Governor files bill to create ‘Youth Now Committee’

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón

By The Star Staff

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón on Sunday filed the Youth Now Committee Law, which creates an institutional structure that facilitates and enhances the substantive participation of youth in government processes.

“It is not enough to limit youth participation to future promises or fragmented programs with limited reach,” reads the preamble of the governor’s measure. “Their involvement must translate into real spaces for inclusion and co-responsibility, where the ideas, talent, and vision of our youth are an integral part of decision-making. Puerto Rico is at a turning point that requires innovation, renewed energy, and fresh proposals: all qualities that characterize our youth.”

Administration Bill No. 35 (Bill A-35), which would amend Act 171-2014, proposes the creation of the Youth Now Committee, attached to the Youth Development Program of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC by its acronym in Spanish). The committee would seek to encourage youth participation in the formulation, evaluation and implementation of public policies. Its purpose is to ensure that the youth perspective is substantively and continuously integrated into government management.

“With this measure, we seek to encourage the formal participation of young people between the ages of 13 and 29 in public administration, creating a space where the ideas, proposals, and concerns of young people can be channeled,” the governor added.

Upon the bill’s passage, the Youth Committee would become an advisory body within the DDEC, composed of seven members, including the director of the DDEC Youth Development Program and six young people between the ages of 13 and 29 appointed by the governor.