House retirement panel hears backing for bill to restore pension purchasing power

Representative Lourdes Ramos Rivera, sponsor of House Bill 45, presided over a March 18, 2025, public hearing of the House Commission on Retirement Systems that featured testimony urging prompt approval of the measure to protect the purchasing power of pensions for public employees, retirees from government corporations and municipalities, and future beneficiaries.

The bill’s proponents said the measure would provide an initial one-time increase—structured as an increase between 10% and 7% in the first year with a cap tied to a maximum monthly amount—and establish an ongoing adjustment indexed to the federal Social Security cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) or a comparable index, with funding identified largely from net receipts of Puerto Rico’s sales‑and‑use tax (IVU).

Pedro Pastrana, a retired professor and spokesman for the chapter of retirees affiliated with the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico and the Frente en Defensa de las Pensiones, presented a detailed written ponencia and framed the bill as a response to long-running loss of purchasing power. Pastrana said the retirement population is large and vulnerable: “Invertir en los jubilados es invertir en el desarrollo social económico de Puerto Rico.” He cited studies…