Key points from the government transition briefings: what happens now? We explain

The general elections again favored the Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) at the gubernatorial level, with 40 percent of the one million voters who participated in the event, but changes are coming from the ground up. The transition begins with a handoff from Gov. Pedro Pierluisi to attorney Jennifer González Colón as the next head of government. The groundwork was laid through a series of transition hearings that offered a broad picture of the state of government agencies, though doubts and unanswered questions also surfaced.

💡 [platea tip]: 💡 Short on time? This quick-reference guide covers the key details you can explore further in the article below.

What are the transition hearings?

Since 2002, Puerto Rico has had the Ley del Proceso de la Transición del Gobierno, which establishes that the process proceed in an orderly manner. The new government's first decisions are supposed to be based on the information exchanged during this process.

As in the change of administration following the 2020 elections, the process was again led by Bayamón Mayor Ramón Luis Rivera Cruz, as president of the Incoming Transition Committee.
The more than 130 government agencies submitted their transition reports to the Department of State on Oct. 31, 2024.

Then, on Nov. 20, the hearings began at the Centro de Bellas Artes in Santurce. They were broadcast on the Department of State's website and on station WIPR. COR3 and the Department of Housing were the first to appear. The process continued after a brief pause for the Thanksgiving holiday and concluded on Dec. 9 with the Department of the Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, the Autoridad de Asesoría Financiera y Agencia Fiscal (Aafaf), and the Office of Human Resources Administration and Transformation.

What does this process aim to accomplish?

💡 The transition committee is seeking answers about the fiscal situation of each agency, as well as personnel transactions, contract extensions and projects that are in progress or have not yet begun. The transition committee is seeking answers about the fiscal situation of each agency, as well as personnel transactions, contract extensions and projects that are in progress or have not yet begun.

It is also asking for a halt to actions that would commit the incoming government's budget, including procurement bids, except those involving federal funds about to expire or critical matters that need to be resolved.

Energy and the reconstruction of the island were among the key topics the transition committee expected to discuss, along with pension payments to retirees of the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica.

However, five days into the process, the committee pointed out that it had hoped to hear more concerns and pending issues directly from agency heads, rather than only hearing about accomplishments during the hearings.

How to address future increases in services and the possible loss of federal funds were two of the challenges on which the incoming government had hoped to receive recommendations. Even so, the next administration has already anticipated a favorable outlook, with a House of Representatives and Senate both holding Partido Nuevo Progresista majorities, which points to straightforward approval of amendments to existing laws.

Some key moments:

During the process, the appearance of the Administración de Servicios Generales was canceled, drawing criticism given that it is the government's chief procurement official. Administrator Karla Mercado argued on her social media that the cancellation was due to "time constraints" and outlined 14 key points about the agency's work.
It emerged that a debt owed by the Administración de Servicios Médicos puts at risk the title to 149 cuerdas of land where Centro Médico is located. The parcels were given as collateral for a line of credit the corporation had taken from the Banco Gubernamental de Fomento in 2010 for $284 million. An audit by the Oficina del Contralor found that between fiscal years 2013 and 2024 no budget appropriations were made to pay down that line of credit. Although it does not specify what would happen to those parcels or who would hold title to them afterward, the report urges that the debt be paid.
Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación Secretary Ana Escobar was summoned to an executive hearing after allegedly lying during her appearance before the Comité de Transición.
Less than 24 hours after reports surfaced about the possibility that the Departamento de Educación might not be able to provide school transportation service next semester, the government announced the availability of funds to address the situation, subject to approval by the Junta de Supervisión Fiscal.

At Platea, we searched on your behalf for the most relevant information from some of the main agencies, and we share it here:

Departamento del Trabajo y Recursos Humanos

💡 -"Historic lows" in the unemployment rate. -"Historic lows" in the unemployment rate. The Encuesta de Grupo Trabajador showed that the seasonally adjusted rate in October 2024 was estimated at 5.4%, the lowest unemployment percentage in Puerto Rico's history, breaking the record set in September of that year.

– The estimated number of employed people in Puerto Rico increased. In October 2024, 1,142,000 people were estimated to be employed, 166,000 more than 10 years ago.

– There is a need for "a holistic public policy" to bring more women into the workforce, with, for example, more extended-hours child care.

Departamento de Salud

💡 -There are 15 bids in the evaluation process. -The expiration of federal funds that support the Medicaid program puts at risk the continuity of public health services for 1 million beneficiaries of this program in three years (2027). Through Medicaid, the federal government provides aid to states and territories to cover medical expenses for people who qualify based on financial need. Paying for this coverage involves a fund match, in which the federal government's contribution is the larger share. If this allocation is not continued, the government has indicated there would be limitations in health services.

-There is an urgent need to recruit more nursing staff, with a budget of more than $8 million allocated for this purpose.

-A possible extension of the dengue emergency declaration, which expires Dec. 31, is under consideration due to the evolution of the virus.

-La Administración de Seguros de Salud (Ases) is negotiating premiums with the insurers that administer the Reforma de Salud.

-Ases also reported a lack of sufficient auditors to carry out oversight. Amending the Inspector General Law was recommended.

Departamento de la Familia

💡 -A range of budget challenges need to be addressed in order to adequately serve the older adult population, which continues to grow. -There is an urgent need to address a range of budget challenges in order to adequately serve the growing older adult population, including expanding housekeeper services and the Centros de Actividades Múltiples para Personas de Edad Avanzada.

"The Department, through the Administración de Familias y Niños, receives an overwhelming volume of cases involving older adults seeking admission to long-term care homes, around 50 cases a day, which exceeds our operational capacity," Secretary Ciení Rodríguez Troche said in her testimony.

-They recommend urgent attention to current legislation governing égidas, or private housing centers for older adults.

Departamento de Educación

💡 [platea tip]: -School transportation for the next semester is at risk, making it urgent to identify $72 million to keep the service running for more than 37,000 students. Within hours of that announcement, the government said it had identified some funds for this purpose, subject to Fiscal Oversight Board approval, so the allocation remains pending.

Departamento de Corrección y Rehabilitación

💡 [platea tip]: -Conflicting accounts surfaced in her report, including a claim that the people responsible for the report on the case of femicide perpetrator Hermes Ávila Vázquez were not licensed to practice on the Island. Two weeks later, the secretary corrected her testimony to clarify that the report was handled by a doctor and a lawyer who are licensed to practice in Puerto Rico.

Oficina del Comisionado de Instituciones Financieras

💡 -He pointed out the serious problem of staff recruitment and lack of resources, including examiners, who are necessary for oversight. -Their data system needs to be modernized with electronic equipment to make it easier to use and access.

Departamento de Justicia

💡 [platea tip]: -They need to strengthen citizen collaboration and participation in investigations, as the crime-solving rate hovers around 45%.

Autoridad de Acueductos y Alcantarillados

💡 -They have no regulation telling them how much fluoride should be added to the water. They said they are waiting for guidance from the Department of Health on the matter. -It came up that the installation of smart meters could have a fiscal impact that gets passed on to customers.

To review the reports the agencies presented in detail, you can access the documents here.

What happens now?

In an interview with Platea after the hearings concluded, Comité de Transición President Rivera Cruz highlighted these points:

Following the hearings, the assistants continue to receive information that was requested from the agencies. Once all the data is in hand, the final report will be drafted and delivered to the governor-elect, with copies to the legislature and the Oficina del Contralor. It is expected to be ready before the end of 2024. The document will be delivered to both the incoming and outgoing governor. In addition, the Comité de Transición is required by law to publish it online, in the same place where the rest of the agency reports were posted, to make it accessible to the public and interested parties.
The document is meant to provide "a general picture" of the government's fiscal situation across each of its agencies. Pending matters, what urgently needs to be reformed, changed or followed up on will all be part of what it presents, including findings and recommendations.
His view is that the process went "more or less well." Despite reports that some of the questioning was intense, that was simply part of the effort to obtain the most accurate information possible. With "some exceptions," he believes "everything flowed."
Among the challenges ahead, ways must be found to ensure that federal funds with approaching deadlines are not lost. How to address the country's energy problem is also pressing, while the Departamento de Corrección needs a "major transformation."

For his part, historian and political analyst Néstor Duprey considered that the outgoing administration's complaints point to serious situations of negligence that could involve findings beyond mere administrative failures. He mentioned, for example, that incorrect information was provided at the Corrections hearings, which later warranted a closed-door session with members of the Transition Committee. He added that the incoming administration should follow up on relevant investigations to address the serious findings discussed at the hearings.

He pointed out that among the incoming administration's priorities should be addressing the findings raised at the hearings of the Departments of Corrections and Rehabilitation and Education, as well as matters related to the management of recovery funds.

During the hearings, COR3 announced that it presented to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and to Congress the results of several analyses on the impact of cost inflation on the country's reconstruction projects, along with a request to adjust the amounts allocated for the development of those projects. The government of Puerto Rico is still awaiting the corresponding action, since the continuation of those projects depends on it.

This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).