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House Vice Speaker Yashira Lebrón, along with the President of the Women’s Affairs Committee, Wanda Del Valle, reported that the New Progressive Party delegation in said legislative body has filed some 42 measures aimed exclusively at addressing women’s issues, including eradicating discrimination in labor compensation and providing more tools to stop domestic violence in Puerto Rico.
“Since the new Housea of Representatives came into session in January 2025, our delegation has been very proactive in promoting an agenda in favor of women in Puerto Rico. We are, by far, the delegation that has submitted the most legislation to empower women, defend their rights and eradicate the terrible social evil of domestic violence. Our president, Carlos ‘Johnny’ Méndez, is committed to providing women with all the necessary tools to achieve their highest aspirations and we are working tirelessly to achieve that,” said the House Vice Speaker.
“We have a real commitment to Puerto Rican women. Not only are there over 40 measures directly addressing women’s issues in less than two months, but they are important pieces of legislation. We filed House Bill 125, which creates the New Domestic Violence Code (Comprehensive Code for the Prevention, Intervention and Attention against Domestic Violence in Puerto Rico) with the purpose of placing all the laws that touch on this field under one code. We also presented legislation to create the figure of the Compliance Officer for the Government’s Programs against Domestic Violence and a new curriculum on domestic violence for members of the Department of Public Safety, particularly the Police Bureau. This is so that the agents are aware of the new modalities and mechanisms to combat domestic violence,” explained Del Valle.
In addition to Lebrón and Del Valle, the majority delegation in the Lower House is made up of seven women: Lourdes Ramos, Tatiana Pérez, Elinette González, Vimarie Peña, Odalys González, Carmen Medina and Omayra Martínez.
Among the measures submitted by the PNP is House Bill 15, authored by the President, which provides additional tools to the authorities to prosecute those who attack the physical and/or emotional health of their partners.
The legislative leader also submitted House Bill 21, which creates the ‘Electronic Portal for Forensic Evidence of Sexual Violence Act’ to allow victims to receive information related to the status of the equipment known as the ‘Sexual Assault KIT’ and House Bill 23, which creates the ‘Law for Technological Integration between the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence in Puerto Rico.
There is also House Bill 298 by Vice President Angel Peña and Representative Vimarie Peña, which creates the ‘Breastfeeding Code of Puerto Rico’, House Bill 344 by Representatives José ‘Che’ Pérez and Odalys González, which creates the ‘Law to Create School Certification against Abuse and Domestic Violence’, while Bill 211 by Representative Luis Pérez seeks to give women the same rank in the new Space Force of the United States Armed Forces. Other measures include Bill 227 by Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló.
The Chamber will hold a forum to investigate the implementation of Act Number 16-2017, better known as the Puerto Rico Equal Pay Act, aimed at closing the gap between the pay received by women and men. Act 16-2017 is designed to eradicate discrimination in economic compensation between me n and women.
Unfortunately, according to the most recent data from the Department of Labor and Human Resources itself, there is a 17 percent gap between what a woman earns compared to a man.
