P.R. Laws tit. 15, § 121

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 121. Lottery Fund—Creation

(a) The Lottery Fund is hereby created. The proceeds from the sale of tickets of the Puerto Rico Lottery shall be covered into said fund and the salaries of all the personnel of the Bureau of the Lottery, all operating expenses of the Puerto Rico Lottery and the prizes pertaining to each ticket shall be defrayed therefrom. Any amounts consigned for the benefit of the Puerto Rico Lottery by virtue of a contract the Secretary of the Treasury and the firm in charge of implementing the additional lottery, authorized by §§ 801 et seq. of this title, shall also be covered into said fund. The funds received on account of said contract shall be entered into the books without a specific economic year and kept separate from any other amounts covered into the Lottery Fund. Said funds shall be used exclusively for the purposes established in the contract. The remainder of the net balance shall be entered into the General Fund of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

(b) Special Fund for Loans to Government Entities. — A Special Fund for Loans to Government Agency is hereby created to which the sum of three million dollars ($3,000,000) shall be deposited annually from the proceeds of the net income derived from the operation of the Puerto Rico Lottery. Two million dollars ($2,000,000) from said fund shall be covered annually into the Curable Catastrophic Illnesses Services Fund, §§ 3222 et seq. of Title 24.

(1) The Special Fund shall be incremented by the principal sum thus deposited, with each deposit made by the Secretary of the Treasury, as stated above. The total accumulated balance of the special fund shall diminish each year only in accordance with the sum that the Secretary of the Treasury uses from the fund to pay the pertinent installment to the corresponding first prize beneficiaries subject to deferred payments under §§ 111—127e of this title.

(2) The Special Fund shall be subject to the administration and custody of the Puerto Rico Government Development Bank. Said Bank will be empowered to: (A) invest the monies of said Special Fund in those types and classes of assets in which the Commonwealth Retirement Fund is invested; and (B) grant loans to the municipalities of Puerto Rico and the Commonwealth Government, its political subdivisions and dependencies legally authorized to borrow money, including public corporations, for a maximum term of twenty (20) years. The investment of the Fund’s monies in the capital markets, as well as the granting of loans, shall be subject to the terms and conditions that the Government Development Bank shall establish by regulations. The Secretary of the Treasury may withold any amounts needed to ensure compliance with the obligations contracted by virtue of the provisions of this section, from any available funds in his custody belonging to the municipalities, the agencies of the Commonwealth Government and its political subdivisions and dependencies, including public corporations. The income derived from the loans and investments made by the Bank, as well as the amounts withheld by the Secretary of the Treasury to ensure their compliance, shall be covered into the Special Fund. The Bank shall also be authorized to borrow money at a maximum term of twenty (20) years under those terms and conditions that it deems most convenient for which the Fund shall be responsible; Provided, That the borrowed money shall be covered into said Special Fund. Payment of principal and interest on the money borrowed by the Bank by virtue of the power granted it by this Act shall be charged to the Special Fund.

(3) For fiscal year 2000-2001, exclusively, the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico shall revert to the General Fund of the Treasury of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the amount of eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000) from the resources of the Special Fund for Loans to Government Entities, created by virtue §§ 251 et seq. of Title 10.

The funds to be transferred shall be used to cover the operating expenses of the Department of Education for fiscal year 2000-2001.

History —May 15, 1947, No. 465, p. 1022, § 11; Apr. 5, 1951, No. 65, p. 146, § 4; Oct. 15, 1954, No. 11, p. 150, § 1; June 30, 1959, No. 94, p. 269, § 2; July 7, 1960, No. 105; June 20, 1961, No. 84, p. 164, § 1; June 21, 1962, No. 74, p. 172; June 25, 1963, No. 84, p. 253; June 28, 1969, No. 106, p. 307, § 1; June 7, 1973, No. 112, p. 461, § 1; June 30, 1978, No. 15, p. 400, § 1; Sept. 14, 1979, No. 7, p. 960, § 1; July 15, 1985, No. 2, p. 612, § 2; July 16, 1990, No. 11, p. 70; Aug. 21, 1990, No. 46, p. 192, § 1; Aug. 5, 1993, No. 61, § 1; June 30, 1995, No. 72, § 1; Apr. 15, 1996, No. 24, § 1; Aug. 19, 1996, No. 150, § 20; Aug. 11, 2001, No. 101, § 1.