Sponsors
Introduced November 25, 2025 by Pablo José Hernández · Last progress November 25, 2025
The bill trades stronger, evidence‑based, municipality‑level data and GAO recommendations to improve prevention, services, and accountability for gender‑based violence in Puerto Rico against real risks of survivor privacy harm, added fiscal and administrative costs, potential delays, and political resistance.
Survivors and at‑risk populations in Puerto Rico (women, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, low‑income individuals) will gain better‑targeted prevention, support, and culturally informed programs because a coordinated, data‑driven GAO study will identify prevalence, drivers, and service gaps.
Local nonprofits, shelters, and government agencies will receive evidence‑based recommendations and improved data to guide funding, coordination, and disaster resilience, helping them allocate resources and strengthen services.
The public, advocates, and oversight bodies will benefit from greater transparency—improved public access to femicide and judicial outcome data will enable accountability and public oversight of responses to gender‑based violence.
Survivors and vulnerable individuals (women, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities) face significant privacy risks because collecting and publishing detailed or disaggregated gender‑based violence data could lead to reidentification or deter reporting if not carefully anonymized and protected.
Taxpayers and Puerto Rico governments could incur substantial costs because conducting the comprehensive study, building integrated data systems, and implementing GAO recommendations will require federal and local funding or reallocation of existing program funds.
Local nonprofits and government agencies in Puerto Rico will face added administrative burdens—standardized data collection, integration, and compliance will require staff time, training, and resources.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Mandates a GAO study of gender-based violence in Puerto Rico with community engagement and bilingual interim (270 days) and final (540 days) reports including municipality-level data and recommendations.
Requires the Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General) to carry out a comprehensive, culturally informed study of gender-based violence in Puerto Rico, including prevalence, causes, institutional responses, data systems, and the impacts of disasters and economic crises. It mandates active engagement with local organizations and survivor groups and requires publication of an interim report within 270 days and a final bilingual report within 540 days containing municipality-level data and evidence-based recommendations. The study must analyze law enforcement, courts, health and social services, shelters, mental health and substance-use treatment, and the role of grassroots organizations; evaluate public data and reporting systems; and recommend options for a unified, publicly accessible data system and policy, funding, and oversight reforms. The legislation orders the GAO study but does not itself appropriate new funding or create new programs.