The 16th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico will meet from January 2, 2009, to January 1, 2013. All members of the House of Representatives and the Senate were elected in the General Elections of 2008. The House and the Senate both have a majority of members from the New Progressive Party.
Office | Senator | Party | District |
---|---|---|---|
President | Thomas Rivera Schatz | PNP | At-Large |
Vice President | Margarita Nolasco | PNP | At-Large |
Majority Leader | Roberto Arango (2009-2011) | PNP | District I |
Larry Seilhamer (2011–present) | PNP | District V | |
Minority Leader | Jose Luis Dalmau | PPD | District VII |
Office | Representative | Party | District |
---|---|---|---|
Speaker of the House | Jennifer Gonzalez | PNP | At-Large |
Speaker Pro Tem | Gabriel Rodriguez Aguilo | PNP | District 13 |
Majority Leader | Rolando Crespo (2008-2011) | PNP | At-large |
Johnny Méndez (2011–present) | PNP | District 36 | |
Minority Leader | Hector Ferrer | PPD | At-Large |
District | Former senator | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's installation |
---|---|---|---|---|
VIII - Carolina | Héctor Martínez | Resigned March 12, 2011 after being found guilty for corruption. [1] | Roger Iglesias | June 25, 2011 |
I - San Juan | Roberto Arango | Resigned August 28, 2011 after personal scandal. [2] | Liza Fernández | May 10, 2012 [3] |
VI - Guayama | Antonio Soto Díaz | Resigned September 14, 2011 due to investigation on his campaign finances. [4] | Miguel A. Rodríguez | May 10, 2012 [3] |
At-large | Eder Ortíz | Resigned December 31, 2011 to become PPD Electoral Commissioner. [5] | Angel Rodríguez Otero | August 24, 2012 [6] |
District | Former senator | Reason for change | Successor | Date of successor's installation |
---|---|---|---|---|
At-large | Iris Miriam Ruíz | Resigned on March 1, 2010 after being appointed Ombudswoman. [7] | José Torres Zamora | June 2, 2010 |
16 | Iván Rodríguez Traverzo | Expelled on December 10, 2010 after accusations of bribery. [8] | Eric Alfaro | April 11, 2011 |
At-large | Luis Farinacci | Resigned January 19, 2011 after allegations of domestic violence. [9] | Pedro A. Rodríguez | March 3, 2011 |
At-large | Rolando Crespo | Resigned February 27, 2011 after positive drug test. [10] | José Enrique Meléndez | May 23, 2011 |
At-large | Héctor Ferrer | Resigned March 15, 2012 after allegations of domestic abuse. [11] | Eduardo Ferrer | May 24, 2012 |
4 | Liza Fernández | Resigned to fill vacant seat in the Senate of Puerto Rico. | Víctor Parés | May 24, 2012 |
María de Lourdes Santiago Negrón is a Puerto Rican lawyer and politician from Adjuntas. She is the current vice-president of the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) and in 2004 became the first woman from that party to be elected into the Senate in the history of Puerto Rico. She currently serves as Senator at-large at the Puerto Rico Senate after being elected in 2020 with the most votes of any candidate.
Jorge Adolfo de Castro-Font is a former Puerto Rican senator and former member of the House of Representatives. Originally, he was a member of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) but became an independent representative in 2001 after inner disputes with his party. In 2002, he became a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) and was elected Senator in 2004 and 2008, despite inner struggles within the party and legal issues.
Liza Fernández Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican attorney and politician affiliated with the New Progressive Party (PNP). Fernández was a member of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico from 2005 to 2012, and of the Senate of Puerto Rico from 2012 to 2013. In December 2012, after her electoral defeat, Fernández was confirmed as a Superior Judge.
Roberto Arango-Vinent is an American politician who served in the Senate of Puerto Rico from January 2005 until August 2011 representing the San Juan district for the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (NPP), which is a conservative group derived from the Republican Statehood Party.
Carlos Alberto Díaz Sánchez is a Puerto Rican politician, and former member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and Senate.
Lawrence N. "Larry" Seilhamer Rodríguez is a Puerto Rican politician who was the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. He is affiliated with the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP), and was a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico from January 7, 2009 until January 15, 2020. Seilhamer is also a former basketball player for the Baloncesto Superior Nacional from 1972 to 1984. On December 2, 2020, he was nominated as Puerto Rico Secretary of State by Governor-elect Pedro R. Pierluisi.
The Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (PRDNER) is the executive department of the government of Puerto Rico tasked with protecting, conserving, developing, and managing the natural and environmental resources in Puerto Rico. As of April 2022 the current interim Secretary is Anaí Rodríguez after the resignation of Rafael A. Machargo. As of November 2020 the department has 1,096 employees.
José Figueroa Sancha is a former superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police Department and former deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Puerto Rico. After being appointed by governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño as superintendent in 2008, he resigned in 2011 amidst criticisms in the middle of a crime wave in the island.
Héctor Javier Martínez Maldonado is a former Puerto Rican politician, attorney and former senator of Puerto Rico. He served as senator of the District of Carolina from 2004 until 2011. Martínez was convicted of bribery by a federal jury on March 8, 2011 and is involve in William’s situation helping the federal government because he served and apparently is making a deal with the federal government. after he resigned his seat on March 12, 2011.
Antonio "Toñito" Soto Díaz, commonly known as El Chuchín, was a Puerto Rican politician and former Senator.
Nicolás Nogueras Cartagena was a Puerto Rican politician, commentator and senator. He was a member of the Senate of Puerto Rico for two separate periods of time. First from 1973 to 1985, and then from 1992 to 1996.
The 29th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico is the lower house of the 17th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico and will meet from January 14, 2013, to January 8, 2017. All members were elected in the General Elections of 2012. The House has a majority of members from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD).
The free association movement in Puerto Rico refers to initiatives throughout the history of Puerto Rico aimed at changing the current political status of Puerto Rico to that of a sovereign freely associated state. Locally, the term soberanista refers to someone that seeks to redefine the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States to that of a compact with full sovereignty. The term is mostly used in reference to those that support a compact of free association or a variation of this formula, commonly known as Estado Libre Asociado (ELA) Soberano, between Puerto Rico and the United States. Members of the independence movement that are willing to pursue alliances with this ideology are occasionally referred to as such, but are mostly known as independentistas. Consequently, soberanismo then became the local name for the free association movement.
The Secretary of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico is responsible for structuring, developing, and coordinating the public policies of Puerto Rico over its correctional system and the rehabilitation of its adult and young population.
Andrés Waldemar Volmar Méndez was a Puerto Rican politician and public servant for the New Progressive Party (PNP). He served as the Secretary of Sports and Recreation of Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2018, under Governor Ricardo Rosselló. Volmar ran for mayor of his hometown of Dorado, Puerto Rico on the 2020 Puerto Rican general election, but was defeated by the incumbent Carlos López Rivera. He is currently the host of La Bóveda de TeleOnce.
The 2024 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect the governor of Puerto Rico, concurrently with the election of the Resident Commissioner, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the mayors of the 78 municipalities. Incumbent New Progressive Party Governor Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia ran for re-election to a second term in office, but lost the PNP primary to Resident Commissioner Jenniffer Gonzalez Colon.
The 19th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico will meet from January 2, 2021, to January 1, 2025. Members of the 31st House of Representatives of Puerto Rico were elected in the 2020 House of Representatives election, while members of the 27th Senate of Puerto Rico were elected the same day in the Senate election. The Popular Democratic Party does not have an outright majority in the Senate, but controls the chamber. While the PPD had a simple majority of representatives in the 31st House of Representatives from 2021 to 2022, this has ceased to be the case since 4 May 2022.
The government of Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia was formed in the weeks following the 2020 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election as he released a list of nominees for most of the positions before his swearing in on 2 January 2021. His New Progressive Party (PNP) not having a majority in either chamber of the 19th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico meant that he would have to further negotiate the approval of his nominees with the opposition parties that hold control of the legislature.
The government of Wanda Vázquez Garced was formed the week following the resignation of Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares as a result of the massive protests resulting from the Telegramgate scandal, and a Supreme Court decision that vacated the office from an invalid occupant.
The government of Ricardo Rosselló Nevares was formed in the weeks following the 2016 Puerto Rico gubernatorial election and ended prematurely on the first week of August 2019.