Ley 150 del 2001
Resumen
Esta ley enmienda la Ley del Estado Digital de Puerto Rico para excluir las solicitudes de préstamos a la Asociación de Empleados del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (AEELA) de las transacciones gubernamentales que deben procesarse electrónicamente. La ley aclara que AEELA no es una entidad gubernamental y que la decisión de procesar solicitudes de préstamos electrónicamente debe ser una decisión interna de AEELA.
Contenido
(No. 150)
(Approved October 26, 2001)
AN ACT
To amend Section 2
(a) (4) of Act No. 110 of June 27, 2000 known as the "Puerto Rico Digital State Law, in order to exclude from the application of said subsection, the requests for loans to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Employees Association.
STATEMENT OF MOTIVES
Act No. 110 of June 27, 2000, known as the "Puerto Rico Digital State Law," has the fundamental purpose of promoting and providing for the integration of technology to government agencies and bodies, through provisions to the effect that certain government transactions be performed electronically. Section 2
(a) (4) of the Puerto Rico Digital State Act identifies the requests for loans to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Employees' Association, as a government transaction.
AEELA, created by Act No. 133 of June 28, 1966, as amended, is not a government entity, but an entity created by law for public interest purposes and for the protection of government employees, through activities such as the promotion of savings, establishing of insurance plans, expediting loans, providing homes and hospital facilities, and promoting the individual and collective improvement and progress of the employees who are members thereof. Consonant to this, the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico in Berrios Miranda vs. Asociación, 88 D.P.R. 809 (1963) and AEELA v. Barnabé
Vázquez 130 D.P.R. 407 (1992) has recognized that AEELA is not a private business nor has lucrative purposes.
The assets, accounts, disbursements, funds and income of AEELA are subject to the supervision and auditing of the Office of the Comptroller of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. They are also under the jurisdiction and subject to the powers of the Government Ethics Office, with regard to its transactions, business and the conduct of its Executive Officers and Members of the Board of Directors and of the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions, with regard to the businesses that are subject to the monitoring and supervising duties of said Office. Based on an analysis of the statutes that govern it, and the purposes for which it was created, AEELA is a sui generis entity.
The way that the Puerto Rico Government Digital Act is drafted, allows for the interpretation that AEELA is a government entity, a concept that is repeatedly used in the text of the Act. On analyzing the Statement of Motives, it does not appear that the legislator had the intention of altering the purposes and nature of AEELA. On the other hand, in the measure that AEELA does not carry out government transactions nor uses government funds in the management of its business, its inclusion in the application of this Act is not justified. The convenience, or lack thereof, to authorize the applications for loans through electronic means, should be an internal decision of AEELA, pursuant to the authority granted to it by the law that created it, its regulations for the processing of said applications, and not by legislation expressly addressed to government entities.
For all that is stated above, this Legislature decrees the amendment of Section 2
(a) (4) of Act No. 110 of June 27, 2000, known as the "Puerto Rico
Digital State Law," to eliminate from its application, the requests for loans to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Employees Association.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:
Section 1.- Section 2
(a) (4) of Act No. 110 of June 27, 2000, known as the "Puerto Rico Government Digital Act," is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 2.- It is hereby provided that the following government transactions may be processed electronically as of the dates established below:
(a) As of December 15, 2001: (1) ... (2) ... (3) ... (4) Requests for loans to the retirement systems (5) ... (6) ... (7) ... (8) ... (9) ... (10) ... (11) ... (12) ..." Section 2.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 150 (S.B. 477) of the $2^{ ext {nd }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Section 2
(a) (4) of Act No. 110 of June 27, 2000 known as the "Puerto Rico Digital State Law, in order to exclude from the application of said subsection, the requests for loans to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Employees Association, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $27^{ ext {th }}$ of October of 2004.
Elba Rosa Rodríguez-Fuentes Director