Sec. 2. Findings

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Congress finds that— in 1898, the United States gained possession of Puerto Rico following the Spanish-American War; Spain formally ceded Puerto Rico to the United States of America under the Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, signed at Paris on December 10, 1898 (30 Stat. 1754); after a brief period of military rule, the Act of April 12, 1900 (commonly known as the Foraker Act ) (31 Stat. 77, chapter 191), was enacted to establish a civil government in Puerto Rico, which— provided for— an executive branch headed by a Governor and an executive council, to be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate; and a house of delegates, to be elected by qualified voters of Puerto Rico; and was replaced in 1917 by a new organic Act for Puerto, the Act of March 2, 1917 (commonly known as the Jones-Shafroth Act ) (39 Stat. 951, chapter 145), which— established an elected Senate; provided a bill of rights; provided United States citizenship to the people of Puerto Rico; and in 1947, was amended to give qualified voters of Puerto Rico the right to elect a Governor; in 1950, Congress enacted the Act of July 3, 1950 (commonly known as the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 ) (64 Stat. 319, chapter 446), which— established that, fully recognizing the principle of government by consent , the law was adopted in the nature of a compact so that the people of Puerto Rico may organize a government pursuant to a constitution of their own adoption ; and on approval by the qualified voters of Puerto Rico in a referendum, authorized the Puerto Rico legislature to call a constitutional convention to draft a constitution for Puerto Rico; in a popular referendum held on June 4, 1951, 76.5 percent of the voters in Puerto Rico voted in favor of drafting a constitution for Puerto Rico; during the period beginning on September 17, 1951, and ending on February 6, 1952, a constitutional convention was held in Puerto Rico; the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico produced by the constitutional convention was submitted to the people of Puerto Rico, who approved the constitution with 81.9 percent of the vote in a referendum held on March 3, 1952; after receiving the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the President— declared that the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico— conformed fully with the applicable provisions of— the Act of July 3, 1950 (commonly known as the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 ) (64 Stat. 319, chapter 446); and the Constitution of the United States; contained a bill of rights; and provided for a republican form of government; and transmitted the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to Congress for approval; after receiving the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from the President, Congress— considered the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; found the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to conform to the applicable requirements; and with the approval of the Joint Resolution of July 3, 1952 (66 Stat. 327, chapter 567), conditionally approved the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; under Resolution number 34 of the constitutional convention of Puerto Rico, the constitutional convention of Puerto Rico accepted the conditions of Congress in the name of the people of Puerto Rico ; the Governor of Puerto Rico subsequently issued a formal proclamation accepting the conditions of Congress on the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico— was subsequently amended by the constitutional convention; and became effective on July 25, 1952; the amendments to the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were ratified by the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with 87.8 percent of voters approving the constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in a referendum held on November 4, 1952; the United States informed the United Nations that, because the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico had become a self-governing jurisdiction, the United States would cease reporting on conditions in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under article 73 of the United Nations Charter, which requires reports from member states responsible for the administration of territories whose people have not yet attained the full measure of self-government. ; in response to the United States, the United Nations General Assembly acknowledged in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 748

(1953)that the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, by expressing their will in a free and democratic way, have achieved a new constitutional status and have effectively exercised their right to self-determination ; to bilaterally address the issue of Puerto Rico self-determination, Public Law 88–271 (78 Stat. 17) established the United States-Puerto Rico Commission on the Status of Puerto Rico, composed of— 7 members from the United States, of whom— 3 members were to be appointed by the President; 2 members were to be members of the Senate, appointed by the President of the Senate with the approval of the majority and minority leaders of the Senate; and 2 members were to be members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with the approval of the majority and minority leaders of the House of Representatives; and 6 members were to be from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; in the report entitled Report of the United States-Puerto Rico Commission on the Status of Puerto Rico and dated August 1966, the United States-Puerto Rico Commission on the Status of Puerto Rico found that— all three forms of political status—the Commonwealth, Statehood, and Independence—are valid and confer upon the people of Puerto Rico equal dignity with equality of status and national citizenship. ; and it is inconceivable that either the United States or Puerto Rico would, by an act of unilateral revocation, undermine the very foundation of their common progress: the fundamental political and economic relationships which were established on the basis of mutuality. ; pursuant to the findings and recommendations of the United States-Puerto Rico Commission on the Status of Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico legislature enacted the Act of December 23, 1966 (Puerto Rico Act No. 1), which called for a plebiscite on the status of Puerto Rico; in the July 23, 1967, plebiscite— 60.4 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for commonwealth status; 39 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for statehood; and 0.6 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for independence; in 1989, on the joint request of the pro-Commonwealth Governor of Puerto Rico and the presidents of the pro-statehood and pro-independence parties, the Senate took up the issue of Puerto Rico self-determination through S. 712 (101st Congress) and S. 244 (102nd Congress), which recognized that Commonwealth, statehood, and independence were valid options for the status of Puerto Rico; the failure of the 1989 effort with respect to statehood and the coming to power in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico of a pro-statehood government in 1992, 1996, 2008, and 2016 prompted a string of locally legislated referenda, with each subsequent referendum increasingly deviating from Federal policy, particularly with respect to an effort to undermine the commonwealth status to the benefit of statehood; the first referendum was held in 1993, allowing each of the political parties to provide the definition of the particular status option, under which— 48.6 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for commonwealth status; 46.3 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for statehood; and 4.4 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for independence; during a second referendum held in 1998— the pro-statehood government— drafted the ballot language for all status options; and identified each status option by number rather than by name; in protest for what the pro-Commonwealth party considered to be an ill-defined Commonwealth option, the pro-Commonwealth party asked supporters to vote for none of the above ; and the results of the referendum were that— 50.3 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for none of the above ; 46.5 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for statehood; 2.5 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for independence; and 0.3 percent of voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for free association; on May 29, 2009, pro-statehood Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi introduced a bill in the House of Representatives, H.R. 2499 (111th Congress), which provided for— a 2-round vote on the status of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that provided for a first vote to continue to have its present form of political status or for a different political status ; and if the different political status option received the most votes during the first vote, a second vote with the options of— independence; sovereignty in association with the United States; and statehood; an amendment to H.R. 2499 (111th Congress) was approved by the House of Representatives on April 29, 2010, to include the Commonwealth option on the second vote, with the proponent of the amendment stating that Puerto Ricans’ views should be given equal and fair consideration. ; H.R. 2499 (111th Congress), as amended, was approved by the House of Representatives, but was not considered in the Senate; in April 2011, the White House published a report of the Task Force on Puerto Rico Status that found that— the permissible status options for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico include— statehood; independence; free association; and commonwealth status; and removing the Commonwealth option would raise real questions about the vote’s legitimacy ; ignoring the amendment to H.R. 2499 (111th Congress) described in paragraph (25), the pro-statehood government called for a locally legislated plebiscite in 2012 that adopted the 2-vote structure rejected by the House of Representatives that excluded the Commonwealth option in the second vote; to further stack the deck in the 2012 plebiscite— the first vote would be in favor or against the current territorial status (a generic term intended to downplay the constitutional process of the Act of July 3, 1950 (commonly known as the Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 ) (64 Stat. 319, chapter 446)); and a second vote would be for— statehood; independence; or free association (which was confusingly referred to as sovereign Commonwealth ); the voting structure in the 2012 plebiscite had several evident defects, including that— the current commonwealth status could lose even if commonwealth status had the highest voter preference; and by instructing individuals who voted for the current commonwealth status on the first question to answer the second question, regardless, the votes for the options of the second question would be inflated with those second-preference votes, so it would not be known how many voters actually preferred any of those options; the results of the 2012 plebiscite were a mixture of all the potential problems, as— the status quo received 828,077 votes on question 1, and statehood received 834,191 votes on question 2, which is a difference of 6,114 votes; it is not known how many voters that voted for the current status on question 1 voted for statehood on question 2; and since the law authorizing the plebiscite prohibited considering blank ballots for allocating percentages, the commonwealth status was said to have obtained 46 percent of the vote in the first vote and statehood was said to have obtained 61 percent of the vote in the second vote; on May 15, 2013, the pro-statehood Resident Commissioner introduced H.R. 2000 (113th Congress), which— stated that statehood had obtained 61.16 percent of the votes of voters who chose an option ; based on that characterization of the results, called for a ratification vote that would provide for a self-executing implementation of the admission of the Commonwealth Puerto Rico as a State of the Union of the United States; and was not acted on by the House of Representatives; instead, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 ( Public Law 113–76 ; 128 Stat. 5), appropriated $2,500,000 for objective, nonpartisan voter education about, and a plebiscite on, options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status, which shall be provided to the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico. , with the accompanying report stating that— the $2,500,000 was for objective, nonpartisan voter education about, and a plebiscite on, options that would resolve Puerto Rico’s future political status ; the funds provided for the plebiscite shall not be obligated until 45 days after the Department of Justice notifies the Committees on Appropriations that it approves of an expenditure plan from the Puerto Rico Elections Commission for voter education and plebiscite administration, including approval of the plebiscite ballot ; and the notification shall include a finding that the voter education materials, plebiscite ballot, and related materials are not incompatible with the Constitution and laws and policies of the United State. ; on February 3, 2017, with the pro-statehood party back in power locally, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico passed Law Number 7, which called for the immediate decolonization of Puerto Rico through a plebiscite to be held on June 11, 2017; claiming that the Commonwealth option had been rejected in the 2012 plebiscite, the ballot for the 2017 plebiscite would offer only 2 options of— statehood; and free association or independence; on April 13, 2017, the Department of Justice denied certification of the plebiscite, stating: The Department has concluded that the plebiscite ballot is not compatible with these policies, as it is not drafted in a way that ensures that its result will accurately reflect the current popular will of the people of Puerto Rico. As transmitted, the ballot omits Puerto Rico's current territorial status as an available option and instead provides the people of Puerto Rico with only two choices: ; Statehood or Free Association/Proclamation of Independence . This omission appears to be based on a determination that the people of Puerto Rico definitively rejected Puerto Rico's current status in the plebiscite held on November 6, 2012. See Act No. 7–2017, Art. III§ 1(a). The Department does not believe that the results of the 2012 plebiscite justify omitting Puerto Rico's current status as an option on the ballot. For a variety of reasons, the validity of the 2012 plebiscite's results have been the subject of controversy and debate. See Congressional Research Service, Puerto Rico's Political Status and the 2012 Plebiscite: Background and Key Questions, at 8 (June 25, 2013) ( CRS Report ). Furthermore, nearly five years have elapsed since that plebiscite, during which significant political, economic, and demographic changes have occurred in Puerto Rico and the United States. As a result, it is uncertain that it is the present will of the people to reject Puerto Rico's current status. Accordingly, any plebiscite that now seeks to resolve Puerto Rico's future political status, as the Appropriations Act contemplates, should include the current territorial status as an option. See 2011 Task Force Report, at 26 (noting that the current status must be an available option for the people of Puerto Rico ). Otherwise, there would be real questions about the vote's legitimacy and its ability to reflect accurately the will of the people. Id. Furthermore, the Department has determined that the plebiscite ballot language contains several ambiguous and potentially misleading statements, which may hinder voters' ability to make a fully informed choice as well as efforts to ascertain the will of the people from the plebiscite results. The statements of concern are as follows: The ballot's description of the Statehood option contains the following statement: I am aware that Statehood is [the] only option that guarantees the American citizenship by birth in Puerto Rico . This statement is inaccurate when considered in the context of all available status options, as under current law, Puerto Ricans have an unconditional statutory right to birthright citizenship. The sentence therefore is potentially misleading and reinforces the ballot's flawed omission of an option for retaining Puerto Rico's current territorial status. the local government amended the bill purportedly to comply with the Department of Justice demands, but did not allow for Department of Justice certification, provoking a massive boycott by the Commonwealth supporters and independence supporters; in the plebiscite of June 11, 2017— there was a historically low participation rate of 23 percent of registered voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico; and 508,862 voters in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico voted for statehood, which was 97 percent of votes cast; the same pro-statehood administration in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico called for a new plebiscite in 2020 that would include an up-or-down statehood vote; by letter of July 29, 2020, addressed to the Chairman of the Puerto Rico Elections Commission, the Department of Justice again rejected certification, stating that— the United States has consistently remained neutral about the legally permissible status options for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, of which the current status is 1; and a plebiscite that asks voters if the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should be admitted immediately into the Union of the United States as a State is regarded as a pro-statehood initiative that departs from that policy of neutrality; Executive Order 13183 ( 48 U.S.C. 731 note; relating to establishment of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status), states that the policy of the executive branch is to work with leaders of the Commonwealth and the Congress to clarify the options to enable Puerto Ricans to determine their preference among options for the islands’ future status that are not incompatible with the Constitution and basic laws and policies of the United States; and to implement such an option if chosen by a majority. ; and the status options for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that are not incompatible with the Constitution and basic laws and policies of the United States are— commonwealth status; statehood; independence; and free association.

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