Secretary of State of Puerto Rico - Additional Delegated Duties

Additional Delegated Duties

Secretaries of state of the United States Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in addition to heading the State Department, one of the smallest central government agencies, and exercising the role as the territory's lieutenant governor, are usually assigned additional functions by the governor. For example, Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín had Secretary of State Roberto Sánchez Vilella, a civil engineer, serve simultaneously as Secretary of Public Works. Gov. Pedro Rosselló had Secretary of State Norma Burgos serve for several years as chair of the Puerto Rico Planning Board. Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá's second secretary of state, Fernando Bonilla, also served as executive director of the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. However, perhaps no other secretary of state has been assigned more tasks than immediate past Secretary of State Kenneth McClintock, who served as chair of the incoming Fortuño administration's Incoming Committee on Government Transition, coordinated the government's digital TV transition work group, headed the state government's Census 2010 team, chaired the government's 2010 Central and Caribbean Games Coordinating Committee, was tasked with making the final awatds of Public-Private Partnership contracts and chaired the Government Reorganization Committee, among other assignments delegated by Gov. Luis Fortuño. So far, Governor Alejandro García Padilla has put current secretary Bernier in charge of evaluating the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport Public-Private Partnership contract and overseeing social agencies, such as the Health, Family Services, Education and Sports and Recreation departments.

The Secretary of State of Puerto Rico is a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State, as well as the National Lieutenant Governors Association in his dual role as head of Puerto Rico's Department of State, as well as the islands' lieutenant governor.