Fortuño Committee Assignments Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands Subcommittee on Fisheries, Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee on Select Education

Representative Luis G. Fortuño was sworn in to his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, as the first Republican elected to Congress representing Puerto Rico, on January 4, 2005. In the 110th Congress, Rep. Fortuño serves on the House Natural Resources Committee and is Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs; this is a rarity for a Member who has served only two years to be awarded this distinction. On the House Education and Labor Committee, he serves on the Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities. He has earned the privilege of serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and is assigned to the Subcommittees on Western Hemisphere and Europe.

In addition to his Committee assignments, Rep. Fortuño plays an active role in a number of caucuses and other influential groups. He was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Conference, which serves to promote the conservative agenda nationwide among the Hispanic community. He is a founding Co-Chair of the Congressional Friends of Spain Caucus, which strengthens the relationship between the United States and Spain and focuses on political, cultural, economic, commercial, and educational relations between the two countries.

Rep. Fortuño was recently appointed to the House Republican Policy Committee. In addition, he was tapped again to serve on the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Executive Committee, which serves a critical purpose to strengthen fundraising efforts and increase member participation in the upcoming 2008 electoral cycle. Rep. Fortuño will play a significant role in advising the NRCC on Hispanic outreach and other GOP fundraising efforts.

Before coming to Congress, Rep. Fortuño was a partner at the San Juan law firm of Correa, Collazo, Herrero, Jiménez & Fortuño specializing in corporate finance and real estate law. He entered public service in 1993 after being appointed by the Governor as Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company and President of the Hotel Development Corporation. In 1994, he became Puerto Rico’s first Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce.

As Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, Rep. Fortuño was tasked with the development and implementation of large-scale reforms of Puerto Rico’s tax, labor, corporate and commercial codes, aimed at facilitating business growth and job creation, reducing bureaucracy, and tax reform. Some of these initiatives included the adoption of the Uniform Commercial Code, the revamping of the General Corporations Law, an aggressive investment package to jumpstart the tourism industry, and the largest tax cut in Puerto Rico’s history. At the time of Rep. Fortuño’s departure from public service, Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate had reached its lowest level in over a generation.

Born in 1960, Rep. Fortuño was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and obtained his Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Virginia Law School. He is married to attorney Lucé Vela and has three children.

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