House of Representatives of Puerto Rico

Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico states that no person can be a member of the House of Representatives unless he or she:[12]

• is capable of reading and writing in either Spanish or English;
• is a citizen of the United States;
• is a citizen of Puerto Rico;
• has resided in Puerto Rico for at least two years immediately prior to the date of his election or appointment; and,
• is over twenty-five years of age.

Structure of the House of Representatives for the purpose of elections. Puerto Rico is divided into forty (40) districts with one representative per district. An additional eleven (11) representatives are elected at-large. Both groups serve alongside each other with the same powers and rights.

Elections to the House are held every four years on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November, along with the elections for governor, resident commissioner, the Senate, the mayors, and the municipal assemblies. The last election was held on November 6, 2012 where the members of the 29th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico were elected. The next election is scheduled for November 8, 2016 where the members of the 30th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico will be elected. Members of the House are elected for a four-years term.

Only American citizens (including Puerto Ricans) that meet all the following requirements may vote for representatives:

• must legally reside in Puerto Rico,
• must be at least 18 years old by the date of the election,
• must have been qualified by the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections before the election or on the very same day of the election after he presents himself to his nearest place of voting and shows proper documentation, and
• must have not been declared mentally incapacitated by court.

Structure of representative districts in Puerto Rico.

Citizens cast their votes in colleges (Spanish: colegios) which are simply usually the nearest public school to where the voter declared as residence. Votes are required by law to be cast in secret, unless the citizen has a physical impairment that does not allow him to. Those citizens unable to travel to colleges due to medical impairments may vote at their place of residence (homes, elder homes, etc.) or wherever they are convalescing (hospitals, clinics, etc.). In both of these extraordinary cases, officials from the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections will provide aid so that the citizens can cast their vote—either by using verbal or non-verbal communication—with members from the different political parties required to observe the process in order to ensure accuracy, fairness, transparency, order, and legitimacy.

Ballots are redacted in both English and Spanish regardless of whether English is an official language or not.[lower-alpha 2]

To elect the members of the House, Puerto Rico is divided into forty (40) representative districts that do not follow a particular pattern; they are strictly based on a similar number of inhabitants. These districts are in turn divided into one or more precincts: an electoral division which, in turn, is constituted by colleges.[13] For each district, citizens may vote only for one candidate from the district in which they declared residence by first-past-the-post. District representatives are expected to give priority to matters related to the district they represent but are not required to do so by law.

In addition, citizens are allowed to vote for one candidate at-large of their preference by single non-transferable vote. The eleven at-large candidates with the majority of votes serve as representatives at-large alongside the district representatives with the same powers and rights. Representatives at-large are expected to serve any individual or group but are not required to do so by law; they also serve as a mechanism for citizens who do not wish to channel their affairs through their district representative for whatever reason.

Representatives serve terms of four years each. A member who has been elected, but not yet seated, is called a "representative-elect"; a member who has been appointed to a seat, but not yet seated, is called a "representative-designate". The Puerto Rico Constitution does not provide for term limits.

The annual salary for full-time work of each representative is $73,775 USD annually, except for the Speaker which receives $110,663, and the Speaker pro tempore, the Majority and Minority Leaders, the Majority and Minority Whips, and the presidents of the Commission on Government and the Commission on Treasury which receive $84,841 each.[14]

Representatives are allowed to generate additional income from outside their legislative employment subject to restrictions, and only the representatives which do not receive an annual salary are entitled to additional benefits such as per diem or car allowance. Costs associated to traveling outside of Puerto Rico is reimbursed.[14] Cost-of-living adjustments have been frozen since 2005. All representatives qualify for the same retirement and health benefits as of all other employees of the government of Puerto Rico.

In addition, all representatives are provided with office space, secretarial services, advisors, support personnel, office supplies, and stationery. Hiring of personnel working directly for each representative is at the discretion of each representative.[14] Rather than providing these resources and services directly, representatives are instead assigned a budget from which they retrieve funds to cover such costs. Representatives that preside commissions are assigned larger budgets than those who do not, thus creating a difference between the budgets assigned to representatives from the party holding a majority in the House versus the ones in minority as majority representatives tend to be the ones who preside commissions.

The Speaker of the House is the highest-ranking officer and the presiding officer of the House. The post was created by Article III of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which establishes that, "[...]the House of Representatives [shall elect] a Speaker from among [its] members." The Speaker is substituted by the Speaker pro tempore in his absence. Its counterpart in the Senate is the President.

The current Speaker is Carlos Johnny Méndez, representative District 36 from the New Progressive Party.

The Speaker pro tempore is the second-highest-ranking officer of the House of Representatives and substitutes the Speaker of the House in his absence. Its counterpart in the Senate is the President pro tempore.

The current Speaker pro tempore is José "Conny" Varela, representative at-large from the PPD.

Each party elects floor leaders denominated "Majority leader" or "Minority leader", accordingly, as well as a "Majority Whip" or a "Minority Whip". Floor leaders act as the party chief spokespeople. The current leaders are Majority Leader Ángel Matos García, Majority Whip Roberto Rivera Ruiz de Porras, and Minority Leader Carlos "Johnny" Méndez.

The House is served by several officials who are not members.

The Senate's chief administrative officer is the Secretary of the House, who maintains public records, disburses salaries, monitors the acquisition of stationery and supplies, and oversees clerks.[15] The Secretary automatically presides over the House in the interim, once the term of the incumbent Speaker is finished, but before the House elects a new Speaker.

Another official is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House who maintains order and security on the Senate premises as the Senate's chief law enforcement officer.

This officers are elected by the Senate, usually during its inaugural session, immediately after the election of the body's. The current Secretary is Elizabeth Stuart Villanueva while the current Sergeant-At-Arms is Henry Tallaboa Collazo. Manuel A. Torres is the only Secretary in history to have served under two House Presidents.