Governor establishes priorities in ‘Situation of the State’ speech

During her speech at the Capitol, Gov. Jenniffer González Colón emphasized the need to have a balanced budget to avoid past errors and see the departure of the Financial Oversight and Management Board. (Facebook via Negociado del Cuerpo de Bomberos)

By The Star Staff

In her first state of the commonwealth address, which she recast as her “Situation of the State” message, Gov. Jenniffer González Colón emphasized on Thursday the need to have a balanced budget to avoid past errors and see the departure of the Financial Oversight and Management Board.

“We have to have fiscal discipline to do away with the memory of the Financial Oversight Board,” she said.

Hours before her address, González Colón appointed María del Pilar Vélez Casanova as the Labor secretary. With this, the appointment of nominees to her cabinet was completed, avoiding distractions unrelated to her budget address.

González proceeded to list some of the priorities in her budget. She also reminded people who went to the Legislature seeking more funding that “one thing is a petition and the other is reality.”

The governor allocated $120 million in subsidies for older and adults and the handicapped, and $8 million for services related to children because “our elderly and children go first.”

The budget also includes funding for 100 new social workers and 10 technical workers for $5.7 million. She also allocated $2.4 million for the Firefighters Bureau.

The budget includes $15 million for vouchers to help families pay for childcare services.

In the area of public security, the governor announced that the budget includes funding to hire 809 new police officers and announced they will be paid delinquent overtime wages.

She announced funding to build interview rooms for victims of domestic violence and other trauma.

In the area of health, González Colón announced $12 million to build operating rooms and bedrooms at the Hospital Universitario and the allocation of $15 million for medical interns.

She also announced $21.1 million for medications for Hepatitis C for inmates in the island’s prisons, who are enduring a high prevalence of the disease.

The message was given late in the session, which ends on June 30, the end of the fiscal year.

As of press deadline, the governor was also expected to address the subject of the island’s energy problems and the loss of federal fundings, and the financial cliff faced by numerous island towns, as well as the government’s relationship with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Carlos Méndez Nuñez said before the speech that he expected to get a map and route of what was expected for the rest of the fiscal year.

Earlier in the day, the leadership of the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) called on the governor to clearly account for her administration, noting that her administration has been marked by disorder, improvisation and internal power struggles.

“After weeks of delay and as a result of public pressure and our oversight work, the governor will finally appear before the nation,” PDP Secretary General Manuel Calderón Cerame said in a written statement. “Puerto Rico is not waiting for another political speech. She is waiting for her government to show signs of life.”