2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-THREE - Public Planning and Development (§§ 1 — 11273) › PART II - Economic Development (§§ 231-241 — 695i) › Chapter 45 - Science, Technology and Research Trust (§§ 695 — 695i) › § 695c - Council of Trustees—Rights, powers and duties

(a) The Council of Trustees shall have all those powers and faculties that are expressly conferred upon the trustees in the deed of trust, subject to §§ 2541—2581 of Title 31, including the power to sue and be sued as trustees as representatives of the Trust. The deed of trust shall provide the powers and duties of the Council of Trustees, which shall include, among others, the following:
(1) Act as the governing body of the Trust.
(2) Establish the general policy of the Trust to fulfill the objectives of this chapter.
(3) Draft a Strategic Plan that shall be revised and updated every five (5) years.
(4) Authorize the work plan and the annual budget of the Trust.
(5) Appoint an Executive Director, establish his/her duties and powers in harmony with the provisions of this chapter and fix his/her compensation; Provided, That the Executive Director shall be the only officer directly compensated by the Trust; and that every officer or member of the personnel shall be compensated from the annual apportionments which the (2) two entities authorized to establish the Trust shall contribute pursuant to the reports foreseen for the year.
(6) Draft, adopt, amend and repeal the rules and regulations that govern its internal operations as well as those needed to govern its activities and those of the Trust and fulfill its responsibilities and duties.
(7) Determine the eligibility of the benefited entities and of the projects or initiatives to be financed with the funds of the Trust.
(8) Authorize the accounting and disbursement of the funds and other administrative operations of the Trust and establish an effective mechanism for auditing and supervising the appropriations, uses and disbursements of the funds of the Trust.
(9) Implement the public policy and the objectives of the Trust pursuant to this chapter.
(10) Determine the programmatic areas and priorities of the Trust and approve the work plans prepared pursuant to this chapter.
(11) Delegate on any agency of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico the execution of measures, plans and projects of the Trust approved by the Council of Trustees pursuant to this chapter.
(12) Contract, establish agreements and alliances with public or private juridical persons or entities needed to properly fulfill the responsibilities provided in this chapter.
(13) Acquire personal and real property in any legitimate way, including by concession, gift, purchase, legacy or donation and possess and exercise all property rights over these, as well as the power to dispose of them.
(14) Obtain money on loan and issue notes, bonds and any other evidence of debt of the Trust in order to provide funds to defray the operating costs of the Trust, make investments or provide financial assistance to the projects of the Trust, pay the costs for acquiring any property for the Trust, fulfill any of its goals, refinance, pay and redeem any of its notes, bonds or other obligations. The Trust may guarantee the payment of its notes, bonds and all and any its obligations through cession, assignment, mortgage or any other encumbrance on all or any of its contracts, revenues or properties; be able to negotiate and execute with any entity finance contracts, notes in evidence of debt and all those other instruments, agreements and obligations of any nature that may be necessary or convenient to exercise the powers and functions conferred upon the Trust; Provided, That regarding any issue of debt of the Trust, the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico shall act as fiscal agent, as provided by §§ 581—595 of Title 7.
(15) Provide financing and make investments or donations under the terms and conditions deemed suitable for Trust projects.
(16) Provide economic assistance or of any other kind to Government agencies and instrumentalities and private entities in order to foster and defray the cost for the development of science, technology and/or research projects and infrastructure.
(17) Receive managerial, technical, administrative assistance and enter into contracts for that purpose.
(18) Invest its funds, as authorized by resolution of the Board, subject to any restriction and limitation, pursuant to the provisions of §§ 1261—1263 of Title 7.
(19) Negotiate and execute with any person, including any federal or Commonwealth government agency, any type of contract and all those instruments and agreements necessary or convenient to exercise the powers and functions conferred to the Trust under this chapter.
(20) Create, at its discretion, advisory councils to provide the Trust with specialized technical and scientific advise and provide for the organization and operation of the same.
(21) Use the moneys of the Trust provided said use is in harmony with the purposes of this chapter.
(22) Formulate periodically and in coordination with the Executive Director of the Industrial Development Company the policy for the investment of the resources of the Economic Development Special Fund, it being understood, however, that the authority of the Company over the management of the moneys of the Special Funds not transferred to the Trust remains unaltered.
(23) Exercise all powers inherent to the functions, prerogatives and responsibilities conferred by this chapter and exercise all those other powers conferred by the deed of trust.
(b) The Council of Trustees shall establish through regulations the criteria to be used to disburse the moneys of the Trust.
(c) The Council of Trustees shall have the discretionary power to choose the investment or financing mechanisms that it will use to promote all research and development in the fields of science and technology in Puerto Rico, including loans, gifts, donations or investment mechanisms or any combination of these.
History —Aug. 18, 2004, No. 214, § 5.