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Puerto Rico Senate approves two interim appointments, advances health-access bill and orders payroll probe
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Summary
The Senate approved interim appointments for Education and Emergency Management leaders, introduced a bill to improve services for Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis patients, and moved forward a resolution to investigate Department of Education payroll overpayments dating to 2007.
The Senate considered several resolutions and bills and approved two interim executive appointments while directing attention to health access and alleged payroll irregularities.
Speaker 3 (Unidentified Speaker) presented a resolution expressing the Senate’s approval of Eliezer Ramos Parés as interim Secretary of the Department of Education, allowing him to continue leading the agency through the end of the second ordinary session of the 19th Legislative Assembly. A voice vote was called and the resolution was announced as approved.
Speaker 3 also presented a separate resolution designating Nino Correa Filomeno as interim commissioner of the Emergency Management and Disaster Administration Bureau (NMEAD). The body took a voice vote and the resolution was announced as approved.
Speaker 2 (Unidentified Speaker) introduced Senate Bill 228, titled to create a law to facilitate access for patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The bill, as described, would direct agencies, municipalities and private entities that receive public funds to establish procedures including issuing identification cards to affected persons and creating an express line system to facilitate service access; further legislative consideration was indicated.
The Senate also moved on measures related to financial oversight. Speaker 10 (Unidentified Speaker) recounted communications between the Financial Oversight and Management Board and government offices concerning implementation of Ley 80 and urged transparency about the administrative record submitted to the Oversight Board. Speaker 8 (Unidentified Speaker) criticized Ley 22’s incentive framework, saying, “Cuando usted tiene una ley que funciona a base de la teoría de la vela” and pressed for empirical data on how many beneficiaries of Ley 22 had created jobs in Puerto Rico; staff replied that the specific data requested was not immediately available.
On accountability in the Department of Education, Speaker 7 referenced a joint resolution (Senate 121) ordering departmental review, and Speaker 11 explained a separate resolution (referred to as Senate Resolution 81) to investigate improper payroll payments from 2007 to the present and to examine the causes and the agencies’ plans to prevent recurrence. Speaker 11 summarized that the purpose was “investigar los pagos indebidos de nómina realizados desde el año dos mil siete hasta el presente por el departamento de educación.”
No roll-call vote counts were recorded in the transcript for the matters announced as approved; approvals were stated following voice votes. The session also included nonlegislative remarks, such as Speaker 7’s address to youth in the Ponce senatorial district and Speaker 9’s remarks inaugurating a symposium on rare diseases organized by the Erik Foundation of Puerto Rico.
What happens next: the interim appointments take effect as approved by Senate resolution; the introduced bill and the payroll-investigation resolution proceed through the Senate’s legislative process and any committee work reflected in future sessions.
