Bill 159.

Summary.

The bill establishes rules and procedures for conserving and maintaining movable and immovable property belonging to the State. It would apply to public entities and officials responsible for administering that property. It refers to the Tax Code (Código Fiscal) to define national assets. Officials entrusted with State property would have to ensure its conservation and maintenance under the bill’s requirements.

For immovable property, it requires a general inspection and an inventory of damage at least once a year, together with budget planning for maintenance every 3 years. For movable property, it requires inspections for corrective and preventive maintenance at least every six months or as technically recommended for the asset, and major maintenance every two years. Those intervals would operate alongside manufacturers’ recommendations and technical specifications appropriate to each asset’s nature.

Each public entity would have to prepare and update an annual maintenance plan for the property it administers. The plan would specify the actions, responsible persons, timetable and allocated budget. Failure to prepare it would constitute an administrative offense attributable, as applicable, to the immediate supervisor or the institution’s highest ranking official in charge of national assets, and could be penalized under the bill’s enforcement provisions.

Persons responsible for the assets would have to keep detailed records of all maintenance activities and submit them for oversight to the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic (Contraloría General de la República) and the Directorate of State Assets (Dirección de Bienes Patrimoniales) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas). Each institution’s internal audit office would verify compliance with the maintenance plan to assess the condition of the assets, without excluding audits by the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic.

The bill treats failure to maintain assets within the prescribed periods and conditions, omission or alteration of maintenance records, negligence or inadequate budget planning that causes damage or loss, and failure to prepare or update the annual plan as offenses. For minor damage, it provides for a fine proportional to 50% of the damaged asset’s salvage value, calculated by the Directorate of State Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and imposed through an institutional disciplinary procedure. Moderate damage would lead to suspension, and total loss of the asset to dismissal, under the institution’s internal schedule of offenses. Applicable joint or subsidiary liability would remain possible.

A public servant fined under the bill could seek reconsideration before the Directorate of State Assets of the Ministry of Economy and Finance within five business days after notice of the penalty. Institutions would have no more than six months after promulgation to regulate their internal procedures, taking account of each area’s specialty. The bill provides for entry into force on the day following publication in the Official Gazette. The subject matter relates those public bodies and the National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) to public asset administration, auditing, building and equipment maintenance, and services that use State property.