2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FIVE - Agriculture (§§ 1 — 4706) › Chapter 38 - Puerto Rico Pest Control Compact (§§ 1017 — 1026) › § 1021 - Assistance and reimbursement

(a) Each party state pledges to each other party state that it will employ its best efforts to eradicate, or control within the strictest practicable limits, all pests within its boundaries. The performance of these functions includes:
(1) The maintenance of pest control and eradication activities of interstate significance at a level that would be reasonable for its own protection in the absence of this Compact.
(2) The meeting of emergency outbreaks or infestations of interstate significance to not less an extent that would have been done in the absence of this Compact.
(b) If a party state is threatened by a pest not present within its borders but present within another party state, or if a party state undertakes activities to control or eradicate a pest and finds that such activities are or would be impracticable or substantially more difficult, because of the failure of another party state to cope with an actual or threatened infestation, that state may request the Governing Board to authorize expenditures from the Insurance Fund for measures to eradicate or control the infestation by other party states at a level sufficient to prevent, or reduce to the greatest practicable extent, infestation or reinfestation of the requesting state. Upon such authorization any responding state shall take or increase any warranted eradication or control measures. A responding state shall use moneys available from the Insurance Fund expeditiously and efficiently to assist in providing the protection requested.
(c) In order to apply for expenditures from the Insurance Fund, a requesting state shall submit in writing:
(1) A detailed statement of the circumstances which occasion the request for the invoking of the Compact.
(2) Evidence that the pest for which eradication or control assistance is requested, constitutes a danger to an agricultural or forest crop, product, tree, shrub, grass, or other plant having a substantial value to the requesting state.
(3) A statement of the extent of the present and projected program of the requesting state and its subdivisions, including full information as to the legal authority for the conduct of such program and the expenditures, made or budgeted for the eradication, control, or prevention of introduction of the pest.
(4) Proof that the expenditures being made or budgeted, as detailed in clause (3) of this subsection, do not constitute a reduction of the effort for the control or eradication of the pest concerned or, if there is a reduction, the reasons why the level of program detailed in clause (3) of this subsection constitutes a normal level of pest control activity.
(5) A declaration as to whether, to the best knowledge of the requesting states knowledge and belief, the conditions that require the invoking of the Compact can be abated by a program undertaken with the aid of moneys from the Insurance Fund within one year or less, or whether the request is for an installment in a program which is likely to continue for a longer period.
(6) Any other information that the Governing Board requires consistent with this Compact.
(d) The Governing Board or Executive Committee shall give due notice of any meeting at which an application for assistance from the Insurance Fund is to be considered. Such notice shall be given to the Compact administrator of each party state and to any other officers and agencies designated by the laws of the party states. The requesting state and any other party state are entitled to be represented and present evidence and argument at such meeting.
(e) Upon the submission as required by subsection (c) of this section and any other information that the requesting state may have or acquire, and upon determining that an expenditure of funds is within the purposes of this Compact and justified, the Governing Board or Executive Committee shall authorize support of the program. The Governing Board or Executive Committee may meet at any time and in any place to receive and consider an application. All determinations of the Governing Board or Executive Committee, in relation to an application, and the reasons for the determination shall be recorded and subscribed to show the votes of the individual members.
(f) A requesting state that is dissatisfied with a determination of the Executive Committee shall, upon notice in writing submitted within twenty (20) days after the determination, be given a review of the determination at the next meeting of the Governing Board. Determinations of the Executive Committee are reviewable only by the Governing Board at a regular meeting, or at a special meeting authorized by the Governing Board.
(g) Responding states required to undertake or increase measures pursuant to this Compact may receive moneys from the Insurance Fund, when such state incurs expenditures because of such measures or as reimbursement for expenses incurred and chargeable to the Insurance Fund. The Governing Board shall adopt procedures for submission and payment of claims.
(h) Before authorizing the expenditure of moneys from the Insurance Fund, the Governing Board shall determine the extent and nature of any timely assistance or participation that may be available from the federal government and shall request assistance and participation from the appropriate federal agencies.
(i) The Insurance Fund may negotiate and execute a memorandum of understanding or other appropriate instrument defining the extent and degree of assistance or participation between and among the Insurance Fund, cooperating federal agencies, states, and any other entities concerned.
History —Jan. 20, 2010, No. 10, § 6.