Works that affect your service: they must give 30 days’ notice

It is the notice an agency owes you before tearing up the street, cutting a service or bringing in works that affect what you receive. The law does not leave it to the agency’s discretion: it sets what the notice must say, where it is published and how many days in advance it starts.

Anyone who receives services from an Executive Branch agency or public corporation and whose service stability may be affected by an improvement or new infrastructure project. The law asks you to apply for nothing: the duty is the agency’s.

• That it be an infrastructure improvement or capital works project that may affect the provision of basic services to citizens. That is what triggers the duty.Verified against the official source
• That the entity be one of those covered: all organisms, instrumentalities and entities of the Executive Branch — departments, boards, commissions, administrations, offices, subdivisions and public corporations under that Branch — as well as the Electric Power Authority, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the Metropolitan Bus Authority.Verified against the official source

• The law asks you for no documents and publishes no form: it creates a publication and orientation duty on the agency, not a procedure of yours. If you are going to claim you were not notified, what helps is the date of the works and what the agency had published that day.

1. 1

   Step 1: The two deadlines, and which applies

   The general rule is thirty days: the education and orientation programme must begin thirty (30) days in advance, prior to carrying out the improvements. The exception is forty-eight hours, and the law hedges it: in exceptional situations, where the works could not be scheduled with enough time to meet the previous term, the agency or public corporation must give public orientation to the people who will be affected, through the media, at least forty-eight (48) hours before the improvements begin. Note the exception does not remove the notice: it shortens it and sends it to the media.

2. 2

   Step 2: What the notice must say

   The law lists the minimum content, and it is more specific than people expect. The information and education programme must specify the nature of the project to be carried out; specify the zone in terms of municipality, urbanización, barrio and street; the radius of impact or potential impact of those improvements; and the estimated duration of the works. A notice saying “there will be work in the area” does not meet that list.

3. 3

   Step 3: Where it is published: the agency’s own website

   The article says it plainly: each agency shall publish on its website information about the various improvement or new infrastructure or capital works projects that may affect the stability of services to citizens. There is no single central portal in the text we read, so we will not send you to one: the website of the agency doing the works is the place the law names.

4. 4

   Step 4: Who is covered

   The Article 2 definition of “Agencies” now reads: all organisms or instrumentalities and entities of the Executive Branch of the Government of Puerto Rico, such as departments, boards, commissions, administrations, offices, subdivisions and public corporations under that Branch’s control, as well as the Electric Power Authority, the Aqueduct and Sewer Authority and the Metropolitan Bus Authority. Those three are named separately precisely so there is no doubt they are inside.

5. 5

   Step 5: The duty does not end when the works start

   The article’s last sentence is the one almost nobody invokes: during the implementation of the improvements or project, the agency or public corporation must monitor the effects the works have on citizens. It is a continuing duty, not a paperwork requirement done up front.

6. 6

   Step 6: What changed with this Act, and why it matters

   The duty already existed in Act 98-2002, but this Act repealed it and moved its content into the Electronic Government Act. The statement of motives explains why with unusual candour: Act 98-2002 “left it to the agencies’ discretion to apply its provisions when they saw fit, without any consequence”, whereas moving it into Act 151-2004 places administration with the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service, which is responsible for overseeing faithful compliance. If someone cites Act 98-2002 to you, they are citing a repealed law.

There is no application: the duty is the agency’s that does the works, and the information goes on its own website. Administration of the Electronic Government Act rests with the Puerto Rico Innovation and Technology Service. The Act we read creates no complaint procedure and sets no sanction for breaching this article, and we will not invent one: if works affected you without notice, start with the agency that carried them out.

• Believing a generic announcement is enough: the law requires specifying municipality, urbanización, barrio and street, the radius of impact and the estimated duration.
• Accepting last-minute notice as if it were the rule: forty-eight hours is the exception for works that could not be scheduled; the rule is thirty days.
• Looking for the information on a central portal: the law requires publishing it on each agency’s own website.
• Thinking public corporations are outside: the definition includes them and expressly names AEE, AAA and AMA.
• Citing Act 98-2002: this Act repealed it and moved its content into the Electronic Government Act.
• Assuming the duty ends when the works start: the agency must monitor the effects during implementation.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Portal de Servicios del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (PR.gov)

  PR.gov

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov