The Puerto Rico Planning Board was created in the 1940s during Rexford G. Tugwell's governorship and is the only state government agency in charge of centralized planning under the American flag. Its creation was in keeping with Tugwell's New Deal philosophy that Puerto Rico should operate under a highly centralized, all-encompassing territorial government.
For decades, the Planning Board was in charge of all economic planning, land use zoning and case-by-case permitting in Puerto Rico. In the 1970s the permitting process was delegated to another government agency, the Rules and Permits Administration (ARPE) and since the late 1990s, major cities have been taking over that role in their own jurisdictions.
The Planning Board currently has a Chair and four Associate Members, all appointed by the Governor and requiring the consent of the Puerto Rico Senate.
As a result of the current partisan split between the Executive and Legislative branches during the 2005-2008 term, half of the associate members identify with Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's Popular Democratic Party and half identify with Senate President Kenneth McClintock's New Progressive Party.