2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART II - Economic Development (§§ 231-241 — 695i) › Chapter 36 - Puerto Rico Cooperative Development Commission Organic Act (§§ 625 — 644) › § 635 - Governing Board—Election of cooperative movement representatives

The respective Governing Board members that represent cooperative savings and credit unions and diverse cooperatives shall be exclusively selected by the respective cooperatives of each kind from among persons holding office as Executive President of such cooperatives or as members of their boards of directors.
The directors so elected shall hold office for a term of three (3) years. No director shall hold such office for more than three (3) consecutive terms. The members so selected may not be employees of any central cooperative body or of government agencies involved with the Cooperative Movement, save for those provided by law.
Each cooperative shall have one vote. No trustee, administrator or director appointed by any government agency may act as a representative of a cooperative in the process to select directors, nor may he/she hold office as a member of the Governing Board or the Boards of the attached entities.
No cooperative may be represented by more than one person, whether jointly or individually, neither in the Governing Board of the Commission nor in the attached entities. No individual shall simultaneously represent the Cooperative Movement at the Governing Board, the Board of the Corporation, and the Board of the FIDECOOP.
Representatives from cooperative savings and credit unions and from diverse cooperatives shall be selected via the following procedure:
(a) Save for such cooperatives under emergency administration or receivership, all cooperatives may remit to the Commission their nominees for their corresponding representation. The nomination term shall begin on May 1st of each year in which representatives from the Cooperative Movement are to be elected to the Governing Board of the Commission and shall end fifteen (15) days after. Nominations received outside the bounds of the aforementioned nomination term shall not be considered by the Commission. No person who holds office in cooperatives under emergency administration or receivership may be nominated. Furthermore, as for the savings and credit union sector, nominees to represent such sector must meet with eligibility parameters required under §§ 1334 et seq. of Title 7. Any controversies as to the eligibility of a nominee to represent the cooperative savings and credit union or the diverse cooperative sectors, shall be elucidated by the representatives of the Cooperative Movement at the Governing Board. If the controversy arises about a member in tenure, such person shall refrain from participating in the deliberations on his/her eligibility. Such committee shall be chaired by the representative of the Cooperative League.
(b) Ten (10) days after the nomination term has ended, or before such ten (10) days, the Commissioner shall give notice to the respective cooperatives of each kind, duly registered as such, of the names and the data on the education and experience of the nominees to represent their corresponding sector. Such information shall be physically available at the offices of the Commissioner and on the webpage of the Commission.
(c) The respective cooperatives of each kind shall, through their Board of Directors, cast their vote to elect their corresponding representative. The vote of each cooperative shall be certified by the secretary of their board of directors and remitted to the Commission in a sealed envelope twenty (20) days after the date the nominee notice was given or before. Votes cast shall be opened and tallied by a canvassing committee appointed by the Governing Board.
(d) For the term of effectiveness of their offices, representatives from the Cooperative Movement must fully meet all qualification requirements set forth under this chapter. Should any of the requirements not be met, such representative’s term of office shall lapse and he/she shall be replaced as provided further below.
(e) [If] a vacancy should arise, the same shall be filled via the following expeditious vote procedure:
(1) The Commissioner shall notify the corresponding cooperatives of such vacancy, whereby he/she shall be opening the nomination term, which shall be effective for ten (10) days.
(2) Five (5) days after the nomination term has closed, or before, the Commissioner shall notify the corresponding cooperatives of the names and data as to the education and experience of the nominees. Such information shall be physically available at the offices of the Commissioner and on the webpage of the Commission.
(3) The vote of each cooperative, as cast by the determination of its Board of Directors, shall be certified by the secretary thereof and remitted to the Commission in a sealed envelope fifteen (15) days after the date of the nominee notice, or before. Votes cast shall be opened and tallied by a canvassing committee appointed by the Governing Board. The replacement representative shall hold office until the expiration of the original term of the office where the vacancy arose.
(f) As for the insurance cooperative representative, the first representative for such cooperative enterprises shall correspond to the Executive President or the Chair of the Board of Directors of the cooperative insurer that, by the date of approval of this act, is not currently represented at the Board of the FIDECOOP, as designated by the Board of Directors of such insurer, who is to hold office until the expiration date of the term of the insurer represented at the Board of the FIDECOOP, upon which expiration, the latter insurer shall be succeeded by the Executive President or the Chair of the Board of Directors of the former cooperative insurer. Subsequently, the representative for the insurance sector shall hold office for a term of two (2) years and such office shall be alternated between both cooperative insurers so that no insurer is simultaneously represented at the Governing Board and the Board of the FIDECOOP. In the event that new cooperative insurers were to be organized, their designees shall assume alternate representation at the Board. Should a vacancy arise in the representation of cooperative insurers, the Board of Directors of the corresponding insurer shall be immediately notified in order for a substitute to be designated pursuant to the requirements of this chapter.
(g) As of the date of effectiveness of this act, the first representative office at the Governing Board of the Commission for cooperative savings and credit unions corresponding to members of the Board of Directors, shall be held by the person who is holding office at that time as Vice-president of the National Savings and Credit Sector Commission organized by the Cooperative League under its general regulations. In order to spread out the expiration of terms in staggered intervals, such representative shall hold office for a term of two (2) years, until his/her successor is elected pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section. On the other hand, the first representative office at the Governing Board of the Commission for cooperative savings and credit unions corresponding as of the date of effectiveness of this act to Executive Presidents, shall be held by the person who is holding office at that time as President of the National Savings and Credit Sector Commission organized by the Cooperative League under its general regulations. Such representative shall hold office for a term of three (3) years, until his/her successor is elected pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section.
(h) As of the date of effectiveness of this act, the first representative office at the Governing Board of the Commission for diverse cooperatives shall correspond to the person who is holding office at that time as the President of the National Housing Sector Commission organized by the Cooperative League under its general regulations. Such representative shall hold office for a term of three (3) years, until his/her successor is elected pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this chapter.
History —Aug. 10, 2008, No. 247, § 11, eff. Feb. 1, 2009.