From YouTube to Stud Horses, Puerto Rico Senators Shore Up Their Finances With Side Income

Monetizing digital content on online platforms, teaching classes, offering consulting and professional services, and even renting out horses as studs are among the activities that provided seven senators in Puerto Rico with income on top of their salaries as full-time employees.

The Salaries and Emoluments Act for Members of the Legislative Assembly, Act 97-1968, allows them to receive outside legislative income “from the practice of a profession or trade” up to a maximum of 35% of their base salary as legislators. That income is reported to the legislative chamber through sworn statements filed before April 30 each year. If the income received exceeds 35%, the law requires the legislator to return the surplus to their chamber. Rental income, interest, dividends and investments are not considered outside legislative income.

Senators’ base salary is $73,775, but political party spokespeople, the Senate vice president and the chairs of the Treasury and Government committees receive $84,841. The Senate president is paid $110,663.

Seven of the 28 senators in the current Legislative Assembly said in sworn statements that they received income in addition to their salaries. Not all of it came from the practice of a profession or trade; some came from commercial activities.

New Progressive Party (PNP, in Spanish) Sen. Ángel Toledo López reported the highest outside legislative income, at $54,318. Toledo López, who chairs the Government Committee, said in a sworn statement filed with the legislative body that in 2025 he received $23,868 in rental income from real estate properties. He also earned $26,400 as an academic affairs consultant for the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and another $4,050 as a lecturer at Ana G. Méndez University.

According to the biography published on the Senate’s website, before becoming a senator, Toledo López was academic director, vice chancellor and chancellor of the Ana G. Méndez University, and he holds the rank of professor in socio-humanistic sciences at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz reported in his sworn statement that he received $40,300 on top of his base salary in 2025. The New Progressive Party senator said he sold two vehicles: a 1970 Chevrolet Impala for $11,000 and a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air for $10,000. He also sold a watch for $10,000 and a horse for $7,500. The at-large senator also earned $1,800 for renting out horses as studs.

Eliezer Molina Pérez, who won his seat as an independent candidate, reported $39,350 in gross income from monetizing his YouTube page. According to his sworn statement, the money came from XXVI Holdings Inc., in California. The corporation is linked to Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, which owns YouTube. Molina has more than 98,000 subscribers on YouTube.

The senator said that, from the money he generated as a content creator, he paid $5,560 to the Internal Revenue Service and $8,027 to the Puerto Rico Treasury Department. He explained that his outside legislative income came to $25,763.

In 2015, the independent senator registered Hacienda Libertad, a corporation, but he has not reported income from it since then. He did report a $400,000 financial obligation that year, but by the time the report was filed with the Puerto Rico Department of State in 2016, the debt had disappeared. Although the corporation is active, it has never reported capital.

Mijani Inc., a corporation that operated a nightclub in Santurce and now serves as a leasing company, generated $22,000 for PNP Sen. Nitza Morán Trinidad, according to her report to the Senate. In 2024, Mijani Inc. reported capital of $47,508. Mijani’s 2025 financial statement is not available because the current administration passed legislation in 2025 eliminating the requirement that corporations file financial reports with the Puerto Rico Department of State, thereby removing full public visibility into the financial condition of corporations in Puerto Rico.

Sen. Carmelo Ríos Santiago, who represents the Bayamón district, reported receiving $9,000 in 2025 for providing professional services. Although the sworn statement does not say to whom he provided the service, the PNP senator told the CPI it was Uno Radio Group. Ríos Santiago is a commentator on public policy and party politics on a daily program on NotiUno, which belongs to Uno Radio’s group of stations.

In February of this year, Ríos Santiago and his wife, Aida Márquez Ibañez, registered Hacienda Ríos de Márquez, a company dedicated to the development, operation and maintenance of agricultural farms; the production and sale of agricultural products; and the creation and offering of experiences and activities related to agriculture and agritourism. Any income that activity produces, if any, will be reflected in his 2026 report, which will be filed with the Senate in April 2027.

Popular Democratic Party (PPD, in Spanish) Sen. Ada Álvarez Conde said in her outside legislative income statement that she earned $1,811 for teaching a class at the Center for Advanced Studies on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Álvarez Conde received another $6,248 from income she earned in 2024 as a professor at the Police Academy, but she noted that she received it in 2025, for a total of $8,059.

Fellow PDP Sen. Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz received $849 last year from monetizing his Facebook page. Today, the senator has 64,000 followers on that page.

The House of Representatives has not yet provided the outside legislative income information requested by the CPI, even though both chambers were asked for it on the same day.

In 2013, amendments to Act 97-1968 introduced the concept of the citizen legislator into the Legislative Assembly. The 2013 amendments eliminated per diem payments to senators and representatives for attending hearings and legislative sessions, but they also allowed outside legislative compensation.

The law warns, however, that “the Citizen-Legislator must give priority to complying with the work schedule required by the legislative function, including active participation with constituents and communities.”

The statute also establishes that members of the Legislative Assembly “may earn outside legislative income subject to certain restrictions, including the prohibition of activities that represent a conflict of interest or the appearance of such conflicts, as well as the prohibition of any activity that is incompatible with their legislative duty.” It adds that “these prohibitions shall be duly defined and incorporated into the Rules of Ethical Conduct of each parliamentary body.”

Although compensation through per diems for services or attendance at legislative commitments was eliminated, the law allows legislators who do not receive an annual salary because they belong to a pension system to receive per diems for each day they attend meetings of the chamber to which they belong.

In the Senate, only PNP Sen. Migdalia Padilla Alvelo and PPD Sen. José A. Santiago Rivera receive per diems of $150 a day when they attend hearings, meetings or sessions because both are pensioners and do not receive a Senate salary.

Between Jan. 2 and June 30, 2025, the period covered by the data the Senate provided to the CPI, Padilla Alvelo had accumulated $13,800 in per diems, an average of $2,300 a month, while Santiago Rivera had accumulated $9,300, an average of $1,550 a month. During those six months, the PNP senator, who chairs the Treasury, Budget and PROMESA Committee, convened that committee for meetings or hearings 23 times. Santiago Rivera, who chairs the Municipal Affairs Committee, called 17 meetings or hearings.

Likewise, every legislator is entitled to reimbursement for travel expenses outside Puerto Rico on official business or for extraordinary expenses incurred in the exercise of their legislative duties.

Kiara Maldonado contributed to this story.

This translation was generated with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and clarity.