26th Senate of Puerto Rico

The 26th Senate of Puerto Rico is the upper house of the 18th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. Its counterpart in the lower house is the 30th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico.

26th Senate of Puerto Rico
In session
January 2, 2017 – January 1, 2021
Leadership
President	Thomas Rivera Schatz
President pro tem	Larry Seilhamer
Majority Leader	Carmelo Ríos
Majority Whip	Ángel Chayanne Martínez
Minority Leaders	Eduardo Bhatia Juan Dalmau Vargas Vidot
Minority Whip	José Luis Dalmau
Structure
Seats	30 voting members
Parties represented	21 PNP   7 PPD   1 PIP   1 Independent
Length of term	4 years
Elections
Last election	November 6, 2016
Next election	November 8, 2020
Legislature
18th Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico
Lower house
30th House of Representatives of Puerto Rico
Sessions
1st January 14, 2017 – June 30, 2017 2nd August 19, 2017 – November 19, 2017 3rd January 13, 2018 – June 30, 2018 4th August 18, 2018 – November 18, 2018 5th January 12, 2019 – June 30, 2019 6th August 17, 2019 – November 17, 2019 7th January 11, 2020 – June 30, 2020 8th August 15, 2020 – November 15, 2020

The body will meet from January 2, 2017, to January 1, 2021, while under the oversight of the fiscal control board established by PROMESA.

But in contrast to its standard composition, the numbers of legislators in this senate increased to 30 after the New Progressive Party (PNP in Spanish) won more than two thirds of the original 27 seats in contention during the 2016 general election. This provision was automatically triggered by Article Three of the Constitution of Puerto Rico which mandates that in such a case the number of minority legislators should total 9.

Leadership

  PPD    PNP    PIP    Independent

Office	Senator	District	Party
President	Thomas Rivera Schatz	At-large	PNP
President pro tempore	Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez	At-large	PNP
Majority Leader	Carmelo Ríos	District II Bayamón	PNP
Majority Whip	Ángel Chayanne Martínez	District III Arecibo	PNP
Minority Leader	Eduardo Bhatia	At-large	PPD
Minority Whip	José Luis Dalmau	District VII Humacao	PPD
Minority Leader	Juan Dalmau	At-large	PIP
Minority Leader	Vargas Vidot	At-large	Independent

Members

  PPD    PNP    PIP    Independent

District	Name	Affiliation
District I San Juan	Henry Neumann	PNP
	Miguel Romero	PNP
District II Bayamón	Migdalia Padilla	PNP
	Carmelo Ríos	PNP
District III Arecibo	Ángel Chayanne Martínez	PNP
	José Joito Pérez	PNP
District IV Mayagüez–Aguadilla	Luis Daniel Muñiz	PNP
	Evelyn Vázquez	PNP
District V Ponce	Luis Berdiel	PNP
	Nelson Cruz Santiago	PNP
District VI Guayama	Axel Roque	PNP
	Carlos Rodríguez Mateo	PNP
District VII Humacao	Miguel Laureano	PNP
	José Luis Dalmau	PPD
District VIII Carolina	Nayda Venegas	PNP
	Eric Correa	PNP
At-large	Zoé Laboy	PNP
	Abel Nazario	PNP
	Margarita Nolasco	PNP
	Itzamar Peña	PNP
	Thomas Rivera Schatz	PNP
	Larry Seilhamer	PNP
	Eduardo Bhatia	PPD
	Rossana López León	PPD
	Miguel Pereira	PPD
	José Nadal Power	PPD
	Cirilo Tirado	PPD
	Aníbal José Torres	PPD
	Miguel Pereira	PPD
	Juan Dalmau	PIP
	Vargas Vidot	Independent

Non-officers

  PNP

Post	Name	Political party
Secretary	Manuel A. Torres	PNP
Serjeant-at-Arms	Joel Fontánez González	PNP

Committees

Further information: List of current Senate of Puerto Rico Committees

Name	President	Vice President	Secretary
Agriculture	Luis Berdiel Rivera	José Perez Rosa	Luis Daniel Muñiz
Appointments	Thomas Rivera Schatz	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo	Luis Berdiel Rivera
Banking,Commerce and Cooperativism	Eric Correa Rivera	Zoé Laboy Alvarado	Axel Roque
Consumer Affairs and Essential Public Services	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves	Luis Daniel Muñiz	Henry Neumann Zayas
Development of Community Initiatives	Vargas Vidot	Nayda Venegas	Eric Correa Rivera
Development of the South Central Region	Nelson Cruz Santiago	Luis Berdiel Rivera	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves
Education and University Reform	Abel Nazario	Luis Daniel Muñiz	Axel Roque
Electoral System of Puerto Rico	Miguel Laureano	Itzamar Peña Ramírez	Henry Neumann Zayas
Environmental Health and Natural Resources	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo	Luis Berdiel Rivera	Itzamar Peña Ramírez
Ethics and Public Integrity	Ángel Chayanne Martínez	Luis Berdiel Rivera	Migdalia Padilla Alvelo
Federal Relations, Politics and Economics	Thomas Rivera Schatz	Miguel Romero	Miguel Laureano
Government	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo	Migdalia Padilla Alvelo	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves
Health	Ángel Chayanne Martínez	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo	José Perez Rosa
Innovation, Telecommunication,Urbanism and Infrastructure	Miguel Laureano	Eric Correa Rivera	Axel Roque
Internal Affairs	Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez	Eric Correa Rivera	Margarita Nolasco Santiago
Municipal Matters	Margarita Nolasco	Itzamar Peña Ramírez	Miguel Romero
Public Safety	Henry Neumann Zayas	Zoé Laboy Alvarado	Luis Berdiel Rivera
Rules and Calendar	Carmelo Ríos Santiago	Axel Roque	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo
Social and Economical Revitalization	Zoé Laboy Alvarado	Migdalia Padilla Alvelo	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves
Social Welfare and Family Affairs	Nayda Venegas	José Perez Rosa	Margarita Nolasco
Tourism and Culture	José Perez Rosa	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves	Itzamar Peña Ramírez
Treasury	Migdalia Padilla Alvelo	Miguel Romero	Eric Correa Rivera
Veterans' Affairs	José Luis Dalmau	Zoé Laboy Alvarado	Carlos J. Rodríguez Mateo
Western Development	Luis Daniel Muñiz	Evelyn Vázquez Nieves	Zoé Laboy Alvarado
Women's Affairs	Itzamar Peña Ramírez	Migdalia Padilla Alvelo	Nayda Venegas
Youth, Recreation and Sports	Axel Roque	Henry Neumann Zayas	Nelson Cruz Santiago