By The Star Staff
At-large Sen. Keren Riquelme Cabrera is continuing to promote the creation of a Special Committee on Initiatives to Mitigate Demographic Decline in Puerto Rico with a series of meetings with professors at the University of Puerto Rico, among other entities, who are experts on demographic issues.
“Last April we proposed the creation in the Senate of a Special Committee on Initiatives to Mitigate the Demographic Decline in Puerto Rico, given the great demographic challenges we are facing as a society, including the lowest birth rate in the world (0.90 per 1,000) and the decrease in the population of the island of 0.6 percent in recent years,” Riquelme Cabrera said in a written statement. “There is a real problem, and from the Senate we must act on it proactively.”
The senator said the new special committee will address measures and initiatives directly related to demographic issues and will have the power to develop concrete and viable proposals to address the problem.
“The Legislative Assembly has created special committees before to address specific issues and then, due to their nature, they become permanent joint committees between the Senate and the House of Representatives, as is the case with the Joint Committee for the Revision and Reform of the Civil Code of Puerto Rico, among many others,” Riquelme Cabrera said. “This committee that we have proposed has a function that exceeds the four-year period, which is why it must be evaluated to make it permanent. Part of our effort to get approval for the committee will be meeting with experts on the demographic issue, because this issue is vital for the future of Puerto Rico.”
On April 19, Riquelme Cabrera filed Senate Resolution 772, which creates the Special Committee of the Senate of Puerto Rico on Initiatives to Mitigate Demographic Decline in Puerto Rico. The bill is currently before the Senate Internal Affairs Committee.
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