In this column, Rivera Schatz explains how Laws 96-2025 and 102-2025 reduce bureaucracy to retain and attract talent to Puerto Rico.
Photo: InDiario
Unnecessary bureaucracy is not an inevitable evil. It is a chain. And chains can be broken.
For years, excessive paperwork, endless processes, and meaningless rules have stifled entrepreneurship, demotivated professionals, and limited the potential of our economy. We have seen how a permit or license can become an ordeal lasting months, sometimes years, where citizens lose time, money, and even hope. And in the meantime, opportunities that could have stayed here go elsewhere, to places that are more agile, more efficient, and more fair.
With the passage of Law 96-2025 and Law 102-2025, we broke two of those chains. Different in scope, but with the same goal: to pave the way for our people to work and progress without absurd obstacles.
The problem was obvious. Obtaining a professional license could take months. Months that meant lost jobs, stalled projects, and qualified young people packing their bags to seek in other states what they could not achieve here. From the health sector to the real estate industry, professionals that our economy urgently needs chose to leave, not because of a lack of love for their homeland, but because of a lack of real opportunities. That brain drain had to stop.
Law 96-2025 tackles the problem from within. It standardizes the procedure for all Examination Boards, imposes a maximum of 30 days to respond to applications, and establishes that if there is no response within that time frame, a provisional license is issued. No more excuses or “we are evaluating.” Now the law sets a clear timeline, and if it is not met, the citizen does not pay the consequences.
Law 102-2025 looks outward. It recognizes valid, active, and unsanctioned professional licenses from other states. This is not giving away licenses, let's be clear. It is tearing down useless walls that only served to scare away talent. Before, a professional with years of experience in Florida, Texas, or New York had to start from scratch here, as if they had never worked before. The result: many did not even try. With this law, Puerto Rico joins 27 other US jurisdictions that already apply this modern and effective policy, sending a clear message: talent is welcome here.
The impact will be visible and measurable. More employees for hospitals and laboratories. Less waiting time for medical appointments. More professionals to advance infrastructure projects. More opportunities for our young people, trained here or elsewhere in the nation, to return and contribute to their homeland. Fewer reasons for talent to continue taking a one-way plane ticket.
Let there be no mistake: we have not reached the end of the road. These laws are a firm step forward, but there are still other chains to break. Bureaucracy has many faces: permits that take forever, regulations that no one has reviewed in decades, duplicated processes that waste time and money without adding value.
In the Senate, we legislate with vision, efficiency, and fairness. We don't lie, we don't embellish reality, we don't create false expectations. When we say something will be done, it gets done. As I said in my previous column, the best social program is a job. And we keep our word.
These two laws show that it is possible to change things when there is political will and a real commitment to the citizenry. They show that we do not have to resign ourselves to a slow, inefficient, and hostile system for those who want to work. And they show that, if we continue to break down barriers, Puerto Rico can become a place where talent flourishes, opportunities grow, and progress is felt in every community.
Breaking chains is not a one-time event. It is constant work. And in that work, this Senate will continue to lead the way, doing what needs to be done so that our people have the opportunity to prosper here, in their homeland, without bureaucracy standing in their way.
This article was published originally in InDiario.
