A Senate bill filed by Sen. Rivera Schatz would create a five-member, unpaid committee with $1 million a year from the General Fund to study and plan the governmental, fiscal, tax and legal changes a transition of Puerto Rico to statehood would require, with power to issue summonses and subpoenas. The measure, P. del S. 1565, was filed on October 16, 2026, as the "Ley de Estudios Sistemáticos para la Transición, Análisis, Desarrollo y Organización hacia la Estadidad," known as the "Ley ESTADO."
It is filed without a committee assigned and its last action was on November 9, 2026. Its statement of motives says the 2012, 2017, 2020 and 2024 consultations represent "a continuous electoral mandate" for changing Puerto Rico’s territorial status and moving toward statehood, adding that admission as a state requires Congress to act but that "that reality does not require Puerto Rico to remain inactive" meanwhile.
The committee would be attached administratively to the Legislature, with its five members named by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate and the House. Initial terms would be staggered at three, four, five, six and seven years, with later appointments for five years. Members would receive no salary, per diem or compensation, though authorized, documented expenses would be reimbursed.
Within a year of being constituted, the committee would prepare a report on the economic, fiscal and tax impact of Puerto Rico’s status alternatives, comparing statehood, independence and the current commonwealth. The report would assess effects on federal programs and funds, taxation, revenue, public spending, employment, businesses, towns, debt, retirement systems and families, and identify measures the government could take before and during a transition, including tax-system adjustments, administrative and technological reforms and the convenience of gradual phase-in periods. The committee could also recommend draft bills and government reorganization proposals.