Bill would add videoconferencing option for obtaining gov’t services.

By THE STAR STAFF

A trio of lawmakers filed House Bill 1175 on Tuesday for “the integration of government services through videoconferencing.”

The bill, filed by District 13 (Manatí, Florida, Barceloneta and Arecibo) Rep. Jerry Nieves Rosario, who chairs the Northern Region Committee in the lower chamber, along with Reps. Josean Jiménez Pérez and Joe Colón Rodríguez, orders “all agencies, instrumentalities, and public corporations of the Executive Branch of the Government of Puerto Rico to implement a citizen service system via videoconferencing,” and orders the Puerto Rico Office of Innovation and Technology Services “to establish the technical and cybersecurity parameters.”

According to historical data, carrying out administrative procedures has always required the physical presence of citizens in public offices, which often results in lost work hours, transportation expenses and prolonged wait times.

“Given the enormous advances in information and communication technologies, the state has the unavoidable duty to adapt its operations to the modern digital reality to facilitate the lives of citizens,” Nieves Rosario stressed. “This law proposes the formal integration of videoconferencing systems for citizen services in the agencies, instrumentalities, and public corporations of the executive branch, to achieve a structured and secure implementation.”

The legislator added that the initiative “is strictly conceived as an additional alternative for citizens, and its use will be optional.”