P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 283g
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (c) of this section, all appropriations and funds authorized for the expenditures of a fiscal year shall be applied exclusively to the payment of expenses lawfully incurred during the respective year, or to the payment of obligations legally contracted and duly entered in the books of said year.
(b) No amount shall be spent or pledged in one fiscal year that may exceed the appropriations and funds authorized by law for said year, including the amounts transferred to be credited to said appropriations and the funds by provision of law, nor may the Government be pledged in any way by any contract or negotiation for the future payment of amounts in excess of said appropriations and funds, unless it is expressly authorized by law.
(c) Once the fiscal year to which they belong has closed, the unencumbered balances of the appropriations and funds authorized for a fiscal year shall be cancelled and closed taking into consideration any legal provisions with respect thereto. The Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the University of Puerto Rico are exempted from this provision. For purposes of this subsection, the Legislative Branch shall be understood to be comprised of, besides its Bodies proper and its joint activities, the Office of the Comptroller, the Office of the Ombudsman, the Civil Rights Commission, and any other entity attached or to be attached in the future to the Legislative Branch of Puerto Rico. Beginning with the budget for Fiscal Year 2010-2011, when the Department of Education, the Puerto Rico Firefighters Corps, the Office of the General Coordinator for Socio-Economic Financing and Self-Management, and the Office of Women’s Advocate have achieved savings and have unencumbered balances as of the close of a fiscal year, said entities may request authorization to the Office of Management and Budget to keep such unencumbered amounts in their books for a period of up to three (3) years from the close of the fiscal year to which they belong. The Office of Management and Budget shall have discretion to deny said request provided it is determined that it shall not benefit any public interest and shall jeopardize the fiscal stability of the Government or its capacity to meet its obligations. Said request shall not be necessary in the case of the Office of Women’s Advocate. In the case of this entity, once the period of three (3) years has concluded, any unused funds shall revert to the General Fund.
The OMB is hereby directed to establish the processes and controls that shall govern the implementation of this provision.
(d) The portion of the appropriations and funds authorized for a specific fiscal year, which has been encumbered on or before June 30 of the fiscal year to which said appropriations or funds correspond, shall be kept on the books for one year after the fiscal year for which these were authorized has elapsed, and thereinafter no amount shall be drawn against said portion under any circumstance.
Immediately after the one-year period has elapsed, the encumbered amounts shall be closed, except when the entity has been authorized by the Office of Management and Budget to keep said amounts in the books of the entity, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section.
When the Office of Management and Budget does not grant authorization under subsection (c) of this section, or when said authorization has been granted but the term provided thereunder has elapsed, the balance shall be deposited in the Budget Fund to cover appropriations approved for any fiscal year in which the income available for said year are not sufficient to cover the same, to honor the payment of the public debt, to pay lawsuits, to match federal funds, and to deal with unforeseen situations which affect the needs and the public services that citizens are entitled to. The Legislative Branch, the Judicial Branch, and the University of Puerto Rico are hereby exempted from this provision.
(e) If for any reason the appropriations and the funds authorized for the expenditures of one fiscal year are not registered in the books of the Secretary of the Treasury at the beginning of the year so that the dependencies and the legislative bodies may incur and pay the necessary expenses to carry out their programs, the Secretary may transfer from any funds not designated for other purposes, as an advance, such amounts as he/she may deem necessary for the dependencies and legislative bodies to meet their commitments until such time as the appropriations and the funds provided for the current fiscal year are registered in the books of the Secretary. As soon as the appropriations and the funds provided for the current fiscal year are registered, the amounts that might have been advanced from said fund shall be reimbursed to the original fund as previously provided. The Secretary of the Treasury shall remit to the legislative bodies monthly in advance, the budgetary quotas corresponding to a twelfth of the annual appropriation in effect for each of these.
(f) The appropriations and funds without a specific fiscal year, that is, authorized for expenditures of unlimited fiscal year, shall be applied exclusively to the payment of expenses or of obligations lawfully contracted and duly entered in the books for articles and services necessary to achieve the purpose for which they were authorized. No amount shall be spent or pledged which may not be necessary for said purpose or which may exceed the amount authorized including the amounts transferred according to the law to be credited to said appropriations or funds nor shall the Government be bound by any contract or negotiation for the future payment of amounts exceeding said appropriations and funds, unless expressly authorized by law.
(g) Except as provided in subsection (h) of this section, the appropriations and funds without a specific fiscal year, except for appropriations specifically made for capital improvements, shall remain in the books until the purposes for which they were created are fully achieved, after which the unencumbered balances of said appropriations and funds shall be closed, taking into consideration any legal provision in that respect. Encumbered balances of said obligations and funds shall remain on the books for one year after unencumbered balances are closed, after which said encumbered balances shall be cancelled, taking into consideration the legal provisions that may exist.
(h) The appropriations and funds without a specific fiscal year, which have remained on the books without movement of disbursement or obligation for three years, shall be deemed for the effects of §§ 283-283p of this title as if they had achieved their purposes and provisions on the closing of encumbered and unencumbered balances of subsection (g) of this section, except for the appropriations and funds without a specific year, appropriated to carry out the capital improvements that have been accounted for and registered in the books. These funds shall have a term of three (3) years as of the legal effective date of the appropriation, to be disbursed and to meet the purposes for which they were appropriated. Upon expiration of the three (3) year term, the encumbered and unencumbered balances of the capital improvements funds shall be closed and covered into Fund 301.
In those cases in which the agency or body receiving the capital improvements funds deems that the term of the appropriation should be extended for a period greater than three (3) years, it may make a petition stating the need to maintain those resources in effect to the Office of Management and Budget, three (3) months prior to the expiration of said term. During said period, the Office of Management and Budget shall study the petition and determine the need to keep the appropriation in effect, the term for which the appropriation shall be extended, and the amount. If the three (3)-month period should expire without a decision having been made in the case, it shall be construed that the appropriation has indeed met its purposes, and the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer or return the resources to Fund 301. Said resources shall be rescheduled by the legislature for priority projects and activities, with the prior recommendation of the Governor.
(i) Except in cases where it is otherwise specifically authorized by law, the appropriations authorized in regular sessions of the Legislative Assembly shall not be available nor entered in the books prior to the beginning of the fiscal year to which they correspond. The appropriations authorized in the special sessions shall be available upon the taking effect of the act or joint resolution authorizing the appropriations, unless otherwise provided by the law or joint resolution.
(j) Appropriations with a particular fiscal year as well as of unlimited fiscal year, whether they are specific or self-renewable, shall be entered in the books and available for disbursement when the Governor of Puerto Rico or his designee so authorizes it.
(k) The Governor of Puerto Rico may provide for the permanent cancellation of an appropriation made by the Legislative Assembly when the aim it pursues has been achieved by the use of other resources or by other means.
The Governor shall notify the Legislative Assembly of his action cancelling permanently said appropriation within thirty (30) days following the date on which said cancellation was ordered. The Legislative Assembly may take action by reversing, modifying or concurring with the action of the Governor in this matter. If no action is taken by the Legislature in the next regular session after notice, it shall be understood that it approves the cancellation of the appropriation prescribed by the Governor.
(l) As a general rule, any appropriation remaining three years without being entered on the books shall be deemed to be automatically cancelled, and new legislative action shall be required to be able to use the moneys thus cancelled. In exceptional cases where justified reasons are shown for not entering an appropriation on the books for the stipulated period of three years, such as the delay in the determination of suits in the courts and the impossibility to carry out a public work because of technical or legal difficulties, an appropriation may be accountable, even after the lapse of the aforementioned period of three years.
The Secretary shall notify the Legislative Assembly of the action cancelling appropriations under the circumstances contemplated by this subsection, within thirty (30) days following the date on which said cancellation was prescribed.
(m) The Secretary shall transfer periodically to the surplus of the General Fund of the Commonwealth Treasury, in accordance with law, the balances of deposit accounts that have remained without any use or movement in the accounting books for three years or more and which, according to his opinion, are not necessary or do not meet the purposes for which they were created; Provided, That any claim that the Secretary may be bound to pay with respect to said balances, after they have been transferred as above provided, shall be paid from any available funds not otherwise appropriated.
History —July 23, 1974, No. 230, Part 2, p. 183, § 8; May 27, 1976, No. 61, p. 175, § 2; Aug. 18, 1994, No. 89, § 1; May 23, 1995, No. 48, § 1; Aug. 31, 1996, No. 175, § 1; Aug. 17, 2001, No. 123, § 1; June 11, 2004, No. 140, § 5; Aug. 1, 2004, No. 180, § 1; Nov. 14, 2006, No. 248, § 1; July 1, 2011, No. 105, § 1; Dec. 21, 2012, No. 306, § 1.