Esta ley enmienda la "Ley Uniforme de Incautaciones de 1988" y la "Ley para la Protección de la Propiedad Vehicular" para permitir que la Corporación de Empresas de Empleo y Adiestramiento reciba vehículos de carga incautados con números de identificación alterados o eliminados. Estos vehículos serán re-identificados con un número de reemplazo para ser utilizados por la Corporación en sus actividades, apoyando así la rehabilitación y el empleo de convictos y ex-convictos. La ley también establece un registro especial para estos vehículos y penaliza la posesión no autorizada de los mismos.
(Approved September 16, 2004)
To amend subsection
(e) of Section 15 of Act No. 93 of July 13, 1988, as amended, known as the "Uniform Seizures Act of 1988," and to amend Sections 4-A and 21-A of Act No. 8 of August 5, 1987, as amended, known as the "Act for the Protection of Vehicular Property," to include the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation as the recipient of cargo motor vehicles which after being seized turn out to be illegal, due to altered or deleted serial or identification numbers and to have them re-identified with a replacement identification number.
Act No. 47 of August 6, 1991, as amended, known as the "Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation Act" was approved to broaden the employment and re-education opportunities of the corrections system and juvenile justice clientele, as well as any minor who is a transgressor or exconvict who is released into the Community or under any of the suspended sentence, parole, supervised release, rehabilitation treatment or re-education programs, or in a diversion program. Moreover, the law itself recognizes that employment and training programs constitute one of the most valuable treatment instruments in the inmate moral and social rehabilitation process. Furthermore, the present administration is committed to organize and direct the Corporation to increase its marketing capacity and so provide productive employment opportunities for convicts and ex-convicts.
However, at this time this entity lacks the necessary means of transportation to manage the materials used in the preparation of its products and their transportation to their final sales point. This situation causes an obligatory reduction in the work performed in its workshops, which limits the productive employment opportunities for convicts and ex-convicts. For such reason, the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico amends the "Uniform Seizures Act of 1988" and the "Act for the Protection of Vehicular Property" to include the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation as the recipient of cargo motor vehicles which after being seized turn out to be illegal, due to altered or deleted serial or identification numbers and to have them re-identified with a replacement identification number to make them useful for the development of its activities and purposes.
Section 1.- Subsection
(e) of Section 15 of Act No. 93 of July 13, 1988, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 15.- Powers, Attributions and Duties The Board shall also have the following powers, attributions and duties:
(a) ...
(b) ...
(c) ...
(d) ...
(e) Establish the norms for the destruction of property transferred to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as a result of seizures and which turn out to be illegal. Provided, that the vehicles and any other means of land transportation seized with a serial or identification number that has been erased, mutilated, altered, substituted, superimposed, removed, adapted, or
otherwise modified, but which may be useful to the Puerto Rico Police, to the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico having Municipal Police, and to the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation, shall be assigned a replacement identification number in a special register for their official use pursuant to the procedures established in the Board regulations in effect. However, the municipalities and the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation shall only be entitled to claim and obtain from the Board the rehabilitated vehicles to be used by the Municipal Police and the Corporation, respectively, according to the provisions in this subsection. However, with the exception of the cargo vehicles useful to the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation, the Board shall have to make available to the Municipal Police forty percent (40%) of the vehicles thus rehabilitated each year and the remaining sixty percent (60%) to the Puerto Rico Police.
When the vehicle or any other means of land transportation with a replacement identification number transferred to the Puerto Rico Police, the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico having Municipal Police, or the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation ceases to be useful, it shall be returned to the Board and destroyed pursuant to the procedure the Board provides by means of regulations for such purpose.
The sale, assignment, transfer or any other negotiation with such vehicles in favor of any other person, corporation, or public or private agency is prohibited. Any public employee who orders the sale, assignment or transfer, or who sells, assigns or transfers such vehicles in a manner inconsistent with the provisions in this Section, shall be sanctioned with a fixed penalty of one (1) year and a ten thousand $(10,000)$ dollar fine. In addition, he/she shall be liable for violations of Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, known as the "Ethics in Government Act."
Section 2.- Section 4-A of Act No. 8 of August 5, 1987, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 4-A- Special Register of Seized Vehicles with Replacement Identification Number
Without prejudice to the provisions and obligations contained in other laws, the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works shall assign a replacement identification number and establish the Special Register of Seized Vehicles with Replacement Identification Number for any seized vehicle or any other means of land transportation which turns out to be illegal because its serial or identification number is non-recoverable due to having been deleted, mutilated, altered, substituted, superimposed, removed, adapted or otherwise modified which may be useful and is transferred to the Puerto Rico Police, the municipalities of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico having Municipal Police, or to the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation, as provided in Act No. 93 of July 13, 1988, as amended, known as the "Uniform Seizures Act of 1988."
This Special Register shall include, among other information, the following: (1) ... (5) ..." Section 3.- Section 21-A of Act No. 8 of August 5, 1987, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 21-A.- Any person who without having official use or authorization, voluntarily and knowingly possesses any part of or motor vehicle with a replacement motor or serial number to be used by the Puerto Rico Police, a municipality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico having Municipal Police, or by the Employment and Training Enterprises
Corporation, as provided in Section 4-A of this Act, shall incur a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof, shall be penalized with a fine of not less than five hundred (500) dollars nor of more than five thousand $(5,000)$ dollars, or a term of imprisonment which shall not exceed six (6) months, or both penalties at the discretion of the Court.
The mere possession of parts or vehicles with replacement identification numbers intended for use by the Puerto Rico Police, a municipality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico having Municipal Police, or by the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation shall constitute prima facie evidence of the voluntary possession referred to in this Section."
Section 4.- The Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, in coordination with the Seizures Board, shall adopt the necessary regulations to implement the provisions of this Act within a term of not more than ninety (90) days from its approval.
Section 5.- This Act shall take effect immediately after its approval.
I hereby certify to the Secretary of State that the following Act No. 332 (S.B. 2675) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $14^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend subsection
(e) of Section 15 of Act No. 93 of July 13, 1988, as amended, known as the "Uniform Seizures Act of 1988," and to amend Sections 4-A and 21-A of Act No. 8 of August 5, 1987, as amended, known as the "Act for the Protection of Vehicular Property," to include the Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation as the recipient of cargo motor vehicles which after being seized turn out to be illegal, due to altered or deleted serial or identification numbers and to have them re-identified with a replacement identification number, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $26^{ ext {th }}$ of February of 2007.
Francisco J. Domenech Director