New laws expand health protections, safeguard children, strengthen digital & sports safety

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón

By THE STAR STAFF

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón on Monday enacted four new laws aimed at improving access to health services, protecting minors from sexual abuse, modernizing digital identity rights, and reinforcing safeguards against sexual harassment in Puerto Rico’s sports sector.

The measures, signed at La Fortaleza, reflect a broad policy push touching on patient rights, emerging technologies, child welfare, and accountability within athletic organizations.

The governor signed Law 161‑2026, authored by Reps. Sol Higgins Cuadrado and Estrella Martínez Soto, which amends Puerto Rico’s Health Insurance Code and the Patient Bill of Rights to streamline coordination of benefits for patients with more than one health plan.

The law shifts responsibility for coordinating payments and reimbursements to insurers, intermediaries and participating providers -- removing the burden from patients, who often must advance money or navigate complex reimbursement processes. It also imposes a 30‑day deadline to complete benefit coordination, requires the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance to adopt new regulations, and establishes complaint mechanisms and educational campaigns for patients and providers.

González Colón also signed Law 163‑2026, sponsored by Sen. Jamie Barlucea Rodríguez, which updates Puerto Rico’s Right to One’s Own Image statute to address rapid advances in artificial intelligence and digital manipulation tools.

The measure expands legal protections against unauthorized use of a person’s likeness, voice, gestures, movements or other identifiable attributes -- including those generated, cloned, simulated or altered through emerging technologies. The update aims to ensure the law remains relevant as AI‑driven audiovisual reproduction becomes more sophisticated and widespread.

Under Law 164‑2026, authored by Sens. Wanda Soto Tolentino and Joanne Rodríguez Veve with co‑sponsors Ada Álvarez Conde and Ángel Toledo López, Puerto Rico will impose tougher penalties on individuals who knowingly or suspecting abuse fail to report sexual crimes against minors.

The law establishes a fixed two‑year prison term for deliberately omitting a report or obstructing someone else from reporting. It also sets a three‑year penalty for providing false information or inducing others to do so. The administration framed the measure as a critical reinforcement of the island’s child protection and prevention policies.

The fourth measure, Law 162‑2026, sponsored by Reps. Luis Jiménez Torres and Jerry Nieves Rosario, strengthens the 2024 statute aimed at preventing sexual harassment in Puerto Rico’s sports environment.

The law broadens the definition of “sports entity” to include clubs, leagues, federations, recreational centers, and both public and private organizations responsible for athletes. It also updates the definition of harassment to encompass physical, psychological, cyber and social conduct.

Crucially, the measure establishes explicit civil liability for individuals who commit harassment and for sports entities that knew or should have known about misconduct and failed to act promptly. Liability may also extend to harassment by third parties when an entity is aware of the situation and does not take corrective action.