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Writer's pictureThe San Juan Daily Star

Lawmakers file bill to include P3s under electoral ban




By The Star Staff


Public-private partnership (P3) project operators would not be able to allude to achievements and goals under a law restricting the use of public funds for election-related advertising if a bill to that effect becomes law.


Popular Democratic Party Reps. Edgardo Feliciano Sánchez, Jesús Hernández Arroyo, Jorge Alfredo Rivera Segarra and Luis Ortiz Lugo, along with House Speaker Rafael Hernández Montañez, have introduced House Bill 1986, which seeks to include public-private partnerships (P3) under the advertising restrictions that go into effect in an election year, also known as the “electoral ban.”


The bill would add any entity contracted by the government of Puerto Rico to manage or operate under the P3 model to the list of agencies, public corporations, and municipalities covered by the electoral ban, which went into effect on Jan. 1. The ban prohibits the use of public funds to promote the governing administration’s image in an election year.


“Currently, we have several companies operating under the PPP model that receive hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds to finance their operations, and the electoral ban does not apply to them,” Feliciano Sánchez said.


The lawmakers noted that the electoral ban establishes that the disbursement of public government funds to expose achievements, projections, plans or messages and content for political purposes is prohibited during an election year.


“With this bill, we ensure that all entities that receive public funds are completely outside the electoral and political-partisan process, which has always been the intention of the electoral ban,” Hernández Montañez said.


The director of the Legal Division of the Electoral Comptroller’s Office (OCE by its Spanish initials), Sarah Rodríguez de Jesús, has concluded that the OCE lacks jurisdiction to regulate the advertising of P3s. Rodríguez de Jesús said this creates a regulatory vacuum that must be addressed through legislation to guarantee transparency and legality in executing P3 contracts.


“With this measure, we correct this deficiency and give greater strength to the OCE so that it can supervise all P3s with a clear and solid legal basis, and we guarantee that the spirit of the prohibition established in Law 222-2011 is complied with,” said Hernández Arroyo, who will take up the bill in the committee he chairs.

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