P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 1753
The investigating procedure may be initiated by petition of any of the parties or at the initiative of the Commission when the latter considers that the financial solvency or the essential services rendered by the agencies, municipalities or public corporations in controversy are being affected.
Any procedure shall be initiated by the presentation of a brief for filing a petition, accompanied by the evidence needed to be able to evaluate its validity. The Commission shall notify the agency, municipality of public corporation sued, with a copy of the petition attached.
The notice shall point out to the agency, municipality or public corporation sued that it has twenty (20) days to answer the brief and that it has the right to appear and defend itself before the Commission, on its own or through an attorney, to present any documentary or testimonial proof it deems pertinent and that it has the right to a public or private hearing. Said term shall be extended for an additional fifteen (15) days upon a motion of the agency, municipality or public corporation sued if so requested within the initial term.
Once the answer to the petition has been filed, the Commission, within the thirty (30) days following its receipt, shall study the file and be able to dismiss in those instances with a legal basis or call for a hearing to hear the controversies in question. When the Commission has dismissed the petition without having held a hearing, it shall notify its decision with copy of a resolution to that effect. Said resolution shall contain a breakdown of the facts, determinations and legal conclusions of the Commission.
When the Commission decides to hear the petition it shall hold those hearings deemed necessary, which may be public or private. The hearings must be notified to the complainant and to the respondent at least fifteen (15) days before the date they are held.
The hearings at which evidence is received shall be chaired by an examining officer, appointed by the President of the Commission. The examining officer may order an auditor to examine the evidence presented and to submit recommendations, or to directly investigate the agencies concerned, submitting afterwards a report that shall be part of the file of the case.
Once the examining officer has heard all parties and received all the necessary evidence, he/she shall submit a report to the Commission, including his/her determinations of fact, a breakdown of the evidence presented and admitted, his/her legal conclusions and any consideration pertinent to the case for the evaluation of the Commission in full. The Commission shall make and issue a decision as to the manner in which the amount owed shall be paid and the total of said amount, should this be in controversy, within ninety (90) days as of the date in which the examining official renders his/her report.
The order or resolution issued by the Commission shall advise the parties of their right to solicit a reconsideration or review of the same before the Commission, expressing the corresponding terms.
The Commission shall notify the parties and their attorneys, if any, by mail, about the order or resolution as soon as possible and file in the records of the case a copy of the final order or resolution and the evidence of said notice. A party may not be required to comply with a final order unless said party has been notified about the same. The terms for reconsideration or review mentioned above shall be in effect from the date in which the order or resolution has been filed in the records of the case. If the date of filing in the records of the case of the notice of the resolution or order is different from the date on which the notice was mailed the term shall be calculated as of the date of the mailing.
In the case of the government agencies as defined in § 1751 of this title, the determination of the Commission shall be final and firm and unappealable before any judicial or quasi-judicial body.
History —June 3, 1980, No. 80, p. 226, § 3; Feb. 17, 2006, No. 61, § 3.