P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 8768
It is hereby prohibited that the Executive Branch and its agencies incur expenses for the purchase of time and space in the public broadcasting media with the purpose of disclosing their programs, projects, achievements, performance, projections, or plans. Those notices and announcements expressly required and/or authorized by law are an exception. It is prohibited for the Legislative and Judicial Branches to incur expenses for the purchase of time and space in the public broadcasting media with the purpose of disclosing their programs, projects, achievements, performance, projections, or plans. Excepted from the above are the costs related to the establishment and maintenance of webpages usually established by the agencies, courts, and legislatures with information on the composition and operation of their structures and information on services, cases, or legislation, as it may apply, as well as any other means of providing information about legislative processes and activities and public interest information. Exception is also made of the purchase of time and space for the disclosure of legislative calendars that do not identify the name of a particular elected official, as well as the publication by obituaries or the payment of additional segments during the appearance of the Governor before the Legislative Bodies.
Likewise, exception is made of those announcements that are used to disclose urgent, emergency, health-related, or public interest information. For purposes of this section, public interest information shall be that which:
(a) Inures to the benefit of the health, safety, morals, and the general well-being of all citizens;
(b) is destined to a public or semi-public activity;
(c) promotes the interests and objectives of the government entity in a manner consistent with its duties and functions or the established public policy;
(d) promotes programs, services, opportunities, and rights, or furthers social, civic, cultural, economic, or sports-related causes, or
(e) promotes the establishment, modification, or change of a government policy.
If the government branches or the instrumentalities thereof decide to buy television advertisement spots in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, they shall use, at least, five percent (5%) of the funds earmarked for such purposes to contract the services of television stations operated by the Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation. The television advertisement spots bought by the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, the Industrial Development Company, and the Department of the Treasury are hereby exempt from the provisions of this paragraph.
Under no circumstance shall public funds be used with the sole purpose of furthering individual or political-partisan interests.
History —May 25, 2006, No. 103, § 19; Oct. 19, 2010, No. 153, § 1; Jan. 2, 2014, No. 1, § 1.