Editing Government of Puerto Rico (section)

==Legislative branch==
{{Main article|Legislative branch of the government of Puerto Rico|Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico}}
[[File:Puerto Rico Capitol.JPG|thumb|left|South view of the Puerto Rico Capitol, home of the Legislative Assembly.]]

[[Article Three of the Constitution of Puerto Rico|Article III]] of the [[Constitution of Puerto Rico]] grants all legislative powers of the commonwealth government to the [[Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico]], which is divided into two chambers: a 27-member [[Senate of Puerto Rico|Senate]] and a 51-member [[House of Representatives of Puerto Rico|House of Representatives]]. The chambers are presided over by the [[President of the Senate of Puerto Rico|President of the Senate]] and the [[Speaker of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico|Speaker of the House]], respectively. Both positions are occupied by an active member of each body, elected by a majority of both chambers. The current heads are Senator [[Eduardo Bhatia]] and Representative [[Jaime Perelló Borrás]], respectively.

Members are elected to both chambers in [[Elections in Puerto Rico|general elections]] held every four years, along with the elections for the Governor and [[mayors of Puerto Rico|the 78 municipal mayors]]. Each member of the Legislative Assembly represents an [[electoral district]], with the exception of a number of legislators who are considered [[at-large]] and represent the island as a whole. Members representing specific districts are elected by the citizens residing within the district, while at-large legislators are elected by accumulation of all island votes.

===Constitutional changes===
In recent years, two referendums have been held to propose constitutional changes to substantially modify the composition of the Legislative Assembly.

Various organizations pushed for changing the legislative assembly from the current two-chamber system (House and Senate) prevalent in 49 of the 50 states of the nation to one-chamber ([[unicameralism]]). The reasons for this proposed change was based on the growing public opinion that members of the assembly are overpaid, and that a smaller assembly might achieve the same work results as the bicameral one with less public expenditures. However, an official report of 1995 indicates that this argument should not be considered the primary objective because the savings are not significant. The legislative spending in Puerto Rico, compared with the consolidated government budget is less than 1% of total government spending.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.oslpr.org/spanish/PDF/Unicameralidad.pdf |title=Informe |trans-title=Report |access-date=2010-01-20 |archive-date=2009-01-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090124104212/http://oslpr.org/spanish/PDF/Unicameralidad.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Lacking the two-thirds majority necessary in both houses of the Legislature to submit constitutional amendments to the electorate, in 2004 the Popular Democratic Party's then-majority approved legislation to hold a [[Puerto Rican unicameralism referendum, 2005|referendum]], not on a particular constitutional amendment as such, but on the general concept of switching from a bicameral to a unicameral system which was held on July 10, 2005. Attended  by less than 25% of the islands' electorate, Puerto Rican voters approved the change to a [[unicameralism|unicameral legislature]] by 456,267 votes in favor, versus 88,720 against.<ref>{{cite news|author = María Vera|title = Trabajan borrador unicameralidad|publisher = [[El Vocero]]|url = http://www.vocero.com/noticias.asp?s=Locales&n=78249|access-date = 2006-10-02 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182019/http://www.vocero.com/noticias.asp?s=Locales&n=78249 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-09-27}}</ref> ([[Voter turnout]] was 22.6% of the electorate.)<ref>{{cite web|title = La Participación Ciudadana en los Procesos Electorales en Puerto Rico|work = Oficina de Asuntos Legales|publisher = Comisión Estatal de Elecciones de Puerto Rico (CEEPUR) / State Electoral Commission|url = http://www.ceepur.org/sobreCee/leyElectoral/pdf/LaParticipacicion.pdf|access-date = 2006-10-02|url-status = dead|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061004193306/http://www.ceepur.org/sobreCee/leyElectoral/pdf/LaParticipacicion.pdf|archive-date = 2006-10-04}} (via {{cite web |url=http://www.ceepur.org/sobreCee/leyElectoral/ |title=Comisión Estatal de Elecciones |access-date=2007-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041206040957/http://www.ceepur.org/sobreCee/leyElectoral/ |archive-date=2004-12-06 }})</ref> Almost four years later, incoming Governor [[Luis Fortuño]]  (from the [[New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico|New Progressive Party or New Party of Progress (NPP)]]) discarded the alternative of unicameralism claiming that the NPP's platform, rather than advocating unicameralism, supported submitting to the people a constitutional amendment proposing a substantial reduction in seats in the existing bicameral legislature.<ref>[http://www.wapa.tv/noticias/politica/derrotada-otra-vez-la-unicamara_20090122181536.html Derrotada otra vez la unicamara] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415104848/http://www.wapa.tv/noticias/politica/derrotada-otra-vez-la-unicamara_20090122181536.html |date=2012-04-15 }} on [[WAPA-TV]] (January 22, 2009)</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20120913040921/http://www.primerahora.com/danvueltaalapagina-267390.html Dan vuelta a la página] on ''[[Primera Hora (Puerto Rico)|Primera Hora]]''; Díaz Alcaide, Maritza (January 22, 2009)</ref>

In 2012, Governor Fortuño proposed, and by a two thirds majority in both houses, the Legislature approved submitting to the people a constitutional amendment reducing the size of the House from 51 to 39 seats and the Senate from 27 to 17 seats, essentially a 30% reduction in size.  However, in an August 18, 2012 referendum, the constitutional proposition failed by a 54% to 46% margin.