House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

House of Representatives of Puerto Rico Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico
Type
Type	Lower house
Leadership
Speaker of the House	Jenniffer A. González Colón, (NPP) since January 12, 2009
Majority Leader	Carlos J. Méndez Núñez, (NPP) since March 2011
Minority Leader	Héctor Ferrer Ríos, (PDP) since January 2, 2005
Members	54
Political groups	New Progressive Party Popular Democratic Party
Elections
Last election	November 4, 2008
Meeting place
House Chamber, Puerto Rico Capitol, San Juan, PR, US
Website
http://www.camaraderepresentantes.org/

Puerto Rico

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Puerto Rico

Constitution United States Constitution Puerto Rico Constitution Legislature Legislature: 16th Senate President of the Senate: Thomas Rivera Schatz President pro Tempore: Margarita Nolasco Majority Leader: Larry Seilhamer Minority Leader: José Dalmau Santiago House of Representatives Speaker: Jennifer González Majority Leader: Johnny Méndez Minority Leader: Héctor Ferrer Ríos Executive Government Governor: Luis Fortuño (PNP)(R) Executive departments Public corporations Judiciary Judiciary Supreme Court Elections Elections Political Parties New Progressive Party Popular Democratic Party Puerto Rico Independence Party Political party strength Divisions Municipalities Federal Relations Federal representation United States House of Representatives Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi (PNP)(D) Politics of the United States Insular Cases

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The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico (Cámara de Representantes de Puerto Rico) is the lower house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The House is composed of 40 district representatives and eleven representatives elected at-large.

The House convenes in the Capitol Building in San Juan.

Contents 1 History 2 Composition 3 Leadership 4 Current composition 5 Members 6 Speakers 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History

Created in 1900 as the House of Delegates under the Foraker Act, the lower body of the Puerto Rico Legislative Assembly was the only elected body until the Senate was created in 1917 under the Jones-Shafroth Act, creating a bicameral legislature.

The House of Delegates was controlled by the Republican Party from its creation in 1900 through 1904. In January 1905, the House switched to control by the Union Party, which would remain in power until 1924. A coalition of the Republican and Socialist Parties controlled the House until 1944, save for a brief period from 1941 to 1943 of the Popular Democratic Party.

After the Popular Democratic Party's landslide victory in 1944, that Party controlled the House until 1969, when the New Progressive Party won the House and the governorship, but not the Senate, creating Puerto Rico's first "split" government. Angel Viera Martinez, a former prosecutor and freshman representative from San Juan, was elected to the first of three stints as Speaker.

In 1973, the Popular Democratic Party reacquired control of the House but was ousted as the majority party in the 1976 elections, won by the New Progressive Party. Viera Martinez was elected in 1977 to his second stint as Speaker.

As a result of the 1980 elections, the New Progressive Party had won 26 seats and the Popular Democratic Party 25, but the latter challenged the results of the 35th Representative District, creating a tie with each Party holding 25 seats, pending the final results of that district.^[1] Since the new House in 1981 was tied, it was unable to elect a Speaker, as required, by an absolute majority. To complicate matters, Ramón Muñíz (PDP-32nd District) died in the House Floor on January 1981 and Representative-elect Fernando Tonos Florenzán's election was invalidated due to him not having the Constitutionally requiered 25 years to serve in the House,^[2] leaving the House with 25 New Progressives and 23 Popular Democrats. House Secretary Cristino Bernazard, who normally would have presided over the House only until it elected its new Speaker in its inaugural session, became the first unelected Acting Speaker of the House. During Bernazard's incumbency, he appointed co-chairs to the House standing committees and required that all House decisions and legislation be approved by consensus. After some political wrangling, in what became known as the Viera-Colberg Pact, the House elected Viera Martinez once again as Speaker for the remainder of 1981 and maverick Popular Democratic Rep. Severo Colberg Ramírez as Speaker from 1982 until 1984. In late 1981, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Popular Democratic candidate in the 35th District, and with the Popular Democrats finally filling in the two vacancies they had, that Party gained control of the House, with a mayority of 26.

Even though the Popular Democratic Party retained the House in the 1984 General Elections, Colberg was not re-elected Speaker, and instead José Ronaldo "Rony" Jarabo, served as Speaker from 1985 to 1992. Jarabo was defeated in a primary in 1992, and as the New Progressive Party won the 1992 General Elections, he was succeeded by the first woman Speaker, Zaida Hernandez Torres, who served until 1996, when she left the House to run for Mayor of San Juan.

Hernandez's Speaker pro Tempore, Edison Misla Aldarondo, became Speaker in 1997. After he left office in 2000 he was convicted of corruption charges in federal and state courts. He was succeeded in office by Carlos Vizcarrondo during the 2001-2004 term.

In 2005, as a Popular Democratic governor took office, the New Progressive Party controlled the Senate and the House, and José Aponte Hernández, a loyalist of former Governor Pedro Rosselló, was elected as Speaker of the House. In addition to the tension with the executive branch, Aponte's term was been tinged with greater-than-average tension with the Senate, in which his support for Rossello's bid to oust Senate President Kenneth McClintock, whom he called a "traitor" to his Party, took him to lead over 20 New Progressive representatives to converge on the Senate floor in opposition to McClintock's permanence as Senate President, considered by many the all-time historical low-point in Senate-House relations.

Aponte was defeated for re-election as Speaker in the House Caucus held after the 2008 General Elections, and Jenniffer A. González Colón became the new Speaker, taking office on January 12, 2009.

Composition

Puerto Rico is divided into forty representative districts. Article VIII of the Constitution of Puerto Rico divides Puerto Rico into eight senatorial districts, each one of them composed of five of the aforementioned representative districts.

For each one of the constituent representative districts, the people of Puerto Rico elect one representative. In addition, people are allowed to vote for one representative of their preference at-large. The eleven at-large representatives serve alongside district representatives, totaling 51 members.

Article III, Section 5 of the Constitution of Puerto Rico states that no person shall be a member of the House of Representatives unless he:

• is capable of reading and writing in either Spanish or English;
• is a citizen of the United States;
• has resided in Puerto Rico for at least two years immediately prior to the date of his/her election or appointment;
• is over twenty-five years of age.

Furthermore, Section 9 of the same Article states that should a Party control more than two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, the losing candidates with the most percentage of votes will be given seats in the Legislature until the total of minority members reaches seventeen (17). In order to qualify to a Section 9 seat, the candidates must belong to a party that received a minimum amount of votes in the General Elections of that year.

Leadership

Position	Name	Party	District
Speaker of the House	Jenniffer González Colón	NPP	At-Large
Speaker Pro Tempore	Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló	NPP	District 13
Majority Leader	Carlos J. Méndez Núñez	NPP	At-Large
Majority Whip	Angel Perez Otero	NPP	District 6
Minority Leader	Héctor Ferrer Ríos	PDP	At-Large
Minority Whip	Luis Raúl Torres Cruz	PDP	District 2

Current composition

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total
	New Progressive	Popular Democratic	Independence		Vacant
End of previous legislature	32	18	1	51	0
Begin	37	17	0	54	0
Latest voting share	72.5%	27.5%

Members

District	Name	Party
1	José López Muñoz	PNP
2	Luis Raúl Torres Cruz	PPD
3	Albita Rivera Ramírez	PNP
4	Liza Fernández Rodríguez	PNP
5	Jorge Navarro Suárez	PNP
6	Angel Perez Otero	PNP
7	Luis Pérez Ortíz	PNP
8	Antonio Silva Delgado	PNP
9	Angel Rodríguez Miranda	PNP
10	Bernardo Márquez García	PNP
11	María Vega Pagán	PNP
12	Héctor Torres Calderón	PNP
13	Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló	PNP
14	Paula Rodríguez Homs	PNP
15	Arnaldo Jiménez Valle	PNP
16	Eric Alfaro	PNP
17	José Rivera Guerra	PNP
18	David Bonilla Cortés	PNP
19	Carlos Hernández López	PPD
20	Norman Ramírez Rivera	PNP
21	Lydia Méndez Silva	PPD
22	Waldemar Quiles Rodríguez	PNP
23	Julissa Nolasco Ortíz	PNP
24	Luis León Rodríguez	PNP
25	Víctor Vasallo Anadón	PPD
26	José Jiménez Negrón	PNP
27	José Torres Ramírez	PPD
28	Rafael Rivera Ortega	PNP
29	Pedro Cintrón Rodríguez	PNP
30	Jorge Ramos Peña	PNP
31	Sylvia Rodríguez Aponte	PPD
32	José Varela Fernández	PPD
33	Angel Peña Ramírez	PNP
34	Cristóbal Colón Ruiz	PNP
35	Narden Jaime Espinosa	PPD
36	Carlos Méndez Nuñez	PNP
37	Angel Bulerín Ramos	PNP
38	Eric Correa Rivera	PNP
39	Roberto Rivera Ruiz de Porras	PPD
40	Elizabeth Casado Irizarry	PNP
At-Large	José Chico Vega	PNP
	José E. Meléndez Ortiz	PNP
	Jenniffer González Colón	PNP
	María de Lourdes Ramos Rivera	PNP
	Iris Miriam Ruiz Class	PNP
	Héctor Ferrer Ríos	PPD
	Jorge Colberg Toro*	PPD
	Luis Vega Ramos	PPD
	José F. Aponte Hernández	PNP
	Carmen Cruz Soto	PPD
	Pedro Rodríguez González*	PPD
	Rafael Hernández Montañez*	PPD
	Brenda López de Arrarás	PPD
	Jaime Perelló Borrás	PPD

[*] Elected by Addition (Defeated in elections, but holds a seat because of Section 9 of Articule III of the Constitution. See above.)

Speakers

#	Portrait	Name	From	Until	Party	President Pro-Tempore
1		Manuel F. Rossy Calderón	December 3, 1900	December 31, 1904	Republican
2		Rosendo Matienzo Cintrón	January 10, 1905	December 31, 1906	Union
3		Francisco P. Acuña y Paniagua	January 14, 1907	March 6, 1907	Union
4	The file File:Jose de Diego 2.jpg has an uncertain copyright status and may be deleted. You can comment on its removal.	José de Diego Martínez	March 6, 1907	July 16, 1918	Union	Juan B. Huyke Bozello
5		Juan B. Huyke Bozello	November 26, 1918	December 31, 1920	Union	Miguel Guerra Mondragón
6		Cayetano Coll y Cuchí	February 14, 1921	February 11, 1923	Union	Alfonso Lastra Chárriez
7		Miguel Guerra Mondragrón	February 12, 1923	December 31, 1924	Union	Alfonso Lastra Chárriez
8		José Tous Soto	February 9, 1925	February 18, 1930	Republican	Miguel Guerra Modragón 1925-1929 Benigno Fernández García 1929-1930
9		Manuel F. Rossy Calderón	February 20, 1930	August 6, 1932	Republican	Enrique Landrón Otero 1930 Rafael Alonso Torres 1930-1931
10		Rafael Alonso Torres	October 18, 1932	December 31, 1932	Socialist	Jorge Romaní
11		Miguel A. García Méndez	February 13, 1933	December 31, 1940	Republican	Rafael Alonso Torres
12		Samuel R. Quiñones Quiñones	February 12, 1941	March 5, 1943	Popular Democratic	Luis Sánchez Frasqueri
13		Rafael Arrillaga Torrens	March 5, 1943	February 24, 1944	Socialist	Julio Reguero González
14		Rafael Rodríguez Pacheco	February 24, 1944	December 31, 1944	Republican	Julio Reguero González
15		María L. Gómez Garriga	January 11, 1945	February 12, 1945	Popular Democratic	Guillermo Alicea Campos
16		Francisco M. Susoni Abreu	February 12, 1945	June 5, 1948	Popular Democratic	Ernesto Ramos Antonini
17		Ernesto Ramos Antonini	June 22, 1948	January 9, 1963	Popular Democratic	Benjamín Ortiz Ortiz 1949-1952 María L. Gómez Garriga 1953-1956 Jorge Font Saldaña 1957-1962
18		Santiago Polanco Abreu	January 14, 1963	December 31, 1964	Popular Democratic	Benjamín Ortiz Ortiz
19		Arcilio Alvarado Alvarado	January 11, 1965	December 31, 1968	Popular Democratic	Aguedo Mojica
20		Angel Viera Martínez	January 13, 1969	December 31, 1972	New Progressive	Rubén Otero Bosco 1969-1970 José E. Salichs Lope de Haro 1970-1972
21		Luis E. Ramos Yordán	January 8, 1973	December 31, 1976	Popular Democratic	Severo Colberg Ramírez
22		Angel Viera Martínez	January 10, 1977	January 28, 1982	New Progressive	José N. Granados Navedos 1977 - 1978 José E. Salichs Lope de Haro 1978 - December 31, 1980 Severo Colberg Ramírez 1981 - 1982
23		Severo Colberg Ramírez	January 28, 1982	December 31, 1984	Popular Democratic	Presby Santiago García
24		José R. Jarabo Alvarez	January 14, 1985	December 31, 1992	Popular Democratic	Samuel Ramírez Torres
25		Zaida R. Hernández Torres	January 11, 1993	December 31, 1996	New Progressive	Edison Misla Aldarondo
26		Edison Misla Aldarondo	January 13, 1997	December 31, 2000	New Progressive	José N. Granados Navedos January 1997 - June 30, 1999 Edwin Mundo Ríos June 30, 1999 - December 31, 2000
27		Carlos Vizcarrondo Irizarry	January 8, 2001	December 31, 2004	Popular Democratic	Ferdinand Pérez Román
28		José F. Aponte Hernández	January 10, 2005	December 31, 2008	New Progressive	Epifanio Jiménez Cruz
29		Jenniffer A. González Colón	January 12, 2009	present	New Progressive	Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló

See also

• List of Mayority Leaders of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives
• List of Minority Leaders of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives
• List of female members of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

References

External links

• Puerto Rico House of Representatives

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