Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González stated that her government plan includes requiring public officials to take mandatory courses to combat corruption, a proposal she shared during a segment focused on corruption at Wednesday’s gubernatorial debate in Puerto Rico, broadcast by Wapa TV.
The candidate from the New Progressive Party (PNP) claimed that similar to what is already established in the United States, she would implement a system of mandatory anti-corruption training for public officials in the country.
“I have both federal and local experience. In Washington, officials, in this case, members of Congress, must take courses regularly, every six months, in different areas. And that’s what I’m going to do in training all officials interested in public resources,” said the commissioner.
The Office of Government Ethics of Puerto Rico (OEG, in Spanish) already mandates training compliance for every public servant in the Executive Branch. Article 3.3 of the OEG Organic Act states: “Every public servant of the Executive Branch must take a minimum of 20 hours of ethics training every two years.” The Office of Government Ethics courses also cover other topics related to public service and empathy with citizens.
Public servants who refuse to comply with the required hours of workshops can be sanctioned by the OEG.
The OEG also implemented the Center for the Development of Ethical Thinking, which aims to “intensify public policy prevention through education.” As part of its objectives, the organization must “provide training that promotes adequate academic and practical formation on values, government ethics, and the administration of public resources to public servants.”
When questioned about whether her proposal is necessary, given that the OEG already establishes certain training and continuing education requirements, the resident commissioner said: “While Executive Branch public servants have a biennial obligation of 20 hours of continuing education, these hours are fulfilled with training in a range of topics including domestic violence, suicide, civil rights, etc. Additionally, many courses are virtual. Under our proposal, we will require a minimum of 10 hours to be in-person and in courses related to fund management, good governance, and sound administration.”
The PNP candidate indicated to the Centro de Periodismo Investigativo after the debate that her proposal introduces the novelty of including legislative employees. “Our proposal would require both legislators and public servants of the Legislative Branch to be obligated to continuous training on these topics,” she added in written statements.
Members of the Legislative Assembly, being elected officials, are also required to take training from the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico (OCPR) on sound public administration and principles of governmental accounting. The Puerto Rico Electoral Code stipulates that every elected candidate must take this course, lasting a minimum of six hours, once every four years before their swearing-in.
While the resident commissioner’s statements suggest an innovative anti-corruption initiative that already exists, the PNP’s government plan webpage, instead of stating that all public servants will be required to take anti-corruption training, indicates that González will strengthen “mandatory continuous training” for officials but does not detail how such strengthening will be managed.
Given the array of laws and public policy strategies that explicitly require public officials to take anti-corruption workshops, the statements by Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González are misleading, as they attempt to present as an innovative proposal the requirement for public servants to take anti-corruption courses when laws already mandate this for most government employees.
