"With strong opposition from community leaders, nonprofit organizations, journalists’ associations and media outlets across Puerto Rico, Senate Bill 63 (SB 63), which adds new restrictions to Act 141-2019, known as the Transparency and Expedited Procedure for Access to Public Information Act, was approved Tuesday [Oct. 14] by the New Progressive Party (PNP, in Spanish) majority in the Senate. The measure now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Among the last-minute amendments added to the bill, authored by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz, is one stipulating that no government agency will be required to create or produce a document that does not already exist when responding to an information request. Additionally, if the requested information is not available in the format specified by the requester, the agency must notify the requester and provide the data in whatever form it is currently available.
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If enacted, the bill would double response deadlines from 10 to 20 business days — and with extensions, those could reach 40 or even 50 days — for agencies to respond to information requests. Another amendment to SB 63 would also require notifying all agency officials whenever a document is requested."
