‍To order the Puerto Rico Senate's Commission for the Development of Community Initiatives to conduct research into the functions of the “Puerto Rico Substance Use and Abuse Observatory”, attached to the Administration of Mental Health and Addiction Services (ASSMCA), the current scope of its statistical compilation and its use for public policy formulation. This legislative research must include an analysis of the need and viability of reconfiguring this program to establish a “Drug Observatory” as a multidisciplinary entity with the function of integrating, analyzing and disseminating up-to-date information on drug consumption and trafficking in Puerto Rico and related crimes in a way that allows a better understanding of this social phenomenon and contributes to the formulation and implementation of policies, decision-making, design and evaluation of programs and projects.

Date: February 24, 2017

To amend Article 21 of Act No. 209-2003, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Statistics Institute Act”, to provide that the Governor will include in the model budget the calculations for the current expenses of that Institute, without reviewing them, to guarantee its fiscal stability, in harmony with the autonomy granted to him by law; and to establish the validity of the Act.

To add a new paragraph (l), and to redesignate the current paragraph (l), as (m), in Article 8 of Law 76‐2013, known as the “Law of the Attorney for the Elderly of Puerto Rico”, in order to add new functions and duties to the Office of the Attorney for the Elderly, in response to the dramatic increase in grandparents raising grandchildren; and for other related purposes.