2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 13 - Department of Treasury (§§ 221 — 286) › § 283i - Custody, control, and accounting of government property

(a) The custody, care and physical control of government property shall be the responsibility of the head of the said agency, legislative body or corporate entity or his/her authorized representative.
(b) The accounting and central control of the public property belonging to the executive dependencies shall be incumbent on the Secretary. The latter, if he deems it convenient, may delegate said functions on the executive dependencies. The criteria established in § 283e(c) of this title for the delegation of the preaudit of the financial transactions in the executive dependencies shall be taken into account by the Secretary for the delegation of the accounting of the public property on the dependencies.
The accounting and control of the public property belonging to the legislative bodies shall be the responsibility of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representative, respectively, who may delegate said responsibility upon their subordinate officers.
(c) The dependencies shall submit to the Secretary such reports on the public property as may be necessary for the Secretary to perform the functions imposed on him by §§ 283—283p of this title.
(d) Any officer or employee who uses or assumes the custody, care and the physical control of any public property, shall answer to the government for its value in case of its loss or undue deterioration, according to the standards established by the Secretary. The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own standards to exercise control of this function.
(e) The central accounting of the public property of the judicial and legislative dependencies shall be carried out by the Secretary on the basis of the regulations established for such a purpose by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the Comptroller of Puerto Rico and the Director of the Office of the State Ombudsman. The legislative bodies shall approve and adopt their own rules and regulations to carry out the accounting of their public property.
(f) Any executive agency that makes use of animals to carry out its ministerial duties may transfer them to their trainers or handlers, to nonprofit organizations that may use such animals as a fundamental part of their therapies, or to persons trained to handle them, under the following circumstances:
(1) When the animal is retired from active duty, according to the parameters established in the appropriate regulations of the executive agencies to which the animal is designated.
(2) When any of the units to which it is designated is closed down, resulting in a surplus thereof for purposes of the executive agencies.
The transfer of the animal shall be made for the face value of one hundred dollars ($100.00), payable to the corresponding executive agency, except if the animal is transferred to its handlers, in which case such transfer may be made free of charge; provided that the handler was the animal’s partner.
Any executive agency that makes use of the services of an animal to carry out its ministerial duties shall prescribe by regulations the terms of the transfer thereof once the animal has ceased to render its services to such executive agency. No animal transfer shall be allowed if such transfer is denied by the executive agency with jurisdiction, provided that there is just cause. When considering transfer applications, the wellbeing of the animal shall be a priority. If, for any reason, the person or organization to which an executive agency transfers an animal is unable to provide such animal with such conditions as established by the applicable regulations, the animal shall be returned to the agency of origin for relocation. Provided, That none of these animals is inherited or transferred for other purposes.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 230, Part 2, p. 183, § 10; Dec. 21, 2001, No. 177, § 1; June 11, 2004, No. 140, § 7; Dec. 7, 2010, No. 185, § 1.