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Representative presses for more time to review Secretary of State nominee file ahead of public hearing
Summary
Representative Denis Márquez Lebrón said the House needs reasonable time to review the nomineefile and said scheduling the committee review only 90 minutes before the public hearing would not allow proper study.
Representative Denis Márquez Lebrón urged the House of Representatives on April 3 to allow more time to review the file of the governor's nominee for secretary of state before the scheduled confirmation hearing.
Msaid the nominee's file was reported to be delivered the day before the hearing and that the Government Committee planned to meet only an hour and a half before the public session to examine the expediente.
"No lo es una hora y media antes..." Márquez Lebrón said, arguing that an hour-and-a-half review window for more than ten committee members, including party spokespeople, is "atropellado" and would not permit a responsible evaluation. He said the secretary of state is among the few positions the House handles and is especially consequential because the office can succeed the governor in case of incapacity.
MMarchived for study in advance, Márquez Lebrón said he and Alternate Spokesperson Adriana Gutiérrez had sent a letter to the Government Committee president offering to review the expediente the day before the hearing if provided then; press reports, he said, indicated the nominee would deliver the file the day before at about 2 p.m.
Representative José Aponte Hernández spoke after Márquez Lebrón and said he expected the Government Committee president to be fair and to provide sufficient notice and access to the file. Aponte thanked the committee president's prior transparency in hearings and said he did not anticipate a different process in this case.
No formal motion or vote on scheduling was recorded during the remarks. The House recorded the exchange during the body's initial remarks on April 3 as members discussed the upcoming confirmation hearing schedule.
The exchange is significant because the secretary of state is a constitutionally important office: the secretary can assume the governor's duties if the governor is unable to serve. Members pressing for additional review time said that importance justifies a longer preview period for the nominee's file.
The House's Government Committee will convene on the day of the hearing at the time announced by the committee president; the exact final schedule and whether additional review time will be granted were not specified on the House floor.
