P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 251

2019-02-20 00:00:00+00
§ 251. Checks of the Secretary of the Treasury and payer officials

(a) At the end of each month, or as soon as possible, the Secretary of the Treasury shall prepare and certify a listing of all checks issued by same that, in a term of six (6) months or more, have not yet been cashed. The Secretary of the Treasury shall make the necessary adjustments for the automatic cancellation of state and federal funds corresponding to such checks and the return of the amounts thereof to their originating accounts.

(b) All Payer Officials designated by the Secretary of the Treasury shall be bound to prepare and certify a complete and exact listing of any checks issued officially by same and payable to public creditors which have not been cashed for a term of six (6) months or more at the end of each month, or as soon as possible. The Secretary of the Treasury shall adopt the necessary regulations to return the amounts of said checks to their original account.

(c) Any checks payable against federal funds which are being cancelled automatically since July of 2001 pursuant to federal law, and whose amounts have been returned to their original funds and grants may return said funds to the federal government, as provided in federal regulations, after six (6) months of having been issued but not cashed.

(d) “Debts Pending Payment” accounts shall be under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Treasury and shall be used to pay any checks issued prior to the effectiveness of this act and which have not been transferred to the General Fund. Any legal claim submitted for those automatically cancelled checks and which should be charged against their original accounts shall be transferred through the Agency that originally issued said payment. A term of ten (10) years is hereby set forth for executing said action, beginning on the date of deposit of the amounts thereof into their original source accounts. The Secretary of the Treasury shall be responsible for the payment of any claim regarding checks payable against the General Fund whose term for cashing has ended from any of the available funds in the General Fund.

Agencies that at the time of the effectiveness of this act used the amounts of the checks issued against the General Fund which were voided and returned to their original fund to defray recurring expenses shall be responsible for the reimbursement thereof to the Secretary of the Treasury.

(e) The Government Agency who made the payments shall request the necessary funds for the corresponding reimbursement from the federal government for any legal claims that may arise and which must be paid when credits or reimbursements to the federal government have been made.

(f) The Secretary of the Treasury shall adopt the necessary regulations for these procedures.

History —Political Code, 1902, § 87; Apr. 21, 1950, No. 71, p. 174, § 1; Mar. 13, 1951, No. 25, p. 50, § 1; Apr. 30, 1952, No. 152, p. 316, § 1; June 7, 1977, No. 44, p. 92, § 1; June 3, 1982, No. 37, p. 78, § 1; May 23, 1984, No. 25, p. 52, § 1; July 16, 1990, No. 12, p. 71, § 1; Sept. 3, 2003, No. 264, § 1.