P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 283h
(a) The dependencies shall order obligations and disbursements from their public funds only to pledge or pay for services, supplies, materials and equipment and claims or other items authorized by law. The Secretary shall record the obligations and make and record the disbursements according to the documents submitted by the dependencies which shall be previously approved as an obligation or for payment by the corresponding head of the dependency or by the official or employee the latter may designate as his/her authorized agent. The legislative bodies shall design and approve their own systems and procedures to govern their obligations and disbursements of funds.
(b) The Secretary may appoint, at the request of the head of the interested dependency, or whenever he deems it convenient for the welfare of the service, paymasters in the dependencies and corporate entities whose funds are under the custody of the Secretary, excluding the municipalities, to make such disbursements of moneys as may be authorized. These paymasters shall be considered as agents of the Secretary and they shall be governed by the regulations prescribed by said Secretary.
(c) The Secretary is also authorized to appoint as paymaster any official or employee of any dependency or any private person, even though the latter may not be a public employee or official, that may be designated to carry out any official mission outside of Puerto Rico by the Governor or the official he/she may designate in the case of executive dependencies; by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court or the official he/she may designate in the case of judicial dependencies; by the Comptroller of Puerto Rico and the Director of the Office of the State Ombudsman, or the officials they may designate regarding the respective Offices. [Every person appointed as paymaster by the Secretary, pursuant to the provisions of this section, shall be subject to the rules established by the Secretary. Provided, That the special paymaster appointed by the Secretary pursuant to subsection (b) for the judicial dependencies, shall be responsible and be authorized to disburse the payments for all the expenses that the General Courts of Justice should bring about, in relation to any official mission abroad that the judges, officials and employees make. Traveling costs and per diems for persons appointed to carry out missions entrusted to them by the judicial dependencies and the legislative bodies shall be governed by the rules established by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, by the Comptroller of Puerto Rico and by the Office of the Ombudsman, regarding their offices.] The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own rules and procedures for appointing as paymaster any official, employee or private person designated to conduct any official mission outside of Puerto Rico. The regulations concerning travel expenses and per diems the President of the Senate or the Speaker of the House may approve and adopt to exercise control over this function shall apply to these officials, employees or private persons. In the case of officials or employees of joint legislative entities, it shall be necessary to obtain the approval of the President and Speaker for the corresponding travel vouchers. The rules concerning travel expenses and per diems agreed upon by the President and Speaker of both Bodies shall apply to these officials and employees.
No disbursements shall be made from the Budget appropriated to the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches for travel expenses and per diems for the spouses and/or close relatives who accompany the Heads of the Departments and the Officials on official missions in Puerto Rico and abroad. This prohibition extends to the public corporations and to any other instrumentality attached to the Three Branches. This provision does not apply to the Governor of Puerto Rico nor to the Secretary of State. Neither shall it apply to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico nor to the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate, provided that prior to the official trip, it is evinced that the disbursement directly responds to a public purpose. These officials, to whom the provision does not apply, shall be allowed to designate another person in place of a spouse, in case they have none.
(d) Traveling expenses and per diems, including trips outside of Puerto Rico, of those persons appointed to conduct missions entrusted to them by the judicial, legislative and municipal dependencies and by the legislative bodies, shall be governed by the rules established by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House, regarding each Body, the Comptroller of Puerto Rico and the Director of the Office of the State Ombudsman, regarding their Offices and by the Municipal Legislature regarding the municipalities. In the case of officials or employees of joint legislative entities, it shall be necessary to obtain the approval of the President and Speaker for the corresponding travel vouchers. The rules concerning travel expenses and per diems agreed upon by the President and Speaker of both Bodies shall apply to these officials and employees.
(e) The disbursements made by the Secretary and the paymasters appointed by the Secretary shall be for services, supplies, materials and any other goods rendered or furnished. Nothing provided herein shall serve to prevent payment of other claims against the government, such as payment of prizes of the Puerto Rico Lottery, State Insurance Fund compensations and other similar payments. The Secretary may make or authorize the paymasters to make advance payments for those services or supplies that according to business use and practice are paid in advance when so required by the needs of the service. The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own rules and procedures to govern the objective of this function.
(f) All disbursements made by the Secretary and the paymasters appointed by him/her shall be made directly to persons or entities who or which have rendered services or furnished supplies or materials, or to bona fide assignees as provided in § 902 of this title. The Secretary may reimburse, directly or through paymasters, the expenses incurred by public officers or employees who, for the good of the service, are authorized to make disbursements out of their particular funds for public purposes. The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own rules and procedures in harmony with the objectives sought by this subsection.
(g) The heads of the dependencies or their authorized representatives shall be responsible for the legality, exactitude, propriety, necessity and correctness of all the expenses submitted for payment to the Secretary or to a paymaster duly appointed by the Secretary. They shall also answer to the government with their personal funds or property, for any illegal, improper or incorrect payment that the Secretary or paymaster may make after said payment has been certified as legal and correct by the head of the dependency or his/her authorized representative. The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own rules and procedures to achieve the objectives sought by this subsection.
(h) The Secretary may exempt any officer or employee of an executive dependency from pecuniary liability for any illegal or incorrect payment, when from an investigation conducted by him/her, the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, or both jointly, it is determined that:
(1) The officer or employee did not act intentionally to the prejudice of government interest, and
(2) the Government received services or supplies which properly justified the payment.
The judicial and legislative dependencies shall be governed by the rules that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Comptroller of Puerto Rico and the Director of the Office of the State Ombudsman may establish respectively for such a purpose, according to the legislation in effect. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall approve and adopt the rules that shall govern the objectives sought by this subsection.
The provisions of this subsection do not limit the power conferred by other laws to the heads of the dependencies to take disciplinary action against its officers and employees for illegal or incorrect actions in the discharge of their official duties.
(i) It shall be the duty of the heads of dependencies, corporate entities and legislative bodies and of the Secretary to prevent such expenditures of public funds that in their judgment are extravagant, excessive and unnecessary. Each of these terms shall mean the following:
(1) Extravagant.— Any expense out of order and uncommon, against reason, law or practice, not conforming to the actual standards of usage and austerity.
(2) Excessive.— Any expense for articles, supplies or services whose quoted prices are higher than those which are normally quoted in the market at the time of acquisition or purchase thereof, or when there exists a cheaper substitute product and just as durable which may serve the same purpose with the same result or effectiveness.
(3) Unnecessary.— Expense for materials or services which are not indispensable or necessary for the dependency or corporate entity to discharge the functions which by law have been entrusted to them.
(j) The Secretary, the paymasters appointed by the Secretary, the municipalities, the instrumentalities, the corporate entities and the legislative bodies may not make any payments to any natural or juridical person whatsoever having, on any account, overdue debts with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any municipality. Whenever there are justified reasons, and the interests of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the corresponding municipality are benefited, and the Secretary so approves, in those cases in which the debt is with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or with the mayor of the corresponding municipality, if the debt is with a municipality, the necessary payments may be made to those persons who are in debt with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or with any municipality and who continue rendering services or supplying materials or equipment to the government, the municipalities, the instrumentalities, the corporate entities or the legislative bodies. The amounts withheld in compliance with this subsection shall be applied to the debt of the natural or juridical person from whom they are withheld. Provided, That if the natural or juridical person from whom an amount is to be withheld should be in debt with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and simultaneously with one or more municipalities, the debt to the Commonwealth shall be collected in the first place, and the others successively and strictly on the basis of their maturity dates, always collecting the earliest one first.
The Secretary is hereby authorized, in cases where the indebtedness is with the Commonwealth, and the mayor, where the indebtedness is with a municipality, to grant an installment payment plan that may facilitate the liquidation of the debt, if the economic condition of the debtor so warrants it.
(k) No dependency of the Executive government, to wit, departments, bureaus, administrations, boards, commissions, offices, agencies of the Executive Branch or Legislative dependencies, including the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Office of the Comptroller or any other agency attached to the Legislative Branch to which §§ 283—283p this title, known as the “Puerto Rico Government Accounting Act” applies may use the mechanism of issuing credit cards to any public officer or employee for making disbursements on behalf of the dependency.
Due to the nature of their duties, excluded from this prohibition are, the Governor of Puerto Rico, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Secretary of State, the mayors, the President of the University of Puerto Rico, the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, the latter as of October 2, 2008, the nominating authorities and chief executives of the executive agencies, upon prior authorization of their respective presidents and officers or chief executives who are responsible for procurement in government entities.
With respect to procurement officers, the use of credit cards is hereby authorized for emergency procurement, travel tickets, trainings and, in situations in which providers require immediate payment, provided the procurement rules and procedures established by the government entity are complied with.
The use of credit cards for the purchase of alcoholic beverages, gifts, gambling and personal transactions is prohibited.
All public officers authorized to use credit cards shall provide to the Office of Government Ethics the same information required for personal credit cards in the annual report that they are required to submit pursuant to the provisions in the Ethics in Government Act, §§ 1801 et seq. of this title.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 230, Part 2, p. 183, § 9; May 27, 1976, No. 61, p. 175, § 3; June 16, 1978, No. 54, p. 178, § 1; Sept. 4, 1996, No. 187, § 1; Nov. 16, 2002, No. 261, § 1; June 11, 2004, No. 140, § 6; Aug. 26, 2005, No. 103, § 1, eff. 30 days after Aug. 26, 2005.