Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González vetoed House Bill (PC) 181, which would have ordered the Office of the Ombudsman for Persons with Disabilities (DPI), working with the Department of Recreation and Sports (DRD), to create and continuously update a registry of sports and recreational facilities properly equipped for people with disabilities. In her veto message, González said the bill did not identify a funding source for the initiative, including $125,000 to create the digital platform, $75,000 a year for maintenance and $25,000 for publicity campaigns.
"Faced with obligations of creation, updating and dissemination without credited resources, it is not responsible to approve the measure as currently drafted," she said. Authored by Popular Democratic Party Representative Swanny Vargas Laureano, the bill would also have required identifying, by town, the adaptive sports programs in use for this population, public or private. The Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting Corporation and the Tourism Company would have handled the publicity campaigns.
On Friday, González also vetoed a bill to require tourniquets for medical emergencies in every public school, citing fiscal impact, and did not sign two joint resolutions ordering the Highways and Transportation Authority to address street lighting problems in Mayagüez and San Germán. She signed amendments to the Bill of Rights and Public Policy in Favor of Older Adults, by New Progressive Party Representative Fernando Sanabria, recognizing their right to adequate guidance when applying for services through digital platforms.
She also signed a bill setting a 90-day maximum for reviewing and approving technology projects fully funded by the federal government.