Company donations to a campaign: what is allowed and what is not

It is the rule that decides whether a company, cooperative, partnership, trust, association or labor organization may put money into a political campaign in Puerto Rico. The short answer: from its own funds, no. Through a properly registered segregated funds committee, yes, and only if it was organized, incorporated or registered in Puerto Rico or the United States.

Juridical persons as the law defines them: the corporation, the limited liability entity, the partnership, the cooperative, the trust, the group of persons organized as an association and the labor organization. The segregated funds committee route is open only to those organized, incorporated or registered in Puerto Rico or the United States of America.

• That the juridical person was organized, incorporated or registered in Puerto Rico or the United States of America. It is the entry condition to the only route the law leaves open.Verified against the official source
• Establishing, organizing and administering a segregated funds committee, which for donation and expenditure purposes is treated as a political action committee.Verified against the official source
• Registering that committee with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller, filing reports and complying with every requirement Act 222-2011 imposes.Verified against the official source
• That the contributions come from its members, employees and their relatives within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, and that they be deposited into the bank account established and registered with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller for that purpose.Verified against the official source
• If the juridical person was not created for electoral purposes and wishes to allocate segregated funds or make an independent expenditure, it shall meet all the requirements, limits and reports demanded of political action committees and the requirements of Chapter V of the Act, which we did not read.Verified against the official source

• The law publishes no document list or form: it names the committee’s registration with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller, the reports to be filed and the bank account established and registered with that Office. The concrete forms come from that Office, not from this Act.

1. 1

   Step 1: From the company’s own funds, no

   Article 5.006 opens with the prohibition, and its reach is wider than usually assumed: no juridical person, nor foreign juridical person, may make donations from its own funds — in or outside Puerto Rico — to political parties, aspirants, candidates, campaign committees, or to agents, representatives or authorized committees of any of those, or to political action committees subject to that Act that make donations or coordinate expenditures among themselves. Note “in or outside Puerto Rico”: the prohibition is not escaped by donating from abroad.

2. 2

   Step 2: The lawful route: the segregated funds committee

   This is what the law does allow, with express conditions. If the juridical person was organized, incorporated or registered in Puerto Rico or the United States of America, it may establish, organize and administer a committee known as a segregated funds committee, which for donation and expenditure purposes is treated as a political action committee, must register with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller, file reports and comply with every requirement this Act imposes.

3. 3

   Step 3: Where that committee’s money comes from

   Not from the company’s till. Once the committee is set up and registered, its members, employees and their relatives within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity may make contributions, deposited into the bank account established and registered with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller for that purpose. From that bank account, the segregated funds committee may donate to political parties, aspirants, candidates, campaign committees and authorized committees, as well as to political action committees that donate to any of those.

4. 4

   Step 4: The ban on foreign companies, and what counts as foreign

   The law defines the term and then closes every door. For purposes of this Act, foreign juridical persons are those organized, incorporated or registered outside Puerto Rico or the United States of America, whether or not they have operations in Puerto Rico. And they may not, directly or indirectly, and/or through the members of their boards of directors, executives, managers, managing partners or subsidiaries, make donations, organize as a political action committee, a segregated funds committee, or make any independent expenditure to influence and/or take part in the financing of political campaigns in Puerto Rico. The law repeats that prohibition twice: in the Article 2.004 definition and in Article 5.006.

5. 5

   Step 5: What a “juridical person” is here

   More things than people assume. The definition includes the corporation, the limited liability entity, the partnership, the cooperative, the trust, the group of persons organized as an association and the labor organization. If your entity is any of those, this article’s rules apply to you.

6. 6

   Step 6: The definition’s carve-out, so as not to overread it

   That same definition carries a nuance worth quoting whole: for the purposes of the requirements imposed by Articles 6.007 to 6.010 of that Act, an entity that, whatever its name, constitutes a political action committee or a national or local party, or another political organization under the United States Internal Revenue Code, according to its nature and origin and as defined by that Act, shall not be considered a juridical person. And it adds that a juridical person not created for electoral purposes wishing to allocate segregated funds or make an independent expenditure shall meet all the requirements, limits and reports demanded of political action committees and the requirements of Chapter V. We did not read those articles or that chapter, so we do not describe what they require.

The law names the Office of the Electoral Comptroller as the place where the segregated funds committee registers, where the reports are filed and where the bank account is registered. That Office sets the forms and the process; Act 53-2026 publishes no address, phone, portal or form, and creates no new procedure.

• Donating from the company account: no juridical person may make donations from its own funds, in or outside Puerto Rico.
• Believing donating from outside Puerto Rico escapes the prohibition: the law expressly says “in or outside Puerto Rico”.
• Thinking the ban on foreign entities applies only if they have operations here: the law says “whether or not they have operations in Puerto Rico”.
• Trying the donation through an executive or a subsidiary: the prohibition reaches the direct and the indirect, and names boards of directors, executives, managers, managing partners and subsidiaries.
• Setting up a segregated funds committee without registering it: it must register with the Office of the Electoral Comptroller, file reports and meet every requirement of the Act.
• Assuming it only applies to corporations: the definition includes the limited liability entity, the partnership, the cooperative, the trust, the association and the labor organization.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE)

  CEE

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov