2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-TWO - Public Works (§§ 1 — 1104) › Chapter 17 - Southwestern Puerto Rico Project or Lajas Valley Project (§§ 341 — 389) › Subchapter II - Operation of Irrigation System (§§ 361 — 389) › § 367 - Trial basis district—Duration

The Irrigation District established by the former Water Resources Authority, now the Electric Power Authority, on a trial basis on February 1, 1965, shall continue to operate on such trial basis up to July 1, 1994.
A committee is hereby created composed of the Secretary of Agriculture, who shall be its Chairman, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Executive Director of the Electric Power Authority and two (2) bona fide irrigation farmers from the Lajas Valley Irrigation District who shall be appointed by the Governor of Puerto Rico.
Whenever it deems it necessary in view of the circumstances that may prevail at any time in the Lajas Valley Irrigation District, said Committee shall inform and advise the Legislature on the following:
(a) The sum or amount of the irrigation tax to be levied in any fiscal year on each acre of land included in the Lajas Valley Irrigation District;
(b) the economic and budget conditions of the Lajas Valley Irrigation District;
(c) the ability of the landholders composing such Irrigation District to pay all, or only a part of the irrigation tax that may result from the tax distribution or pattern established hereunder;
(d) such factors of an economic and agricultural nature that lead to a fair and reasonable evaluation of the maximum limit of the irrigation tax to be paid, so that it does not become a burden that will prevent the profitable operation of the lands under irrigation, and
(e) the amount of government contribution, that may be required as a subsidy or aid to said landholders, so that the irrigation tax to be paid is kept within the standards to which the foregoing subsection (d) of this section refers, and will permit the balancing of the annual budget of the Lajas Valley Irrigation Service.
Said Committee shall hold the meetings and public hearings that it may deem necessary and shall compile such data and information that it may deem useful and necessary in order to adequately carry out the aforementioned information and counseling functions to the Legislature.
The Committee shall render a report with its recommendations to the Legislature no later than January 31, 1994, so that the Legislature can be in a position to consider any subsidy to be granted after July 1, 1994.
After considering the Committee’s recommendations and advice, the Legislature shall adopt the pertinent agreements to establish the irrigation tax to be collected during any fiscal year on the tracts that comprise the Lajas Valley Irrigation District, as well as any necessary government contribution in the form of a subsidy or assistance to the landholders of said District, that should be made annually to the Lajas Valley Irrigation System Operating Fund.
History —June 10, 1953, No. 65, p. 182, § 7; June 18, 1958, No. 46, p. 71; June 14, 1961, No. 55, p. 97; June 13, 1964, No. 51, p. 118; June 17, 1966, No. 69, p. 214; Dec. 6, 1966, No. 4, p. 17, § 2; June 24, 1971, No. 104, p. 343; June 22, 1975, No. 55, p. 125; May 1, 1980, No. 28, p. 81, § 1; July 12, 1986, No. 130, p. 410; June 27, 1987, No. 69, p. 221; July 1, 1989, No. 19, p. 77.