2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY - Examining Boards and Professional Colleges (§§ 1 — 6033) › Chapter 85A - Professional Rehabilitation Counselors Association (§§ 2671 — 2684) › § 2684 - Transitional provisions

Within ninety (90) days after the effective date of this act, and for the purpose established in § 2672 of this title, the Puerto Rico Rehabilitation Counselors Association, Inc. (ACER, Spanish acronym) shall appoint a Consultation Committee composed of twelve (12) members, all of whom shall be licensed, certified and recertified rehabilitation counseling professionals in the practice of the Puerto Rico rehabilitation counseling profession of which at least four (4) shall be opposed to compulsory membership and four (4) shall be delegates of the Puerto Rico Rehabilitation Counselors Association, and four (4) shall be [non-member] rehabilitation counselors. The main specializations of rehabilitation counseling shall be represented in this Committee. There shall also be twelve (12) members in representation of the rehabilitation counseling professionals from the different geographical locations throughout the Island. The Board may advise and collaborate in the consultation process.
(a) The main function of the Consultation Committee shall be to hold a consultation through which it shall be decided whether compulsory membership is accepted or not. Said Committee shall give orientations to all the rehabilitation counseling professionals on the purposes and consequences of the consultation, and shall hold same in accordance with this chapter. The Committee shall design and adopt those mechanisms it deems necessary for the consultation and the tally sheets.
(b) Once the Committee is constituted, the Board shall provide it with an updated list of the name, address and license number of each rehabilitation counseling professional authorized to practice the profession in Puerto Rico and compelled, pursuant to this chapter to become a member of the Association, if it is finally constituted.
(c) Within forty-five (45) days as of its constitution, the Consultation Committee shall publish a notice on the holding of the consultation and its purposes. Said notice shall be published on at least two (2) occasions, in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico.
(d) Within sixty (60) days after its constitution, the Consultation Committee shall remit by certified mail with receipt acknowledgement the consultation sheet, with [sic] to all licensed rehabilitation counselors certified as active by the Board which shall returned by regular mail.
(e) To approve compulsory membership in this consultation, the participation of fifty percent (50%) of the licensed rehabilitation counselors certified as active by the Board of Examiners of Rehabilitation Counselors [of] Puerto Rico shall be required. Furthermore, for compulsory membership to be approved, the affirmative vote of fifty percent (50%) of the participating voters shall be required.
(f) Should the result of the consultation herein provided be affirmative, the Consultation Committee shall become a Convocation Committee of the Constitutional Convention of the Puerto Rico Rehabilitation Counselors Association. As such, the Committee shall convoke to a Constitutional Convention within the sixty (60) days following the date on which the affirmative result of the consultation is certified, all rehabilitation counseling professionals who as of said date are entitled to be members of the Association, through the publication of a call for elections concerning this matter in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico. The Constitutional Convention shall be held in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico not before fifteen (15) days following the publication of the call for elections. On that first Constitutional Convention, quorum shall be constituted by fifty percent (50%) of the rehabilitation counseling professionals entitled to membership.
(g) The Committee shall appoint designate [sic] a Credentials Committee to determine the right of those interested in participating in the Constitutional Convention, pursuant to the applicable provisions of § 2677 of this title.
(h) Should the first consultation fail to achieve the required participation percentage and a majority has expressed itself in favor of compulsory membership, the Consultation Committee shall select a new date to begin a second consultation with the same purposes and the minimum participation requirement shall be forty percent (40%) of the licensed rehabilitation counselors certified as active by the Board. Likewise, for the approval of compulsory membership in the second consultation, the affirmative vote of fifty percent (50%) of the participants shall be required. If once again the percentage of participation required herein is not reached, it shall be understood that the rehabilitation counselors reject compulsory membership and that the Consultation Committee shall not be empowered to call for a new consultation for the purposes authorized in this chapter.
(i) The first Board of Directors shall be elected in accordance with the provisions in § 2679(b) of this title. Its initial and main task shall be to draft the bylaws of the Association, which shall be completed no later than six (6) months as of the date on which the Board of Director is constituted.
(j) The Puerto Rico Rehabilitation Counselors Association of Puerto Rico shall defray all expenses incurred by the Consultation Committee in the implementation and execution of the consultation and other duties imposed upon the Convocation Committee by this chapter.
History —Aug. 16, 2006, No. 160, § 14.