Esta ley enmienda la Ley de Ética Gubernamental para autorizar al Director Ejecutivo de la Oficina de Ética Gubernamental a adquirir un edificio o terreno para sus oficinas, ejecutar contratos de construcción y regular dichos procesos. La ley busca que la Oficina de Ética Gubernamental tenga instalaciones propias en lugar de arrendar, lo que se considera más conveniente a largo plazo para el erario público.
(Approved September 14, 2004)
To amend subsection
(t) of Section 2.4 of Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, known as the "Ethics in Government Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," in order to authorize the Executive Director of the Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico, to acquire, through purchase or assignment, the building, the land or both, to locate its offices; execute contracts for construction, repair, improvement or extension works for said building and to regulate said processes.
The Office of Government Ethics was created pursuant to Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, known as the "Ethics in Government Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico." For almost twenty years this Office has been providing services from its facilities located in leased buildings since it lacks physical facilities of its own. At present it leases 36,737 square feet in two different buildings since its main facility is occupied in full.
To the degree that the jurisdiction of the Office has increased with respect to matters such as the number of public servants responsible for rendering financial statements and for taking a ten-hour course offered by the Center for the Development of Ethical Thought, so has the number of officials and employees who work at said Office every day. Similarly, the need for rooms to offer training courses and spaces to enable the Central
Documents Administration Area to store, distribute and handle thousands of financial statements and documents generated and received by the Office has also increased.
At present, the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has incurred considerable expenses to provide said Office with a place from where to conduct its operations. We believe that in the long run it would be most convenient for the Treasury that this Office have its own physical facilities. For such a reason, the Executive Director of the Office of Government Ethics must be authorized to acquire, through purchase or assignment, the building, the land, or both, to locate its offices; execute contracts for construction, repair, improvement or extension works for said building; and to regulate said processes.
Section 1.- Subsection
(t) of Section 2.4 of Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 2.4- Powers and Authority The Director shall have the following duties and powers:
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(t) To organize the Office and appoint or contract the necessary personnel to carry out the duties and functions established in this Act pursuant to the criteria that will ensure the rendering of services of the highest quality without being subject to the personnel laws. The Director shall also be authorized to acquire, through purchase or assignment, the building, the land, or both, to locate its offices; execute contracts for construction, repair, improvement or extension works for said building; and to regulate said processes.
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Section 2.- The Legislature shall appropriate the resources needed to make feasible compliance with this Act.
Section 3.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 275 (H.B. 4637) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend subsection
(t) of Section 2.4 of Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, known as the "Ethics in Government Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico," in order to authorize the Executive Director of the Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico, to acquire, through purchase or assignment, the building, the land or both, to locate its offices; execute contracts for construction, repair, improvement or extension works for said building and to regulate said processes, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $25^{ ext {th }}$ of October of 2005.
Francisco J. Domenech Director