Senate approves measure to protect police retirement funds

Senators Gregorio Matías Rosario and Carmelo Ríos.

By THE STAR STAFF

During its regular session, the Senate of Puerto Rico approved a measure introduced by Majority Leader Gregorio Matías Rosario aimed at strengthening the protection of the Puerto Rico Police Retirement Trust Fund and ensuring that its resources are used exclusively to enhance retirement benefits for members of the police force.

Senate Bill 1323 amends the Puerto Rico Police Retirement Trust Act to establish that, although compensation such as overtime pay, accrued leave, and separation settlements remain legitimate rights of police officers when provided by law, such payments must be funded through the employer’s ordinary budget appropriations rather than through resources from the trust established to strengthen pensions and retirement benefits.

Among its provisions, the bill mandates that all funds, assets, income, earnings, surpluses, and any other resources belonging to the trust be used solely and exclusively to improve retirement compensation for eligible members, strengthen existing or future benefits, make additional contributions to retirement plans, and cover only those fiduciary administrative expenses that are strictly necessary for the administration of the program.

The legislation prohibits the use of these resources for the payment of overtime, accrued leave, separation or retirement settlements, payroll, salaries, pay differentials, ordinary fringe benefits, employer liabilities, operational expenses of the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, government budget shortfalls, or any other purpose not directly related to the retirement benefits of eligible members.

Likewise, it provides that any surplus generated by the trust must remain within the trust to be accumulated, reinvested, or used in future fiscal years exclusively to strengthen retirement benefits. It also establishes that any additional discretionary contributions made pursuant to Act 106-2017 may only be used for retirement-related purposes and not for the payment of operational or employer obligations.

Additionally, the Senate approved, among other measures, Senate Bill 1114, authored by Senator Karen Román Rodríguez, to amend the Puerto Rico Land Administration Act and extend the minimum interval for audits conducted by the Office of the Comptroller from once a year to once every three years.

The Senate also approved Senate Bill 1206, introduced by Senate Vice President Marissa “Marissita” Jiménez Santoni, to extend the medical malpractice civil liability limits applicable to the Government of Puerto Rico to Doctors’ Center Hospital San Fernando in Carolina and to any other hospital owned by a municipality or the Government of Puerto Rico, regardless of whether it is managed by a private or public entity.