2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SIXTEEN - Election and Registration (§§ 1 — 4255) › Subtitle 2 - Additional Provisions (§§ 351 — 973q) › Chapter 60 - Puerto Rico Political Campaign Financing Oversight Act (§§ 621 — 634) › Subchapter VII - Reports (§§ 627 — 627l) › § 627 - Accounting and reports of other contributions and expenditures

(a) Every political party, aspirant, candidate, elected official or the authorized agent or representative, or through the campaign committee or authorized committees thereof, as well as every political action committee, shall keep a complete and detailed record of every contribution or gift received inside and outside of Puerto Rico, and of any expenditure made by any of the above including those chargeable to the Election Fund and the Special Fund for Election Campaign Financing, and file quarterly reports under oath that contain a list of such contributions or gifts and expenditures, the date on which they were received or made, the full name and address of the person who made the contribution or on whose behalf the payment was made, and the purpose of the expenditure made. This requirement shall not apply to aspirants or candidates for municipal legislator, unless they raise funds or make election-related expenditures, in which case they must register a campaign committee and meet all the requirements established therefor. Municipal committees and their candidates for mayor shall file jointly the report required under this section as designed by the Office of the Election Comptroller. Candidates and committees that do not receive contributions or make expenditures shall be required to file negative reports.
(b) Any activity defrayed with contributions made by different persons whether it is a fundraising event to support or defeat a candidate, aspirant, ideology, referendum, or political party or to pay off outstanding debts, grant a recognition, pay homage or celebrate birthdays, shall be considered a political rally which shall be reported to the Office of the Election Comptroller in the form and manner provided in this section. Expenditures made in any political rally, except for those made in connection with the media, shall not be considered as campaign expenditures, unless the same are defrayed with amounts allocated from the Special Fund in the case of candidates who availed themselves of said Fund.
(c) When a fundraising event is carried out during a political rally, including mass meetings, marathons, rallies, social gatherings or other similar events, the political party, aspirant, candidate or committee shall, after the holding of such events, shall notify the Election Comptroller:
(1) The type of political event held;
(2) A bona fide estimated number of attendees; and
(3) A bona fide estimate of the amount of money raised.
Such notice shall be filed with the Office of the Election Comptroller within twenty (20) business days after the date on which such activity was held. Provided that, starting on October 1 st of the year in which the general election is held and until the last day of such year, parties and candidates for Governor shall file such notice with the Office of the Election Comptroller on the business day following the date on which the activity in question was held.
(d) Starting on October first (1 st) of the year prior to the general election, the parties and candidates for Governor shall file the report referred to in subsection (a) of this section with the Office of the Election Comptroller on a monthly basis before the fifteenth (15 th) day of the month following the report month.
(e) The report corresponding to December of the election year shall be filed with the Office of the Election Comptroller on January 8 of the following year or on the following business day.
(f) Aspirants and candidates that are not elected during a general election and request and are authorized by the Election Comptroller to terminate their campaign committee shall file a report covering the transactions made after January 1 st of the year following the election year. Said report shall be filed sixty (60) days after the same.
(g) The Office of the Election Comptroller shall review all the reports within a thirty (30)-day term, counted as of their filing date, period during which the reports shall be confidential, in order to issue any findings on the refund of excess contributions, if any. Failure to comply with such term shall prevent the Office of the Election Comptroller from issuing any notices on its findings and requiring such refunds.
(h) The provisions set forth in the preceding subsections shall apply to any election, referendum, plebiscite, or any election-related process, and the corresponding reports shall be filed on the dates set forth by the Office of the Election Comptroller through regulations. If one of the dates falls on a non-business day, the due date for the report shall be the next business day of the Office of the Election Comptroller.
(i) Any person who, at any time before his/her nomination, receives a contribution, directly or through another person, group or entity to be used for an election in which the recipient of such contribution shall participate as a candidate or aspirant, for the purpose of filing the reports required in this section, shall be deemed to be a candidate or aspirant.
(j) Political parties, committees, aspirants, and candidates shall certify on each one of the reports required under this section whether any of the services rendered by their agents or advertising agencies were coordinated; that is, made in cooperation, consultation, concert with, planning or at the request or suggestion of any other political party, candidate, aspirant or authorized committees or agents thereof or political action committees involved. If the services were coordinated, then the certification shall include the name and address of the party, candidate, aspirant, or the committees thereof, or that of the political action committee with which the rendering of services was coordinated.
(k) In lieu of the reports required under this section, the political organizations described in § 626(d) of this title shall file reports with the Office of the Election Comptroller of all contributions received from residents of Puerto Rico and all expenditures made to support or defeat an aspirant or candidate in Puerto Rico.
History —Nov. 18, 2011, No. 222, § 8.000; July 3, 2012, No. 135, § 20; renumbered as § 7.000 and amended on Dec. 19, 2014, No. 233, § 46.