To admit Puerto Rico as 51st State, Lawmakers introduce bill
By Staff Reporter | Mar 31, 2019 01:53 PM EDT
Representatives Darren Soto (D-FL) and Jenniffer González-Colón (R-PR-Nonvoting) the Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2019 Thursday to admit Puerto Rico as the fifty-first state to join the union.
The Resolution proposes to admit Puerto Rico 90 days after the bill becomes law without requiring a referendum from Puerto Rico's citizens. The resolution finds the previous referendum, which was observed by Soto among others, was sufficient as 97 percent of voters voted for statehood. The current Constitution of Puerto Rico would become the state constitution. The current government would continue to discharge their respective duties. Puerto Rico would now be treated as a state under federal law equivalent to all other states.