History of the House of Representatives – The House of Representatives is Puerto Rico’s oldest legislative body. Its beginnings date back to November 25, 1897, when the short-lived Autonomic Charter granted to the Island by the Spanish regime at the time called for the creation of a House of Representatives composed of 32 members entirely elected by the Puerto Rican people. This House was joined by an Administrative (or Executive) Council of 15 members, eight of whom were elected by an Electoral College and the remaining seven appointed by the Governor General on behalf of the King. The House of Delegates and the Administrative Council held equal legislative powers. Therefore, what we might call our first Parliament was not fully elected by the people. At that time, the Island was divided into eight electoral districts.
On July 25, 1898, exactly eight months after that House of Representatives came into effect, U.S. troops arrived in Puerto Rico, and on the following October 18, the sovereignty of the United States of America over Puerto Rico began. On April 12, 1900—after a brief period of military rule—Congress approved Puerto Rico’s first civil government: the Foraker Act, which provided, starting May 1 of that year, a Civil Governor for the Island and a Legislative Assembly consisting of a House of Delegates with 35 members fully elected by Puerto Ricans, and an Executive Council of 11 members, all appointed by the President of the United States. Of those 11 members of the Council (which functioned as a sort of Upper House), six held cabinet positions under the Governor, which clearly deviated from the democratic principle of the separation of Executive, Legislative, and Judicial powers.
The previous composition of the Legislative Branch remained in place until 1917. On March 2 of that year, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Jones Act—based on congressional legislation previously introduced by Representative William Jones—which established the Island’s first true Legislative Branch. It created a House of Representatives with 39 members and a Senate with 19 members, all directly elected by the Island’s voters. Puerto Rico was divided into seven senatorial districts and 35 representative districts.
With the approval by the United States Congress of Law 600 in July 1950, the Island was divided into eight senatorial districts and 40 representative districts, a structure that remains in effect today. The Executive Branch continued to be headed by a Governor elected every four years by the Puerto Rican electorate, as had been the case since 1948.
Composition – The Lower House or House of Delegates was composed of thirty-five (35) members elected every two years. The Upper House, also known as the Executive Council, was composed of eleven (11) members all appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate, for a term of four years. Of these eleven (11) members, six (6) were part of the Governor’s cabinet: a Secretary, an Attorney General, a Commissioner of the Interior, a Commissioner of Education, a Treasurer, and an Auditor. In addition to their legislative roles, they also served as advisors to the Governor and managed their respective executive departments.
A Legislative Assembly was thus established, composed of a Senate with nineteen (19) elected members and a House of Representatives with thirty-nine (39) elected members, both elected by the people. The Governor was granted absolute veto power over budgetary and appropriations matters, and a conditional veto on other laws or resolutions. In the latter case, if two-thirds of both Chambers overrode the Governor’s veto, they could appeal to the President of the United States, who was required to decide in favor or against within ninety (90) days. If no action was taken within that period, the resolution would go into effect.