, which passed the chamber after amendment, would align certain benefits and legal protections between municipal and state officers and has provisions authorizing the State to assume the fiscal burden of those benefits. “This project recognizes the need to extend benefits and privileges that previously were limited to state police,” Morey said during floor debate.
The bill drew sustained opposition from Representative José Márquez Lebrón and the Puerto Rican…
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