2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 110 - Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Employee Association Act of 2013 (§§ 9001 — 9052) › § 9004 - Powers and authorities of the Association

The Association shall have all powers that are convenient and necessary to achieve its purposes including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) To grant personal loans to members that contribute to the Savings and Loan Fund at the interest rate approved by the Assembly of Delegates, which shall not exceed seven percent (7%) per annum, with such security and margin, and under such amortization terms as established by regulations. Furthermore, the Association is hereby empowered to grant mortgage loans in accordance with the rules and requirements of the secondary mortgage markets of the United States of America and Puerto Rico, and the applicable federal and local laws, always seeking the best possible financing options for its members. The Association and the retirement systems sponsored by the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico are hereby empowered to deduct from the savings and contributions of any employee who permanently separates from service for any reason, any sum owed by such employee to the Association. Moreover, all public employee retirement systems are hereby authorized to deduct from pensions the monthly installments of any loan granted. In the event an employee has an outstanding debt with the Association and any retirement system, the savings and contributions that such employee may have in each body shall be used, firstly, to meet any unpaid obligations incurred with the respective body. Should the savings and contributions exceed the total amount of said obligations, the balance shall be used to meet any obligations incurred by the employee with the Association or retirement system, as the case may be.
(b) To establish a security fund for personal loans by imposing and collecting a surcharge to be fixed annually on loans. An annual reserve shall be set aside in this fund, as deemed to be reasonable, and any balance shall be strictly used for purposes consistent with the ends and purposes of the Association.
(c) To seek the individual and collective betterment and progress of its membership at all levels.
(d) To draw up and approve the annual budget of the Association. The operating budget of the Association shall not exceed twenty-five percent (25%) of the total income earned in the preceding fiscal year.
(e) To approve annual financial statements and set aside, for reserve funds, any amounts as are necessary to ensure the proper operations and financial stability of the institution.
(f) To approve, amend, or repeal the bylaws of the Association.
(g) To appoint and delegate to the Executive Director of the Association, any functions as are necessary to ensure the proper operations and financial stability of the institution in accordance with the purposes of this Act. The Executive Director, who shall be the executive officer of the Association, shall be appointed by the Executive Committee and ratified by the Assembly of Delegates.
(h) To adopt, use, and alter a seal of which judicial notice shall be taken.
(i) To conduct transactions to acquire and own property by any lawful means including, but not limited to, the following: by purchase, option to purchase, purchase in installments, public auction, lease, legacy, bequest, assignment, exchange and donation; to retain, preserve, use and make use of, or utilize any real or personal property including, but not limited to, securities and other personal property or any interest thereon, deemed necessary or convenient to attain the purposes of the Association, when such transactions are fully justified and in the interest of the Association.
(j) To invest and reinvest its liquid assets available for investment in excess of the cash that could be needed for its current operations. This power shall be exercised pursuant to the policy on investment to be approved by the Assembly of Delegates, which shall be consistent with the provisions of this chapter.
(k) To obtain funds on its mortgage loans or equities or any other securities of the Association, or otherwise negotiate with them, including the power to sell or pledge them when convenient, in order to broaden, improve, and extend the services that the Association provides to its members, or the financial situation of the Association. To create, with the approval of the Assembly of Delegates, nonprofit corporations under §§ 3501 et seq. of Title 14, known as the “General Corporations Act”, if the service intended to be provided cannot be integrated into the structure of the Association or if it is convenient to segregate the service it intends to provide. It is hereby provided that all the mechanisms provided herein shall be employed to secure the funds of the Association when creating said corporations. The members of the Board of Directors of these corporations shall be members of the Assembly of Delegates of the Association. The interest accrued by said mortgage loans or equities or any other present or future securities of the Association transferred to third parties to gather funds, as provided herein, shall be exempt from taxation in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(l) To alienate, sell, encumber, exchange, convey, provide option to purchase, sell in installments, lease or otherwise dispose of its property in the regular course of operations. In addition it shall be empowered to donate, in the case of property of the Association that has been removed from inventory or that shall be disposed of for been excess or obsolete property.
(m) To borrow money and guarantee repayment thereof and interest thereon as will best suit the Association. To do so, it may mortgage, pledge, encumber, or otherwise alienate the properties of the Association.
(n) To accept donations and/or contributions from individuals and institutions, and from municipal and Commonwealth governments and the Government of the United States of America, to use and/or match them with funds of the Association in the development of projects or facilities in benefit of its members and the public in general.
(o) To develop special activities, programs, or projects for the benefit of its membership, which may be accessible to the general public insofar as they contribute to achieve its financial stability and it is thus approved by the Assembly of Delegates.
(p) To invest the resources proceeding from the Insurance Funds of the Association, as authorized in the preceding subsection (j) for the investment of the liquid assets available for investment that is not inconsistent with the applicable provisions of §§ 101 et seq. of Title 26, known as the “Insurance Code of Puerto Rico”.
(q) To borrow from any financial institution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the Federal government of the United States of America, or through the direct placement of debt, securing said debt with the assets of the Association. The interest accrued by said obligations shall be exempt from taxation in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(r) To establish all types of trusts with broad powers and authorities to offer members variable or indexed yields investment instruments with mutual funds and supplementary pension plans, among others.
(s) To enter into collaboration agreements with other entities and bodies that promote the social and financial benefit of public employees.
History —Apr. 25, 2013, No. 9, § 5.