2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE FOUR - Judiciary (§§ 1-3 — 2166) › PART V - Correction and Parole (§§ 1101 — 1646) › Chapter 87 - Employment and Training Enterprises Corporation (§§ 1521 — 1544) › § 1524 - Corporation—Duties and powers

To achieve the purposes and objectives listed in this chapter, the Corporation, during its effective term and to the extent its resources so allow, shall have the following powers and duties:
(a) Adopt, alter and use a corporate seal of which juridical cognizance shall be made.
(b) Sue and be sued.
(c) Draw up contracts and execute all instruments that are necessary and convenient in the exercise of its powers.
(d) Decide the nature and need of all its expenses and the manner they shall be incurred, authorized and paid.
(e) Render services, technical assistance and the use of its real property and chattels, with or without compensation.
(f) Determine, fix or alter taxes, rentals, and other imposts for the use of the facilities, equipment or services rendered or furnished by the Corporation, whether to public corporations, government agencies, or private enterprises.
(g) Bring civil or criminal suit when necessary or proper.
(h) Exclusively control its properties and activities and establish its own accounting system for the adequate control and registration of all its operations.
(i) Acquire by any legal means, any chattels and real property, corporeal or incorporeal, or any right or interest thereon; retain, keep, use and operate them; and sell or lease such property, to carry out the ends and purposes of this chapter.
(j) Submit to the Office of the Management and Budget the Corporation’s budget petition which specifies the amount of resources needed, its working plan, the use to be given to the funds, and including any other sources of revenue.
(k) Adopt regulations to govern its activities and exercise the powers granted by this chapter.
(l) Identify the skills, abilities and needs of the participants and stimulate their interest in benefiting from the training and entrepreneurial development and employment activities, preferably in the cooperative sphere, that are developed by the Corporation. To do so, the Corporation shall use as input the information that the Corrections Administration and the Juvenile Institutions Administration have on this particular matter and any other data the Puerto Rico Cooperative Development Commission may gather.
(m) Provide for the participants of its programs, to the extent its resources so allow, the most extensive opportunities for acquiring the knowledge and skills that will allow them to perform the functions of gainful employment or devote themselves to an artisanal trade, occupation or work or to a cooperative, commercial, industrial, agricultural or service enterprise, directing these offerings to respond adequately to the demands of the market and to needs of the correctional or the juvenile justice system and offer the training that will provide continued improvement.
(n) Design educational and training offerings in coordination with the Department of Education, the Puerto Rico Cooperative Development Commission or with any other educational body of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, in order to expedite the integration of the participants to the labor market or to devote themselves to a trade or occupation on their own.
(ñ) Provide, on its own, or through other agencies of the government, the municipalities, instrumentalities or public corporations, for profit or nonprofit private persons or entities, such gainful work experiences in technical, occupational, vocational, industrial, service, animal husbandry, agricultural, and artisanal areas, and the establishment of workshops, camps, small businesses, cooperatives, special employee-owned corporations, special partnerships and other initiatives, that channel the participants’ capacity and skills for self-employment; and offer, to the extent possible, advice, and the technical and financial assistance needed to attain the objectives of this chapter.
Efforts shall be coordinated with the Corrections Administration to the extent the resources of this agency allow with the purpose of offering the necessary training and employment in cases of persons sentenced for default on child support payment or punished by community services for a misdemeanor conviction who so request, so as to enable such person to obtain resources for the payment of child support.
(o) Organize, establish and operate its activities within the premises of the facilities, classrooms, workshops, camps, farms, schools or institutions of any other nature that the Correctional Administration and the Juvenile Institutions Administration operate directly or sponsor, or in any other place that is convenient or adequate, whether it belongs to a for profit or nonprofit public or private person or entity. In order to ensure compliance with the institutional safety standards, the Corporation shall observe and give priority attention to such norms, conditions and requirements related to these matters that the Correctional Administration and the Juvenile Institutions Administration may establish.
(p) Coordinate its activities with public agencies, corporations or instrumentalities, municipalities, for profit or nonprofit public or private persons or entities, by contracts or collaboration agreements, and promote the review of any order, requirement, regulations or norm of the Correctional Administration or the Juvenile Institutions Administration, or of any other government or private entity which prevents or hinders the access of the participant to any activity that is consistent with the objectives of this chapter.
(q) Expedite the placing of the participants of the Corporation’s programs in gainful employment available in the community, by using government or private occupational information systems or keeping an updated registry of the participants that are eligible for these jobs, and of the available employment and training opportunities.
(r) Receive, solicit and accept gifts and contributions of money, goods, services or others, of the Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the federal government, or private sources, to carry out the purposes of this chapter under the conditions established by law, regulations, or applicable agreements or contracts. To do so, it may sponsor projects originated under federal or state laws, and acts as a delegating or delegatory agency and supervise the use of the funds thus acquired, unless otherwise provided by laws, regulations, agreements or contracts.
(s) Manufacture for the Department of Transportation and Public Works and any other public or private entity concerned, the license plates to be used on any motor vehicle or trailer.
(t) Perform all incidental acts that are necessary and convenient to implement the powers conferred by this chapter or any act in effect in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Any action, activity, or program that it carries out for the participants to achieve the objective of obtaining abilities and skills pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, shall be coordinated and articulated normatively and programmatically with the Occupational-Technological Education Council as provided in § 1585 of Title 18.
History —Aug. 6, 1991, No. 47, § 5; July 31, 1992, No. 43, § 4; June 27, 2003, No. 150, § 2; Sept. 28, 2007, No. 133, § 3; Oct. 7, 2009, No. 118, § 1; Dec. 29, 2009, No. 205, § 1.