II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2019

To provide for referenda to resolve the political status of Puerto Rico, and

for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 2, 1996

Mr. CRAIG (for himself, Mr. SIMON, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. REID, Mr. GRAHAM,

Mr. AKAKA, and Mr. COHEN) introduced the following bill; which was

read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To provide for referenda to resolve the political status of

Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 Congress finds that—

5 (1) the United States exercises sovereignty over

6 Puerto Rico pursuant to the Treaty of Paris pro7 claimed by President McKinley on April 11, 1899,

8 Article IX of which provides that the ‘‘civil rights
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1 and political status of the native inhabitants’’ of

2 Puerto Rico ‘‘shall be determined by the Congress’’;

3 (2) Congress continues to carry out all Federal

4 responsibilities with respect to Puerto Rico, includ5 ing those set forth in article IX of the treaty of ces6 sion, pursuant to the territorial clause of the United

7 States Constitution (article IV, section 3, clause 2),

8 which provides that ‘‘Congress shall have Power to

9 dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regula10 tions respecting the Territory or other Property be11 longing to the United States’’;

12 (3) in the Act of March 2, 1917 (39 stat. 951,

13 chapter 145), Congress provided for civil administra14 tion of Puerto Rico and declared that, by virtue of

15 that Act, the inhabitants of Puerto Rico shall be

16 citizens of the United States, with such civil rights

17 and political status as Congress determined to be

18 consistent with residence in an unincorporated terri19 tory rather than a State of the Union;

20 (4) in accordance with the Act of July 3, 1950

21 (64 Stat. 319, chapter 446), the people of Puerto

22 Rico adopted a constitution in 1952 that, after

23 amendment and approval by Congress, established

24 the current Commonwealth structure for self-govern25 ment in respect of internal affairs and local govern-
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1 ment administration, subject to the United States

2 Constitution and Federal law applicable to Puerto

3 Rico; and

4 (5) the United States, consistent with its con5 stitutional process, is committed to respecting the

6 principle of self-determination as part of any proce7 dure to resolve the political status of Puerto Rico.

8 SEC. 2. REFERENDA.

9 (a) POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES.—(1) IN GEN10 ERAL.—It is the policy of the United States that the resi11 dents of Puerto Rico periodically should be afforded an

12 opportunity freely to express their wishes regarding their

13 political status.—

14 (2) OPTIONS.—The self-determination process for

15 Puerto Rico should be one that enables the people of Puer16 to Rico to preserve their current political status if that

17 is their preference, or to choose to seek, in accordance with

18 a process approved by Congress and the residents of Puer19 to Rico—

20 (A) admission as a State of the Union on

21 the basis of full equality; or

22 (B) withdrawal of United States sov23 ereignty in favor of independence or free asso24 ciation.
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1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—A referendum under this

2 Act—

3 (1) shall be conducted among persons in Puerto

4 Rico who meet the residency, United States citizen5 ship, and other requirements of applicable law gov6 erning voter eligibility in Puerto Rico;

7 (2) shall otherwise be in accordance with appli8 cable provisions of the elections law of Puerto Rico

9 and other relevant local and Federal law consistent

10 with this Act; and

11 (3) shall be decided by a majority of the votes

12 cast.

13 (c) REFERENDUM BY THE END OF 1998.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—A referendum under this Act

15 shall be conducted not later than December 31,

16 1998.

17 (2) FORMAT.—

18 (A) PART ONE OF THE BALLOT.—In the

19 referendum under paragraph (1), the option of

20 continuing the current Commonwealth arrange21 ments and Puerto Rico’s current political sta22 tus, or, alternatively, entering on a process

23 leading to permanent full self-government

24 through separate sovereignty or statehood, shall
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1 be presented in Part One of the ballot as Op2 tions A and B, as follows:

3 ‘‘PART ONE

4 ‘‘OPTION A.—COMMONWEALTH: The resi5 dents of Puerto Rico desire to continue the current

6 Commonwealth structure for self-government with

7 respect to internal affairs and administration under

8 a local constitution, subject to the provisions of the

9 Constitution and laws of the United States that

10 apply to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico will remain an

11 unincorporated territory of the United States, and

12 application of Federal law and provisions of the

13 Constitution to Puerto Rico remains within the dis14 cretion of Congress. The future status of Puerto

15 Rico will be determined through a process author16 ized by Congress that includes self-determination by

17 the residents of Puerto Rico in periodic referenda.

18 ‘‘OPTION B.—PATH TO SEPARATE SOV19 EREIGNTY OR STATEHOOD: The residents of

20 Puerto Rico desire to enter on a process for Con21 gress and the residents of Puerto Rico to define and

22 approve in a later vote a transition to permanent full

23 self-government through either separate sovereignty

24 or statehood as set forth in Part Two of this bal25 lot.’’.
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1 (B) PART TWO OF THE BALLOT.—Part

2 Two of the ballot shall present voters with a

3 choice between 2 options for ending the current

4 territorial status in favor of separate sov5 ereignty, in the form of independence, or free

6 association as may be agreed, according to

7 international law and definitions compatible

8 with the constitutional process and practices of

9 the United States, or, alternatively, full integra10 tion into the United States constitutional sys11 tem on the basis of equality. The definitions of

12 separate sovereignty and full integration leading

13 to statehood shall appear in Part Two of the

14 ballot as Options A and B, as follows:

15 ‘‘OPTION A.—SEPARATE SOVEREIGNTY:

16 The residents of Puerto Rico desire to be a separate

17 sovereign nation that exercises all the powers of gov18 ernment with respect to its territory and population,

19 with full authority and responsibility for its internal

20 and external affairs, through independence (or free

21 association as may be agreed). Puerto Rico will be22 come fully self-governing under its own constitution

23 establishing a republican form of government, which

24 shall be the supreme law. The United States Con25 stitution and laws shall no longer apply, and the sov-
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1 ereignty, nationality, and citizenship of the United

2 States in Puerto Rico shall terminate based on ap3 proval of separate sovereignty by Congress and the

4 residents of Puerto Rico. Birth in Puerto Rico or re5 lationship to a person who acquired United States

6 citizenship by statute due to birth in Puerto Rico

7 during the territorial period no longer will confer

8 United States citizenship, but such persons shall

9 have a right to retain statutory United States citi10 zenship for life based on continued allegiance to the

11 United States and election or designation as pre12 scribed by Congress consistent with the transition to

13 separate sovereignty and succession of nationality.

14 ‘‘OPTION B.—STATEHOOD: The residents of

15 Puerto Rico desire admission of Puerto Rico as a

16 State of the Union. Through statehood residents of

17 Puerto Rico will have a status and rights secured

18 under the United States Constitution, which will be

19 the supreme law of the land with the same force and

20 effect as in the other States of the Union. The sov21 ereign State of Puerto Rico will be in permanent

22 union with the United States, and powers not dele23 gated to the Federal Government or prohibited to

24 the States by the United States Constitution shall be

25 reserved to the people of Puerto Rico or the State
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1 Government. The United States nationality and citi2 zenship of persons born in Puerto Rico will be guar3 anteed in the same way it is for all United States

4 citizens born in other States of the Union. United

5 States citizens in Puerto Rico will have full and

6 equal rights and duties of United States citizenship,

7 including voting rights in elections for President and

8 Vice President, as well as representation by 2 mem9 bers in the United States Senate and proportionally

10 on the basis of population in the House of Rep11 resentatives.’’.

12 (3) INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTERS.—

13 (A) PART ONE.—The instructions to voters

14 for Part One of the ballot in a referendum

15 under this subsection shall state that a voter

16 may select Option A or Option B by marking

17 either option, but that ballots with both options

18 marked in Part One will not be counted.

19 (B) PART TWO.—The instructions to vot20 ers for Part Two of the ballot in such a referen21 dum shall state that a voter may vote on Part

22 Two regardless of how the voter voted on Part

23 One, or even if they did not vote on Part One.

24 The instructions to voters on Part Two shall

25 also state that Part Two is to determine the
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1 preference of voters as between the options for

2 seeking separate sovereignty or statehood in

3 case a majority of the voters voting on Part

4 One approve that course as set forth in Option

5 B on Part One of the ballot. The voters shall

6 be instructed to approve Option A or Option B

7 in Part Two by marking either, but that ballots

8 with both options marked in Part Two will not

9 be counted.

10 (4) VALIDITY OF EITHER PART.—On any ballot

11 cast in a referendum under this subsection either

12 Part One or Part Two shall be counted if properly

13 cast, even if the other part of the ballot is not count14 ed due to the manner in which the other part has

15 been cast.

16 SEC. 3. IMPLEMENTATION.

17 (a) SELECTION OF CURRENT STATUS OR REJECTION

18 OF TRANSITION.—If a majority of the voters approve con19 tinuation of the current unincorporated status and the

20 present ‘Commonwealth’ structure for local self-govern21 ment, or on rejection of a transition plan, unless otherwise

22 provided by Congress, referenda on the future political

23 status of Puerto Rico shall be held in accordance with this

24 Act every 4 years thereafter, but not within 270 calendar

25 days of a general election, in order to ensure that the right
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1 of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination is re2 spected, and that the people periodically are afforded the

3 opportunity freely to express their wishes with respect to

4 resolution of Puerto Rico’s status based on permanent full

5 self-government.

6 (b) SELECTION OF STATEHOOD.—If statehood is se7 lected, the President, not later than 180 days after the

8 referendum, shall transmit to the Congress legislation pro9 viding for the admission of Puerto Rico as a State of the

10 Union in accordance with a transition plan that includes

11 procedures for approval of the terms of admission and im12 plementation thereof by a majority vote of the residents

13 of Puerto Rico.

14 (c) SELECTION OF SEPARATE SOVEREIGNTY.—If

15 separate sovereignty is selected, the President, not later

16 than 180 days after the referendum, shall transmit to the

17 Congress legislation to providing a plan for the transition

18 to an international sovereign-to-sovereign relationship gov19 erned by a treaty or international agreement (including

20 measures to cease conferral of United States citizenship

21 on persons born in Puerto Rico), and such legislation shall

22 include procedures for approval of the transition to sepa23 rate sovereignty by a majority vote of the residents of

24 Puerto Rico.

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