The short version
- El Nuevo Día reported that nearly 100 planners, scientists and former officials petitioned the House for public hearings on the substitute to Senate bills 1173 and 1183
- NotiCel reported the substitute presented by Governor Jenniffer González has 1,250 pages while the original bill had 819 pages according to unofficial information
- Both outlets reported the measure is not the same text the Senate approved on Oct. 13 after five hours of amendments
- El Nuevo Día and NotiCel reported the signatories include former officials such as geologist Pedro Gelabert, planner Félix Aponte, ecologist Ariel Lugo, botanist Susan Silander and biologist Miguel Canals
Petition for public participation
Nearly 100 planners, scientists and former officials have asked the House of Representatives to hold public hearings on the substitute project for Senate bills 1173 and 1183 that would create a Planning and Permitting Code for Puerto Rico. El Nuevo Día reported that the group warned the version under consideration is not the text the Senate approved on Oct. 13 after multiple amendments during a five-hour discussion.
According to both El Nuevo Día and NotiCel, the substitute presented by Governor Jenniffer González reaches 1,250 pages, compared with the original 819-page bill introduced in April. The outlets reported that neither the Senate nor the House has opened a process for comments or public hearings on the substitute. The signatories argue that the Legislature has granted continuous participation and limited access to information to only a few organizations, mainly the Association of Builders of Puerto Rico.
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Signatories and timing
El Nuevo Día reported that among the former officials who signed the petition dated Oct. 28 are geologist Pedro Gelabert, who served as secretary of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources under former Gov. Pedro Roselló and president of the Environmental Quality Board under former Gov. Carlos Romero Barceló; planner Félix Aponte, who was an associate member of the Planning Board under former Gov. Sila Calderón; ecologist Ariel Lugo, former director of the International Institute of Tropical Forestry of the U.S. Forest Service; botanist Susan Silander, former director of the Caribbean Wildlife Refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and biologist Miguel Canals, former management officer of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources for the Guánica State Forest Natural Reserve.
Both sources reported that the request was made during November, designated as Planning Month in Puerto Rico by a law approved in July. The law states that planners are those who establish mechanisms of orientation, coordination and integration of public policy for the integral development of Puerto Rico. The outlets reported that neither chamber has given planners and their guild the opportunity to offer recommendations on the substitute, and the House has not made public the version submitted by the governor in the legislative tracking system.
Where the sources differ
El Nuevo Día and NotiCel agree on the core facts: nearly 100 signatories, the existence of a new 1,250-page substitute presented by the governor that differs from the Senate-approved version, the lack of public hearings or comment periods, the list of prominent former officials who signed, the privileged access given to the Association of Builders, and the timing during Planning Month. Both cite the same Oct. 28 letter and the same former officials. The only minor difference is that El Nuevo Día specifies the Senate discussion lasted five hours and explicitly names the substitute as PSS 1173 while NotiCel refers to it as the Proyecto Sustitutivo del Sustitutivo; both describe the same measure.
What the reports do not say
The reports do not state whether the House of Representatives approved the measure on Nov. 12 before the end of the current legislative session or what the specific changes are between the Senate-approved text and the governor's version. They also do not indicate whether the governor or legislative leaders responded to the petition, nor do they detail the content of the 1,250-page document or the exact amendments made in the Senate.
Sources
Every link below was opened and checked when this story was published. Official means a government body, agency or the organization itself; Reporting means a news outlet.
- Reporting Denuncian cambios a puerta cerrada: planificadores y exfuncionarios piden vistas sobre el proyecto sustitutivo de permisos
- Reporting Planificadores, científicos y exdirectivos de agencias claman por vistas sobre proyecto de permisos
How we checked this
El Nuevo Día and NotiCel both covered the petition by planners and former officials for public hearings on the permitting code substitute. The page count of the governor's version, the list of signatories and the lack of hearings rest on both reports while the exact Senate discussion length is reported only by El Nuevo Día.
Compiled by the PuertoRico.com News Desk from the reports and statements listed above, and checked against them before publishing. It does not include original interviews. Spot an error? Email support@puertorico.com with a link to this story.
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