Senate committee questions nominee for consumer-affairs secretary on staffing, condo disputes and solar complaints

Summary

At a Feb. 5, 2024 confirmation hearing, Lizuanet González Ruiz, nominee for secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), outlined agency accomplishments and priorities and faced questions about staffing levels, condominium litigation, solar-panel complaints and regional office conditions; the committee requested follow-up data within five days.

Lizuanet González Ruiz, nominated by Governor Pedro Pierlisi Urrutia to be secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO), told the Senate Nominations Committee on Feb. 5, 2024, that the agency has taken steps to speed consumer cases, expand specialized units and detect fraud, but senators pressed her on staffing, regional office conditions and complaints tied to solar installations.

González Ruiz opened her presentation by recounting her legal and public-service background and her time at DACO, including service as subsecretary and interim director. "Durante el año natural dos mil veintitrés, el departamento emitió un total de nueve mil trescientas veintiséis resoluciones en mérito," she said, and added that remedies obtained for consumers in 2023 totaled approximately $9,901,331.54.

She described recent organizational changes: decentralizing condominium-complaint adjudication to regional offices (Arecibo, Caguas, Mayagüez, Ponce and San Juan) under administrative order 2023-4; creating an office for renewable-energy matters that she said "redujo de cuatrocientas treinta y cuatro a treinta el número de querellas en proceso sobre estas plataformas en apenas noventa días"; and launching a…

Senate committee questions nominee for consumer-affairs secretary on staffing, condo disputes and solar complaints

Summary

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