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Statehood Definition included in H.R. 856
United States-Puerto Rico Political Status Act
"Puerto Rico should become fully self-governing through
United States sovereignty leading to statehood, in which-
- The people of Puerto Rico are full self-governing with
their rights secured under the United States Constitution, which
is the supreme law and has the same force and effects as in the
other States of the Union;
- The sovereign State of Puerto Rico is in permanent union
with the United States, and powers not delegated to the Federal
Government or prohibited to the states by the United States
Constitution are reserved to the
people of Puerto Rico or the State Government ;
- United States citizenship of those born in Puerto Rico is
guaranteed, protected and secured in the same way it is for all
the United states citizens born in the other States;
- Residents of Puerto Rico have equal rights and benefits as
well as equal duties and responsibilities of citizenship,
including payment of Federal taxes, as those in the several
States;
- Puerto Rico is represented by two members in the United
States Senate and is represented in the House of representatives
proportionate to the population;
- United States citizens in Puerto Rico are enfranchised to
vote in elections for the Presidents and Vice President of the
United States; and
- English is the official language of business and
communication in Federal courts and Federal agencies as made
applicable by Federal law to every other State, and Puerto Rico
enabled to expand and build upon existing law establishing
English as an official language of the State government, courts
and agencies.
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