Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González Signs Bill That Curbs Transparency, Limits Public Access to Government Information

Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González signed a bill that critics say significantly weakens public access to government information and undermines press freedom on the island.

“A Puerto Rican national flag flies in front of the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 29, 2015”

Associated Press

The Associated Press reports that supporters framed the change as clarifying procedures and reducing litigation.

Associated Press

More than a dozen journalism and civil-rights groups, including the ACLU of Puerto Rico and Reporters Without Borders, denounced the bill after only one day of short-notice public hearings and urged a veto.

The AP coverage presents both the government's stated rationale and an organized set of objections, but no other source materials were provided for comparison in this assignment, so cross-source contrasts cannot be drawn beyond what the AP reports.

The AP outlines specific legal changes the bill makes to Puerto Rico’s public-records regime.

It extends agency response times from 10 days to 20 business days for records under 300 pages or created within three years, and up to one month for larger or older records, with a possible 20-day extension.

Associated Press

Critics described additional substantive rollbacks, including allowing agencies to classify information as confidential without judicial review.

The bill would remove requirements to provide records in the requested format and eliminate certain privacy protections for requesters.

It would also permit denial of requests when information is scattered across documents or agencies.

Those provisions form the core of opponents’ concerns that the law will make obtaining public records harder.

The AP account emphasizes the passage process and procedural concerns, saying opponents complained about short-notice hearings.

“A Puerto Rican national flag flies in front of the Capitol building in San Juan, Puerto Rico, July 29, 2015”

Associated Press

The report says the Senate passed the bill by an 18–9 vote in mid-October with no public hearings.

Observers told the AP that Puerto Rico has a history of limited transparency despite a 2019 law intended to improve access.

Opponents say the new measure will worsen record access and chiefly benefit officials who prefer to withhold information, and those procedural and historical points are central to critics' case as presented by the AP.

The AP reports clear advocacy from civil-rights and press-freedom organizations urging a veto, naming groups such as the ACLU of Puerto Rico and Reporters Without Borders.

Opponents argue the law’s combined procedural extensions and new denial grounds will primarily benefit officials who want to withhold information.

Associated Press

Because this response is built only on the AP item supplied, readers should note that broader media reaction, the bill’s full text, and any government legal reasoning or implementation guidance are not provided here and would be necessary to fully assess the law’s long-term effects and legal durability.