Governor open to a post-election extraordinary session of Legislature

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi (Facebook via Governor Pierluisi)

By The Star Staff

Gov. Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia said Tuesday that he is open to the possibility of calling an extraordinary session after the elections if he reaches agreements with the Legislative Assembly.

“Right now there is no legislative session. I am still receiving bills for signature or veto,” the governor said in response to questions from the press. “There is always the possibility of an extraordinary session. I have not made that decision. If I were to call an extraordinary session, I am inclined to do so after the elections, but before the end of the year. And I would have to reach a pre-agreement regarding it with the legislative leadership, because I do not want to create unnecessary controversies.”

Pierluisi said he believes that if he reaches an agreement with the Legislature, one of the proposals that could be approved would be amendments to the inventory tax.

“But again, I am not making that decision now because I do not want to act unilaterally,” he said. “... If you see that I am calling an extraordinary session, it is because I have made some agreements with the legislative leadership regarding what will be considered in that extraordinary session. That issue could be one. Another issue, by the way, could be the global minimum tax. These are two important issues that have not been addressed to date; they could be addressed in an extraordinary session. …”

The governor said his intention is to gain approval for a measure that freezes the municipal tax while a substitute is found.

“In order to eliminate the inventory tax, legislation must be passed,” Pierluisi said. “I supported a bill that sought to freeze the amount received for the inventory tax for a period of five years and during that period to find a substitute. What happens is that the legislation, as it was presented, was not finally approved because the truth was that at the end of that period of time there was an automatic elimination of the tax and the tax should not be eliminated without having a substitute. What I favored was that the legislation always basically gave the opportunity to the legislative branch and to the municipalities through the CRIM [the Municipal Revenue Collection Center], the private sector itself, to find a reasonable substitute. That is still my position.”

“I think that a committee or commission can be created that represents the private sector, the municipalities, so that over the course of a period, say, five years, a substitute is found,” the governor added. “And in the meantime, the amount is frozen, which becomes an incentive to have more inventory, because you are not going to pay more for the additional inventory.”