2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-NINE - Labor (§§ 1 — 3004) › PART IV - Veterans (§§ 731-734 — 864) › Chapter 62 - Bill of Rights of the Puerto Rican Veteran for the 21st Century (§§ 735 — 743) › § 737 - Rights granted

The following rights are granted for the benefit of the veteran:
(a) Rights regarding the acquisition of property.— A veteran and/or his/her surviving spouse who qualifies, shall be given preference under equal conditions, regarding any distribution, sale, assignment, donation or leasing of property of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities and municipalities, including housing projects under the Department of housing and/or any other affordable housing and subsidized housing purchase and acquisition programs administered by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or its dependencies.
(b) Rights regarding education.—
(1) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of Education to prepare a plan to provide academic education and vocational or technical training for veterans. It is furthermore provided that its shall be the duty of the Secretary of Education to annually submit to the Legislature of Puerto Rico and to the Office of the Advocate for Veterans Affairs a report on the use of the funds for these purposes during the course of the preceding year.
(A) The Secretary of Education shall make arrangements with the University of Puerto Rico and transfer the necessary funds so that the University may, together with the Department of Education, undertake special training projects for teachers, technical studies, construction and any other type of project to extend or create educational facilities mainly aimed to teaching veterans. The Board of Trustees of the University of Puerto Rico is hereby authorized to enter into contracts with the Secretary of Education for such a purpose.
(B) The Department of Education and the University of Puerto Rico are hereby authorized to accept any funds from the federal government funds which have been appropriated or that may be appropriated for the development of the Commonwealth veterans’ educational program.
(C) The reimbursements, funds and any other amounts that the Secretary of Education receives from the federal government for these purposes shall be deposited in the Commonwealth Treasury and shall constitute a special trust fund to be used exclusively for the education of veterans and to be known as the Veterans Educational Trust. It shall be the responsibility of the Secretary of the Treasury to annually submit to the Legislature of Puerto Rico and to the Office of the Advocate for Veterans Affairs a report indicating the balance deposited in said fund as well as the use given to the same. Provided, That any balance of the funds received from the federal government that had been transferred to the general funds may be transferred, with the prior approval of the federal government, to the special trust fund herein created; and Provided, further, That the payments and disbursements for personal services shall be preferably charged to this fund, and the Secretary of Education shall be hereby authorized and empowered to pay, as he/she is herein directed to pay, chargeable to the same, any expenses or obligations that have been incurred or that may be incurred for the development of this veterans’ educational program.
(2) Any veteran who is an official or employee of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities, public or quasi public corporations and the municipal governments, who wish to avail him/herself of the benefits of any federal or Commonwealth legislation to pursue studies in Puerto Rico, in any other part of the United States or abroad, shall be entitled to solicit, and his/her immediate employer shall be bound to grant, leave without pay for the whole period which said studies should reasonable require and while he/she is in fact studying:
(A) Once any veteran who avails him/herself of the benefits of the previous subsection concludes his/her studies, and requests it within the following one hundred and eighty (180) days, he/she shall be reinstated in the position or office he/she left in order to study or in another position or office of equal category, salary and rank; and once he/she has been reinstated in said position or office, he/she may only be dismissed for reasons recognized by the laws of Puerto Rico, the regulations of department where he/she is employed or the rules of the Office of Human Resources of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (ORHELA, Spanish acronym), should his/her position be subject to the provisions of the Personnel Act.
(3) The Department of Education shall extend its vocational schools system throughout the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico so as to provide technical-vocational training to all veterans who request it, in accordance with the federal legislation that appropriates funds to pay for veteran studies. Provided, That it shall be the obligation of the Department of Education to annually inform the Legislature of Puerto Rico and the Office of the Advocate for Veterans Affairs about the activities of said department related to this section, as well as to provide a detailed report regarding the appropriations of federal funds available for these purposes, the applications presented by the Department and the use of any funds appropriated for those purposes.
(4) As an essential part of its adult education program, the Department of Education shall provide the educational facilities needed for the veterans who wish to broaden or improve their academic education.
(5) Veteran university students who have exhausted or will soon exhaust their right to study under the legislation approved by the Congress of the United States of America without having completed their bachelor’s degree or other postgraduate studies already begun for which they may qualify and who wish to finish their degree regardless of the final major field of study they choose and wish to pursue because said studies extend for a longer period of time than that authorized by federal legislation, shall be entitled to free tuition at the University of Puerto Rico and all its academic units, as well as any postgraduate educational institution of the government and to preferential treatment in equal conditions as to student aid, grants and other benefits granted to students of the University or the unit, or institution. By no means may said financial benefit be greater than that granted for studying in any higher education institution in Puerto Rico. This benefit shall likewise apply to all those veterans without the study benefits granted under the legislation approved by the Congress of the United States of America who maintain the grade point average established by the University of Puerto Rico and all its academic units, as well as by any higher education institution of the Commonwealth or its municipalities, which in no case may be more onerous than the academic requirements established for the regular students of the aforesaid institutions.
(A) Those students who pursue their studies in Puerto Rico at an educational center other than the University of Puerto Rico but which is recognized by the Council on Higher Education or by a national college and university accrediting agency of the United States of America, shall be entitled to a sum for tuition and stipends for books, library, laboratory, health plans and other, which shall not exceed the sum that the educational center currently requires from the other students for the same concepts for similar studies.
(B) The Secretary of Education is hereby authorized to promulgate rules and regulations with the approval of the Governor, in order to comply with the provisions of this paragraph, and the funds needed to carry out the aforementioned purposes shall be set aside in the budget of expenses of the Department of Education.
(C) When the educational centers that have been or are recognized by the Council on Higher Education or by a national college and university accrediting agency of the United States of America, initiate or establish new courses, programs, colleges or schools, the students included in the present chapter who pursue studies provided by said new courses, programs, colleges or school, shall be entitled to receive the benefits authorized in this section until the Council on Higher Education or the national college and university accrediting agency of the United States of America takes final action recognizing them or, in the case of courses which require the approval of a revalidation examination in order to exercise the profession or trade, until the competent revalidation examination.
(D) All the payments made to students prior to the approval of this act that meet the requirements imposed by virtue of the provisions herein established and that have also been made subject to the regulatory provisions in force until the date of approval of this act and that are compatible with this chapter, are hereby confirmed. Authorization is hereby also given for reconsidering those cases whereby those payments that were denied prior to the approval of this act and which, by virtue of the authorization herein consigned, if they had been made, would have been confirmed according to what is herein provided.
(6) The University of Puerto Rico and all its academic units as well as any postsecondary educational institution of the Commonwealth or its municipalities shall give priority enrollment to veterans and their spouses and children. The spouses and children of veteran shall be entitled to a discount of fifty percent (50%) of the cost for tuition, fees, books and other materials needed for completing their degree. This privilege applies at both the university undergraduate level and the technical-professional postsecondary level as well as at the graduate and/or professional level.
The children and/or the surviving spouse of soldiers killed in action or soldiers in active federal military service at the time of their death and whose death is military service-related shall have total exemption at the University of Puerto Rico and its campuses throughout Puerto Rico, as well at any postsecondary educational institution of the Commonwealth or its municipalities for tuition, fees, books and other materials needed for completing their university degree at the university undergraduate level, the technical-professional postsecondary level and the graduate and/or professional level.
(7) The Secretary of Education shall have the power to make the necessary arrangements with the Veterans Administration and establish a Program for the Matching [of] Funds to the Federal Accelerated Payments Program for veterans and eligible relatives family members, as provided by Federal Public Law 95-202 of October 1, 1977.
(8) All Puerto Rican veterans who interrupted their high school studies to serve in the First and Second World Wars or in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts shall be entitled to solicit their high school diplomas from the Department of Education of Puerto Rico. Said diploma may be conferred posthumously.
(9) The university institution shall have the duty of guaranteeing that every veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States who had been pursuing full or part time studies at that institution when called to active military service shall be readmitted to the study program. Readmission shall not be subject to an evaluation process conducted by a readmissions committee or a like mechanism. Veterans shall have priority registration for those academic courses they may have had to interrupt given the nature of the involuntary response to the call to active military service, provided said courses are being offered by said institution during the academic session to which they are applying for readmission and up to one (1) year after their return from active service or for just cause. The readmission of students who conclude their active military service shall not be subject to payment of the readmission application fee.
(c) Rights regarding tax obligations.—
(1) Income tax.—
(A) For the purposes of § 8423(bb)(4) of Title 13, all veterans shall be entitled to a deduction for life for the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) that shall be effective from taxable year corresponding to 2007, which begins the first of January of that same year.
(B) The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered to promulgate the rules and regulations needed with regard to this deduction and the same shall have the force of law as soon as they are approved.
(2) Property taxes.—
(A) Exemption applicable to veterans with service-connected disabilities.—
(i) The dwelling that a veteran and/or his/her surviving spouse builds or acquires in good faith as main residence shall be permanently exempt from the levy and payment of property taxes and for up to five thousand dollars ($5,000)—fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) for fiscal years 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12—of its appraised taxable value; and if the building has more than one (1) dwelling, the appraised value, for purposes of the exemption, shall be the proportional part which corresponds to the dwelling occupied by the veteran, of the total value of the building and the lot, as determined by the Executive Director of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center.
(ii) Applications for the exemption thus granted shall be made in the manner determined by the Municipal Revenues Collection Center and once approved their effect shall be retroactive for up to a maximum of three (3) years; all this subject to the provisions of §§ 4001 et seq. of Title 21, known as the “Puerto Rico Autonomous Municipalities Act”.
(iii) For the purposes of this section, the term “dwelling” means the building in which the veteran and/or his/her surviving spouse has established his/her domicile and that of his/her immediate family as well as the lot on which the building is located belonging to a veteran and his/her surviving spouse.
(iv) The partial tax exemption must be claimed by the interested party each year at the time of paying such taxes after filing the following documents with the appropriate Regional Office of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center.
(v) The Executive Director of the Municipal Revenue Collections Center is hereby empowered to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations in connection with this exemption, and the same shall have force of law immediately after their approval by the Governor.
(B) Exemption applicable to disabled veterans.—
(i) Any house built, acquired or remodeled or to be built, acquired or remodeled in the future by a disabled veteran and the lot where the same is located which does not exceed one thousand (1,000) square meters in urban zones or one (1) cuerda in rural zones, shall be totally exempt from the payment of property taxes, provided the same is the place of residence of the disabled veteran or his/her immediate family, as established in Act of Congress 06-89 [sic], effective on January 1, 1968.
(ii) The tax exemption granted to a disabled veteran for his/her property under the terms of this chapter, shall cease when the property is no longer used as his/her dwelling or that of his/her immediate family, Nevertheless, the right to exemption is recoverable once he/she reconstructs his/her home on the previously exempted property or when he/she acquires another property and establishes his/her home thereupon.
(iii) The Executive Director of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center is hereby empowered to promulgate the necessary regulations with regard to this exemption, and once they have been approved by the Governor they shall have force of law.
(C) Exemption applicable to veterans with service-connected disabilities.—
(i) Any veteran who receives disability compensation of fifty percent (50%) or more from the Veterans Administration shall be entitled to a property tax exemption on the first fifty thousand dollars ($50,000)—five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for fiscal years 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12—of the appraised value of the property for taxation purposes.
(ii) The partial exemption in the payment of taxes shall only be applicable to the tax which corresponds to the house built or acquired by a veteran and the lot on which the same is built which does not exceed one thousand (1,000) square meters in the urban zone or one cuerda in the rural zone, provided that the house has been the place of residence of the veteran or of the veteran and his/her immediate family to January 1 of the taxable year.
(iii) The partial exemption shall be determined according to the degree of disability that has been established as of January 1 of each year for the veteran by the Department of Veterans Affairs through a written certificate to that effect.
(iv) The partial exemption must be claimed by the interested party each year at the time of paying such taxes after filing the following documents with the appropriate Regional Office of the Municipal Revenues Collection Center:
(I) The original or a photocopy of his/her discharge certificate from the branch of the Armed Forces of the United States where he/she served. The veteran shall not have to present the original or the photocopy of his/her discharge certificate each year provided he/she leaves a photocopy thereof in the archives of the collector.
(II) A written certificate from an official of the Department of Veterans Affairs attesting to the veteran’s degree of disability as of the 1st of January immediately preceding the taxable year for which he/she is requesting exemption. In those cases whereby the veteran’s degree of disability has been established as permanent, the veteran shall not be bound to present evidence of the degree of his/her disability annually, it being sufficient for the veteran to file a certificate with the collector to the effect that his/her degree of disability has been established as permanent. Should the degree of disability be permanent, it shall not be necessary for the veteran to file an annual application for exemption, it shall be enough for him/her to file the application only when requesting exemption for the first time.
(III) A sworn statement attesting that the property in question was being used as the place of residence of the veteran or his/her immediate family on the 1st of January of the taxable year. The tax exemption shall cease as soon as the property is no longer being used as the place of residence of the veteran or his/her immediate family; or when he/she recovers his/her normal capacity; or his/her degree of disability is reduced to less than fifty percent (50%) as certified by the Department of Veterans Affairs. The right to exemption is recoverable once the disabled veteran again constitutes his/her home on the former property, acquires another property and establishes his/her home thereupon, or recovers his/her status as a veteran with a disability of fifty percent (50%) or more.
([v]) The partial exemption for disability shall be granted in addition to the regular exemption of five thousand dollars ($5,000)—fifty thousand ($50,000) for fiscal years 2009-2010, 2010-2011, and 2011-2012—granted to all veterans and in addition to any other exemption granted by the Commonwealth to taxpayers.
[(vi)] The Executive Director of the Municipal Revenue Collections Center is hereby empowered to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations in connection with this exemption, and the same shall have force of law immediately after their approval by the Governor.
(3) Automobiles of disabled veterans.—
(A) The automobiles provided to disabled veterans for their personal use by or through the help of the Veterans Administration are hereby exempted from the tax on vehicles established in § 9010 of Title 13. The replacements of the automobile thus acquired shall also be entitled to this exemption, provided that the automobile to be replaced has been in the possession of the veteran for his/her personal use for a period of not less than four (4) years.
(B) However, in those cases whereby the automobile to be replaced has become unusable for fortuitous causes not attributable to its owner’s negligence, the replacement shall be entitled to the exemption even though the automobile to be replaced has not been in his/her possession for a period of four (4) years. If the owner of an automobile benefiting from said exemption sells, transfers or in any other way alienates the automobile before the four (4) years of possessing the same for his/her personal use have expired, the acquirer shall be bound to pay taxes on said automobile before taking possession of the same and the resulting tax shall be computed by applying the tax rate according to §§ 8006 et seq. of Title 13, known as “Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994”, on the basis of the “taxable price” on which the exemption was granted minus the depreciation suffered.
(C) The automobiles provided for disabled veterans by or with the help of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be exempted from the payment of the license fees established by §§ 5001 et seq. of Title 9 known as the “Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act”. The Department of Transportation and Public Works shall provide every disabled veteran with a removable parking sign with a distinguishing symbol that identifies the automobile as owned by a disabled veteran. If the owner of an automobile that has been exempted from the payment of license fees pursuant to this provision, sells, transfers or in any way alienates the same, the acquirer shall be bound to pay the corresponding fees as of that year.
(D) The provisions of § 5169(a)(22) of Title 9, part of the Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act of 2000, in relation to parking, shall not apply to disabled veterans who have been issued a license and a removable parking sign according to the provisions of § 5024 of Title 9.
(E) Disabled veterans who are exempt from the imposition of taxes on motor vehicles according to the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 1994, and those who have been declared one hundred percent (100%) disabled by the Veterans Administration, shall not pay the fee for the license of the vehicles of their property nor any sum whatsoever for the fees fixed by clauses (20) and (21) of subsection (a) of § 5682 of Title 9, part of the Puerto Rico Vehicle and Traffic Act of 2000, relative to obtaining a license for driving motor vehicles. If the owner of an automobile for which no fees had been paid under the provisions of this paragraph sells, transfers or otherwise alienates the automobile, the total amount of the fees for the corresponding year shall be imposed as license fees for said vehicle according to the provisions of this section.
(F) Provided, That those veterans of over sixty (60) years of age, even if not classified as having a service-related disability, shall be entitled to being exempted from paying the fees for the transfer of vehicle licenses, ex parte transfers, including those inspections made by the Department of Transportation and Public Works for these purposes and the applications for licenses and titles and the renewal of drivers licenses.
(4) War surplus.—
(A) The war surplus property acquired by a veteran is hereby exempted all types of taxes or duties, provided that the same is for personal use and that it does not have a total value of more than five thousand dollars ($5,000). The Secretary of the Treasury shall promulgate the regulations needed to implement this exemption.
(5) Certificates issued by government dependencies.—
(A) The offices or dependencies of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the municipal governments, such as the courts, registries, bureaus and other of the same or a similar nature, shall issue free from the payment of fees to all veterans, widows or widowers of veterans, spouses of veterans and minor children of veterans, all certificates they may need for official uses and for claiming any rights. The exempted certifications shall include, without this implying a limitation, criminal record certificates, tax returns filed, income and property tax debt certificates, civil registry certificates and university credit transcripts, among others.
(B) The various Commonwealth and municipal government agencies, offices and dependencies are hereby ordered to post signs for public view stating that all certificates for veterans, their surviving spouses and minor children who meet the requirements of the regulations shall be issued free of charge. It shall be the duty of the Veterans Advocate to ensure faithful compliance with this provision.
(d) Rights related to medical-hospital service.—
(1) It shall be the obligation of the municipalities and of the Commonwealth Government to provide, without any cost whatsoever, through all their medical facilities, the medical attention, treatment, hospitalization and necessary medications, with prior medical prescription and an evaluation of their financial situation based on the criteria of the Federal Medical Assistance Program (Title 19 of the Federal Social Security Act), to veterans, their spouses and children until they reach their legal age or the age of twenty-five (25) if they are students; these shall receive the health services herein provided after presenting a valid identification as students.
(2) The physically or mentally disabled children of veterans shall receive the benefits herein established without any age limit. In case the veteran, his/her spouse or children have availed themselves of any type of prepaid medical insurance, the Commonwealth or municipal institution that offers them any health service may invoice said plan for the services rendered, exempting the veteran, his/her spouse and children from the corresponding payment of the deductible.
(3) The rights herein recognized shall be extended to the children of veterans who died on the field of battle until they reach their legal age, in the case of students until they reach the age of twenty-five (25) and in the case of physically or mentally disabled children without any age limit whatsoever. This chapter shall be visibly posted in all Commonwealth and municipal public health facilities.
(e) Rights related to government retirement systems.—
(1) Any veteran who for the first time enters the service of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies or instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations, or the municipal governments, and becomes a participating member in any of the government retirement systems or funds, shall be at any time entitled at his/her request and while maintaining his/her status as participant in the same, to be credited for retirement purposes for all the time that he/she has been in active services in the Armed Forces or pursuing studies totally or partially defrayed with funds provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs of the Government of the United States, including the time he/she was in active service in the Armed Forces prior to the effectiveness of this act.
(A) To have these services credited, regardless of when they were rendered, the veteran shall pay the corresponding contributions plus simple annual interest at six percent (6%) according to the salary which is less, as compared to the salary earned when entering the government service and the salary earned when entering active service in the Armed Forces or to the discharge date, from the moment the unpaid creditable services were rendered, or until the date of their total payment, if paid in cash or until the date on which the Administrator of the pertinent Retirement System grants a payment plan. Military services rendered at any time, and during peacetime, shall be limited to five (5) years and the veteran shall pay the individual and employer contributions plus simple annual interest at six percent (6%) to the pertinent retirement system on the basis of the salary earned on entering government service as compared to the salary earned when entering active service in the Armed Forces or to the discharge date from the Armed Forces. Interest shall be computed from the time said peacetime services were rendered.
(2) Any veteran employed by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies, instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations, or by the municipal government, who avails him/herself of a study plan through leave without pay, shall be entitled to have all the time he/she spent studying accredited, for retirement purposes, while he/she was in active service and his/her studies were defrayed by the service. The government agency which granted said leave for said studies shall pay the employer’s contribution and the veteran shall pay the corresponding contribution. In these cases it shall be mandatory to provide the veteran with an easy payment plan according to the regulations established in the Retirement Act in effect.
(3) The veteran who receives disability benefits from the Government of the United States of America shall not be hindered from availing him/herself of the benefits of this chapter.
(4) The agencies within the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its dependencies, public corporations, municipalities and/or any other public body or instrumentality, shall defray the employer’s contributions to the retirement plan of those who were paying when they began their active military service, for up to a maximum term of five (5) years. Regarding the individual contributions corresponding to the term of their active service, the employee shall be responsible for their payment, if any, upon his/her return to work. Provided, That the veteran shall be entitled to be given the option of choosing a payment plan for making said contributions.
(5) Private sector employers shall defray the employer and individual contributions to the retirement plan to which the employee who was called to active military service and who enters into said active military service is entitled.
(6) The veteran who receives a disability pension from the Government of the United States of America shall not be hindered from availing him/herself of the benefits of this chapter.
(f) Rights related to work.—
(1) The Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, its agencies and instrumentalities, public or quasi-public corporations, municipalities and all private, natural or juridical persons who operate businesses in Puerto Rico, shall be under the obligation to:
(A) Give preference to a veteran, under equal academic and technical conditions or experience regarding his/her appointment or promotion for any position, job or employment opportunity.
(B) Reinstate a veteran or reservist to the same position or work he/she was performing when he/she was called to active service or voluntarily joined the Armed Forces, or to an equal or similar position, if the veteran formally requests his employer to do so within one hundred and eighty (180) days following his/her honorable discharge from the Armed Forces. If such a position does not exist, the veteran shall have placement priority in another position within the company or government agency, and the employer shall be responsible for doing everything possible to train or retrain the veteran. This right does preclude the obligations the employer may have under the American with Disabilities Act, Public Law 101-336, or any other federal or Commonwealth legislation that may be of benefit to the veteran who returns to his/her job or to the active labor market.
(C) In those cases whereby, as a requirement of the process for employment, a veteran has taken any test or exam as part of an employment, reinstatement or promotion application and in the corresponding test or exam said veteran had obtained the minimum punctuation required to qualify for employment, reinstatement or promotion to the corresponding position, said veteran is guaranteed the right to have his/her punctuation increased by adding ten (10) points or ten percent (10%), whichever is greater, to the punctuation obtained by said veteran in the corresponding test or exam.
(D) Offer competitive tests to any veteran who, due to being in active service, has not been able to take the competitive tests and who requests the same within one hundred and eighty (180) days after having returned to work; and if he/she passes said tests, the veteran’s name is to be included in the corresponding list or register.
(E) Notify the Office of the Advocate for Veterans Affairs about any employment announcements for any competitive positions or jobs available. Said Office shall in turn notify duly organized veterans organization through a web page of said Office accessible through the Internet or rather in the web portal of the Government of Puerto Rico or through any other means deemed pertinent.
(F) Every member of the Armed Forces of the United States who holds a regular post within the Commonwealth, its dependencies, public corporations, municipalities and/or any other public body or instrumentality, or a regular post in the public sector, or an equal or similar post to the one he/she occupied with the same rights and privileges the employee would have had at the time of entering active services in the Armed Forces is hereby guaranteed the right to reemployment. The employee shall retain all his/her rights and privileges including, but not to be understood as a limitation, his/her right to seniority as if he/she had continued occupying the position he/she had when he/she joined the Armed Forces as well as any development or growth in the position he/she occupied had he/she continued occupying the same uninterruptedly, among others. The right to reemployment shall be extended for the period during which the veteran is in active service in the Armed Forces, regardless of the number of years said veteran serves in the Armed Forces. Provided, That this rule shall not apply retroactively to those person who have not previously been veterans nor members of the reserve corps, and who voluntarily enlist as new members of the regular Armed Forces.
(g) Additional rights.— Except when specific provisions of other sections of this chapter or of other special laws or legislation or federal regulations to the contrary, apply, the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall implement the following general considerations towards those veterans who solicit public services or benefits from any government agency or program.
(1) Veterans, their spouses and minor and/or disabled children shall be entitled to a discount of ten percent (10%) from the individual fee charged when visiting or soliciting services in areas belonging to National Parks such as beaches, zoos, aquariums, vacation centers and camping areas, as well as any other recreational area. This benefit shall be transferable to the surviving spouse and to the minor and/or disabled children upon the death of the veteran.
(2) Veterans shall be entitled to the preferential discounts or fees available in any other recreational or cultural facilities. The Advocate is authorized to negotiate said benefits as provided by law.
(3) In the case of an application by a veteran or a surviving spouse of a veteran for public assistance benefits which are conditioned by income level, the Special Monthly Pension supplementary payment granted for aid and attendance and for being homebound of the Department of Veterans Affairs shall not be deemed as income for the purpose of determining eligibility.
History —Dec. 14, 2007, No. 203, § 4; Mar. 9, 2009, No. 7, § 65; July 10, 2009, No. 37, § 35; Sept. 29, 2011, No. 200, § 1.