Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz told the Puerto Rico chapter of the Associated General Contractors (AGC-PR) convention on Friday that the Senate has a substitute permit-reform bill nearly ready and will take it up this session. He said the measure would combine input from public hearings on two prior bills: his own Senate Bill 1173 and Senate Bill 1183, filed by Governor Jenniffer González.
Rivera Schatz said the reform would create a single, true regulation and a clear Construction Code so requirements are written and accessible, eliminating the unwritten "librito" system in which individual officials arbitrarily interpret rules, often stalling projects without explanation. He said the goal is certainty, clear rules, enforceable deadlines, and a permitting process that trusts builders.
During a Q&A, an attendee asked about the status of a bill to eliminate the inventory tax. Rivera Schatz said he had approved it but the governor vetoed it because she "got scared of the mayors," adding he was not afraid and that the tax should simply be repealed. He said lost revenue should be addressed not by raising other taxes but by improving collection of existing taxes, which is not currently at 100%.