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) › § 632 - Governing Board—Powers, duties, and functions

The Governing Board of the Commission shall be responsible for outlining, promoting, coordinating, and overseeing the execution and implementation of the public policy on the development and advancement of the Cooperative Movement in Puerto Rico. As such, the Board shall be the government body in charge of planning, investigation, promotion, organization, and coordination, under an integrative approach, of government activities in connection under the cooperative and similar models. The Boards of the attached entities shall retain their operational autonomy. The Governing Board shall give notice of any action that contravenes this public policy for the attached entity in question to be heard and to take the pertinent action.
The mission of the Commission predicates on the following premises and objectives:
(a) To advance the public policy provided for in this chapter through concrete administrative measures and strategies that will yield measurable results.
(b) To coordinate and integrate the policies and operations of attached entities.
(c) To coordinate, together with the Cooperative Movement, the implementation of measures that enable an increasingly active role of the cooperative sector in its own development and in the socioeconomic endeavors of the Island, thus progressively phasing out its dependency on government actions.
(d) To develop an effective, efficient, and competitive entrepreneurial vision to better serve its client members and their communities.
(e) To see that the actions and determinations of attached entities are consistent with this public policy that seeks Cooperative Development.
(f) To receive and comment on the proposals for the adoption, amendment or repeal of regulations, circular letters, or statements of public policies of the attached entities. Before such entities publish any proposals for the adoption, amendment or repeal of regulations, circular letters or statements of public policy under their respective jurisdictions, such attached entities shall give the Governing Board notice thereof for recommendations by the latter. The Governing Board of the Commission may propose and promote, on its own, any such rules, norms, and policies to attached entities, as well as request that such entities draft proposals, rules, norms, and policies pursuant to the policies and plans that the Governing Board wishes to outline and advance.
(g) To prepare and submit each year to the Office of Management and Budget, its budgetary petition to the General Fund. The budgets of the attached entities shall be kept separate, but these shall be consistent with the policies and plans outlined by the Governing Board of the Commission. The Commonwealth shall respect at all times the integrity and autonomy of the resources of attached entities, which may only be used for the purposes provided for in their respective organic acts and in this chapter, as well as for the advancement of the policies and objectives set forth by the Governing Board. Each year, the attached entities shall submit to the Governing Board of the Commission, their respective budget proposals, in order to ensure compliance with these norms.
(h) The Governing Board shall publish each year, not later than August 30 of each year, a comprehensive and integrated report on public policy, development plans, and results of the Commission, including its attached entities, to the Governor, the Legislature of Puerto Rico, and the Cooperative Movement. Attached entities shall disclose their yearly report on their efforts for the year and the financial results of their operations to cooperative associations and to the Governing Board. Provided, That the Governing Board shall make such reports available through any media as necessary, including electronic media.
(i) To recommend to the Legislature any changes in the organization of the Commission which would entail the modification, merging, abrogation, or transfer of functions, programs, and agencies under its jurisdiction. Provided, That any changes in the organization of the Commission shall only be carried out as per provision of law, pursuant to the authority conferred onto the Legislature by virtue of Article VI, Section 6 of the Constitution of Puerto Rico.
(j) To develop and implement the policies, plans, and procedures that shall apply in general terms to the Commission, including attached entities.
(k) To create any advisory committees as necessary for the proper operation of the Commission and its attached entities.
(l) To approve integration and coordination rules to govern the operations of attached entities pursuant to the laws that create such entities and this chapter.
(m) To define by regulations the parameters to be met and kept by cooperative entities in order to qualify to be chartered as such.
(n) To adjudicate conflicts arising between the operating policy of attached entities and the public policy of Cooperative Movement development, as provided further below.
(o) To define, through regulations, the public policy relative to the organization and operation of bodies of the Cooperative Movement proper as these may be created to operate as self-regulatory entities. Provided, That such policy is to be implemented by the Corporation under the supervision of the Governing Board.
(p) To discharge the responsibilities conferred onto the Administrator of Cooperative Development as provided for in §§ 1701 et seq. of Title 18, known as the “Special Act for Youth Cooperatives”, and to harness, together with attached entities and in an integrative manner, the development of youth cooperatives.
(q) To support and assist in the formation, organization, and incorporation processes of cooperative enterprises, providing informational guidance on the cooperative model and the foundational cooperative principles, so as to afford continuity to the functions discharged to the present by the Cooperative Development Administration. Such functions may be delegated onto and coordinated with first-, second-, and third-degree cooperatives pursuant to such policies, plans, and rules as the Governing Board may adopt for such purposes.
History —Aug. 10, 2008, No. 247, § 9, eff. Feb. 1, 2009.