Since the transfer of sovereignty of Puerto Rico from Spain to the United States, the relationship between Puerto Rico and the US has been debated by many. On April 11, 1899, the peace treaty between Spain and the USA (the 1898 Treaty of Paris) became effective, and established a military government in Puerto Rico. This was short lived, since the following year (April 2, 1900) Congress enacted the
Foraker Act, which established a civil government and free trade between Puerto Rico and the USA. Puerto Ricans, although incapable of electing members of the territory's executive branch, were now able to elect their local representatives and a resident commissioner to the US Congress, who had a voice but no vote. In 1917, the enactment of the
Jones-Shafroth Act the territory of Puerto Rico was organized and statutory US citizenship was granted to its residents.
1967 referendum A referendum on the
status of the island was held in
Puerto Rico on July 23, 1967. Voters were given the choice between being a Commonwealth, statehood or independence. The majority of voters voted for Commonwealth status while around 40% showed support for joining as a state, with a voter turnout of 65.9%.
1993 referendum 1998 referendum A referendum in December 1998 offered voters four political status options: statehood, independence, free association, and territorial commonwealth, plus "none of the above." The latter option won 50.5% of the vote, followed by statehood, with 46.6%. Turnout was 71%.
2012 referendum On November 6, 2012, voters were presented with two questions: (1) whether they agreed to continue with Puerto Rico's territorial status and (2) to indicate the political status they preferred
from three possibilities: statehood,
independence, or
a sovereign nation in free association with the United States. Voters who chose "No" to the first question numbered 970,910 (54.0%), expressing themselves against continuing the current political status, while those who voted "Yes" numbered 828,077 (46.0%), indicating their desire to continue the current political status relationship. Of those who answered the second question, 834,191 (61.2%) chose statehood, 454,768 (33.3%) chose
free association, and 74,895 (5.5%) chose independence. On December 11, 2012, the
Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico enacted a
concurrent resolution requesting the
President and the
Congress of the United States to respond diligently and effectively on the demand of the people of Puerto Rico to end its current political status and to begin the transition of Puerto Rico to become a state of the union. This was followed by a hearing at the Senate
Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Puerto Rico's status on August 1, 2013, and (in 2014) resolutions introduced in both houses of the
United States Congress (H.R. 2000; S. 2020) to hold a yes-or-no referendum among the residents of Puerto Rico on statehood. Both resolutions died in committee.
2017 referendum Because there were almost 500,000 blank ballots in the 2012 referendum, creating confusion as to the voters' true desire, Congress ignored the results, but passed a
budget bill which included $2.5M in funding for a future referendum, intended to help educate the population on any future plebiscite. The fifth referendum was held on June 11, 2017, and offered voters three options: "Statehood", "Free Association/Independence" and "Current Territorial Status". Of the voters who "participated", 97.18% chose statehood, 1.50% favored independence and 1.32% chose to maintain the commonwealth status.
Criticism The June 2017 referendum was, according to
The New York Times, a "flawed election" where the turnout was only 23%, in part because most statehood opponents
sat out. 97% of votes cast favored statehood. Although the two referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had ostensibly pro-statehood outcomes,
The New York Times described them as "marred, with ballot language phrased to favor the party in office". For example, the fourth referendum, held in November 2012, asked voters (1) whether they wanted to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico and, if not, (2) which alternative status they prefer. Of the fifty-four percent (54.0%) who voted "No" on maintaining the status quo, 61.11% chose statehood, 33.34% chose
free association, and 5.55% chose independence.
2018 Puerto Rico Admission Act (H.R. 6246) In 2018, the 2018 Puerto Rico Admission Act was introduced to the United States Congress by Jenniffer González-Colón, and had 34 co-sponsors. It would have mandated Puerto Rico becoming a state of the Union by start of 2021.
Puerto Rico Statehood Admission Act (H.R. 4901) A bill (H.R. 4901) for Puerto Ricans to vote "yes" or "no" on statehood was introduced on October 29, 2019, by Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner
Jenniffer González Colón, but died in Committee. A corresponding bill in the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico that would implement the vote, known in English as the Law for the Final Definition of the Political Status of Puerto Rico (P.S. 1467), was approved by both houses on March 31, 2020, and sent to the Governor for signature. The single question was "Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted into the Union as a state?", with only two options: "yes" or "no".
2020 referendum On May 16, 2020, Governor
Wanda Vázquez Garced announced that a referendum on Puerto Rico's statehood would be held in November of that year. For the first time in the territory's history, only one direct question was asked: "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?" Previous referendums presented multiple options such as independence or maintaining the current territorial status. The announcement came amid growing disillusionment with Puerto Rico's territorial status due to the lack of access to federal funds for recent natural disasters, such as
Hurricane Maria and the
COVID-19 pandemic. The referendum was held on November 3, 2020. There were 655,505 votes in favor of statehood (52.52%) and 592,671 against (47.48%). After the results, the
Puerto Rico Legislature, which at the time had a pro-statehood majority, passed the "Puerto Rico Congressional Act" calling a special election to elect two
shadow senators and four shadow House-members to
Washington D.C. to advocate for statehood. In the
US House of Representatives, a bill to provide for the admission of the State of Puerto Rico into the Union was introduced. These bills, H.R. 1522 and S. 780, were supported by 50 Puerto Rican pro-statehood organizations, who "[called] on the
House Committee on Natural Resources and the
Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources to approve that legislation."
Puerto Rico Status Act (H.R. 8393) Passes House On December 15, 2022, H.R. 8393 passed the House of Representatives in a 233–191 vote with 11 absences. It would have instituted a binding referendum that would allow Puerto Ricans to vote on the future status of the island, that Congress would have to obey. Every
Democrat voted in favor of the bill, as did 16 Republicans. The bill died in the
Senate. In April 2023, Puerto Rico's Status Act, which seeks to resolve its territorial status and relationship with the United States through a binding plebiscite at the federal level, was reintroduced in the House by Democrats. This legislation, however, has been viewed as biased in favor of incorporating Puerto Rico as a state due to its introducers being pro-State for Puerto Rico. In September 2023,
Senator Roger Wicker introduced legislation under the same title which, if passed, would schedule a first vote for August 4, 2024, where Puerto Ricans would have the choice between four alternatives: annexation to the United States, independence, sovereignty in free association, and a free state associated with the United States. In December 2023,
Senator Martin Heinrich introduced another act by the same name which, if passed, would also schedule a binding referendum.
2024 referendum In July 2024, Governor Pedro Pierluisi called a plebiscite on the status of Puerto Rico in November 2024; for the first time the island's current status as a U.S. territory was not an option during the non-binding plebiscite. The executive order followed the U.S. House of Representatives' 2022 approval of a bill to help Puerto Rico move toward a change in territorial status. Voters were given the choice of statehood, independence, or independence with free association, the terms of which would be negotiated regarding foreign affairs, U.S. citizenship, and use of the U.S. dollar. The
Popular Democratic Party called for a blank vote for not including the Commonwealth or the current system. In the November 5 referendum, the top choice was statehood which garnered 59% of valid votes and 49% of all votes. ==Support outside Puerto Rico==