Puerto Rico’s Senate voted down House Bill (PC) 1115 on Wednesday, a measure that would have eliminated the Minimum Wage Review Commission and returned to the Legislature the power to set future wage adjustments. Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said during the debate: "We want the best conditions for all employers and for all businesses in Puerto Rico, but we don’t want the worst conditions for the Puerto Rican worker. We don’t want them."
We want the best conditions for all employers and for all businesses in Puerto Rico, but we don't want the worst conditions for the Puerto Rican worker.
He added that it serves no practical purpose for the Legislature to handle the minimum wage question whenever it sees fit. The bill, authored by Representative Roberto López Román, passed the House in June. Senator María de Lourdes Santiago, spokesperson for the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP), argued that while opponents claim raising the minimum wage would end free enterprise, the economy has strengthened as people have enough to cover necessary living costs, which $10.50 does not cover.
Rivera Schatz urged Governor Jenniffer González to name the commission’s members, saying not doing so turns one’s back on workers. The commission became inoperable in September after private-sector representative Jaime Núñez resigned, leaving four of seven members; at least five are needed to operate. The Senate also approved PC 164, creating a "Women’s Sports Protection Law" with an amendment excluding chess, esports and similar activities, and PS 1446, transferring $3.7 million from the Puerto Rico Police technology fund to the Police Retirement Trust.
It approved PC 1447, which would prohibit electronic transmission of court hearings on preliminary evidence admissibility in criminal cases, and seven appointments sent by the governor, including five auxiliary prosecutors, José Tañon Díaz to the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra board and Anthony Ruiz to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s governing board.