Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Home   >   Politics   >   P.R. Politics   >   NPP bill to change Municipal Revenue Collection law would revoke PDP presidency

NPP bill to change Municipal Revenue Collection law would revoke PDP presidency

By on January 23, 2017

SAN JUAN — Sen. Aníbal José Torres said Monday that the new Progressive Party (NPP) majority intends to approve Senate Bill 21 to change the member selection process for the Municipal Revenue Collections Center’s (CRIM) Governing Board.

PDP Sen. Aníbal José Torres. (File Photo)

PDP Sen. Aníbal José Torres. (File photo)

The current law establishes that five out of the nine mayors that make up the board must belong to the party that garnered the highest number of mayoral votes in the general elections, which was the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections. However, Torres said the bill establishes that they must belong to the party that prevailed overall in the general elections.

“The NPP intends to take control of CRIM’s board, creating a majority that doesn’t correspond to the majority of municipal governments. This action threatens the Autonomous Municipalities Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and CRIM Law, whose purpose is to provide and strengthen municipal governments,” Torres denounced.

The PDP legislator accused the bill of proposing increased intervention from the central government in municipal affairs “to the detriment of democratic will expressed at the municipal level,” thus  going “against the principle of autonomy delegated to municipalities to oversee their responsibilities and exert their own initiative on their affairs.”

Although the NPP was victorious in the executive and legislative branches, most of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities are currently led by PDP mayors. The chairman of the CRIM’s board is Maunabo Mayor Jorge Márquez.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login