Ley 71 del 2008
Resumen
Esta ley enmienda la Ley de Vehículos y Tránsito de Puerto Rico para permitir que los pacientes con lupus eritematoso sistémico renueven sus permisos para el uso de cristales tintados en sus vehículos cada seis años, en lugar de anualmente, debido a su condición médica que requiere protección contra la luz solar.
Contenido
(No. 71)
(Approved on May 23, 2008)
AN ACT
To amend Section 10.05 of Act No. 22 of 2000, as amended, known as "Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act", for the purpose of providing that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus shall renew their permits or certificate for the use of tinted glass windshields and windows of their motor vehicles every six (6) years.
STATEMENT OF MOTIVES
Systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE (lupus) is an autoimmune disease, which means that there is a problem with the body's normal immune system response. Normally, the immune system helps protect the body from harmful substances, but in patients with an autoimmune disease, the immune system cannot establish the difference between harmful substances and healthy ones. The result is an overactive immune response that attacks otherwise healthy cells and tissue. This leads to chronic (long-term) inflammation.
The underlying cause of autoimmune diseases is not fully known. Some researchers think autoimmune diseases occur after infection with an organism that looks like certain proteins in the body. The proteins are later mistaken for the organism and wrongly targeted for attack by the body's immune system.
Systemic lupus erythematosus may be mild or severe enough to cause death. The disease affects nine times as many women as men and it may occur at any age, nonetheless, it appears most often in people between the
ages of ten (10) and fifty (50) years. African Americans and Asians are affected more often than people from other races.
Symptoms vary from person to person, and may come and go. The condition may affect one organ or body system at first. Others may become involved later. Almost all people with SLE have joint pain and most develop arthritis. Frequently affected joints are the fingers, hands, wrists, and knees.
Inflammation of various parts of the heart such as pericarditis, endocarditis, or myocarditis may occur. Chest pain and arrhythmias may result from these conditions.
General symptoms include:
- Fever
- Fatigue
- General discomfort, uneasiness or ill feeling (malaise)
- Skin rash -- a "butterfly" rash over the cheeks and bridge of the nose affects about half of those with SLE. The rash worsens when in sunlight. The rash may also be widespread.
- Sensitivity to sunlight
- Joint pain and swelling
- Arthritis
- Swollen glands
- Muscle aches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pleurisy (causes chest pain)
- Pleural effusions
- Seizures
- Psychosis
Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:
- Blood in the urine
- Coughing up blood
- Nosebleed
- Difficulty swallowing
- Skin color is patchy
- Red spots on skin
- Fingers that change color upon pressure or in the cold
- Numbness and tingling
- Mouth sores
- Hair loss
- Abdominal pain
- Visual disturbance
- Blood disorders, including blood clots
There is no cure for systemic lupus erythematosus and treatment is aimed at controlling symptoms. Individual symptoms determine the treatment.
Mild disease that involves a rash, headaches, fever, arthritis, pleurisy, and pericarditis requires little therapy. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) are used to treat arthritis and pleurisy, while corticosteroid creams are used to treat skin rashes. An anti-malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine and low dose corticosteroids are sometimes used for skin and arthritis symptoms.
Severe or life-threatening symptoms (such as hemolytic anemia, extensive heart or lung involvement, kidney disease, or central nervous system involvement) often require treatment by rheumatologists and other specialists in the specific area. Corticosteroids or medications to decrease the immune system response may be prescribed to control the various symptoms. Some health care professionals use cytotoxic drugs (drugs that block cell growth) to treat people who do not respond well to corticosteroids or who must use high doses of corticosteroids.
The outcome for people with SLE has improved over recent years. Many of those with SLE have mild illness. Women with SLE who become pregnant are often able to carry the pregnancy safely to term and deliver
normal infants, provided that there is no severe kidney or heart disease present and the SLE is being treated appropriately.
The ten (10) year survival rate for lupus patients is greater than eighty five percent ( 85% ). People with severe involvement of the brain, lungs, heart, and kidney do worse than others in terms of overall survival and disability.
Some persons with SLE have deposits of antibodies within the cells (glomeruli) of the kidneys. This leads to a condition called lupus nephritis. Patients with this condition may eventually develop kidney failure and require dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Other complications include:
- Infection
- Thrombocytopenia
- Hemolytic anemia
- Myocarditis
- Seizures
It is recommended that these patients wear protective clothes, sunglasses, and sunscreen when exposed to sunlight. For this reason, SLE patients are entitled to request exemption from those restrictions established in Act No. 22 of 2000, as amended, known as "Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act", which establishes in Section 10.05 that the use of one-way glass for the windshield and glass windows of motor vehicles is prohibited. However, the same Act further establishes the exemption of those vehicles certified by the Secretary to such effects for medical reasons, upon prior evaluation of the corresponding request. The Act requires that this certificate shall be renewed annually.
In view of the fact that there is no cure for systemic lupus erythematosus, and that most of the people with this disease are forced to undergo expensive treatments - due to the need of frequently attending medical appointments and the purchase of high-cost prescription drugs the Legislature deems it necessary to amend Section 10.05 of Act 22 of 2000, as amended, known as "Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Law" in order to establish that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus shall renew their permits or certifications for the use of tinted glass and windshields in their motor vehicles every six (6) years.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF PUERTO RICO:
Section 1 - Section 10.05 of Act No. 22 of 2000, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: "Section 10.05 - Use of one-way glass and tinted glass windshields and windows:
The use of one-way glass for the windshield and glass windows of motor vehicles is hereby prohibited. The altering thereof by applying tints and any other material or product used as a solar filter on the windshield and windows of motor vehicles to produce a percentage of transmission of visible light of less than thirty-five percent (35%), is likewise prohibited. Official vehicles of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico duly authorized by the Secretary, as well as ambulances, bulletproof vehicles for the transportation of securities, vehicles specially designed and devotes exclusively to the transportation of tourists and those vehicles factory-equipped with tinted windshields or rear glass windows that are not paper and that produce a percentage of light transmission that is less than that indicated in this Section, are
exempted from applying the provisions in this Section. Upon evaluation of the corresponding request, the vehicles or motor vehicles that the Secretary certifies to such effects for security reasons or that are contracted by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to render security services shall also be exempted from these provisions. Rear windshields or windows are understood to be all those located in the vehicle or motor vehicle behind the drivers' seat.
Also exempted from these provisions are vehicles certified by the Secretary to such effects for medical reasons, upon evaluating the corresponding request. Provided however, that the spouse and children affected by a medical condition, even when they are not the owners in record, may request said exemption upon evaluation of the corresponding application.
Any person who requests to be exempted from the provisions of this Section for legitimate medical reasons, must include with such request, a certificate of the physician, surgeon or optometrist duly licensed to practice medicine in Puerto Rico in which said practitioner attests that according to the petitioners medical record, he/she requires the use of tints or any other material or product on the glass of the vehicle used by him/her as a protection against sunlight. This certificate must be made on the form authorized by the Secretary for such purpose.
The Secretary may require an evaluation of said request by the Medical Advisory Board, and may establish the conditions and limitations he/she deems pertinent on the certificates and permits issued to such effects, which in his/her judgment, are needed to comply with the purposes of this Section.
The authorization issued to a person, as provided in this Section, must remain at all times in the motor vehicle or be carried by the person on whose behalf it is issued. It shall be the responsibility of the person on whose behalf the certificate is issued to remove the tint or any other authorized material or product from the vehicle when he/she transfers, assigns, sells or otherwise disposes of the vehicle, and shall be bound to give evidence of the removal thereof to the Traffic Division of the Police in his/her jurisdiction to show that this provision has been complied with.
The Secretary shall determine and promulgate by regulations to such effect, all that concerns the issuing, handling and collection costs, characteristics, use, renewal, and canceling of certificates and permits authorized herein, which must be renewed annually. Those patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus shall be exempt from this provision and shall renew their permits and certificates every six (6) years.
Every driver who operates a motor vehicle in violation of this Section shall incur in an administrative fault and shall be sanctioned with a fine of fifty (50) dollars. The person who commits the violation shall be granted a term which shall not exceed twenty-four (24) hours to appear at the designated police station to show that the deficiency has been corrected. If the person who committed the violation fails to appear within the established time frame will be sanctioned with an additional fifty (50) dollars fine. When the person who committed the violation appears within the term granted herein and shows that the tint or other material or products installed in violation of the provisions of this Section have been removed, the fine imposed
according to the provisions of this Act shall be filed. Likewise, the inspection permit established in Section 12.02 of this Act shall be denied to any applicant whose vehicle fails to comply with the provisions of this Section.
Removal and transfer of the seal of approval for transmission of visible light is prohibited herein, as well as alteration of the circumstances that allow the Puerto Rico Police to grant the seal of approval of visible light transmission. Any person who violates the provisions of this paragraph shall incur a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be sanctioned with a penalty of five hundred (500) dollars.
The Secretary shall establish the regulations of the procedure to be followed in order to determine if a vehicle complies with the provisions of this Section."
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. 71 (H.B. 3628) of the $7^{ ext {th }}$ Session of the $15^{ ext {th }}$ Legislature of Puerto Rico:
AN ACT to amend Section 10.05 of Act No. 22 of 2000, as amended, known as "Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act", for the purpose of providing that patients with systemic lupus erythematosus shall renew their permits or certificate for the use of tinted glass windshields and windows of their motor vehicles every six (6) years, has been translated from Spanish to English and that the English version is correct.
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, today $28^{ ext {th }}$ of August of 2008.
Francisco J. Domenech Director