2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE ELEVEN - Workmen’s Compensation (§§ 1 — 268) › Chapter 1 - Workmen’s Accident Compensation (§§ 1 — 42) › § 1b-2 - State Insurance Fund Corporation—Board of Directors

(a) Appointment and composition of the Board.— The Governing Board shall be composed of seven (7) members, of which three (3) shall be ex officio members; one (1) shall be a doctor of medicine; one (1) shall be a lawyer with at least seven (7) years of experience practicing the profession in Puerto Rico; one (1) shall be a public employee in the career service or a non-exempt employee of the private sector; and one (1) shall be a natural person who is an employer with at least fifteen (15) employees or the director and shareholder of a corporation with at least fifteen (15) employees. The three (3) ex officio members shall be the Insurance Commissioner, who is a person with broad technical competence in the field of insurance, the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Human Resources, and the Secretary of Health. The Governor shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the two (2) professional members, that is, the doctor of medicine and the lawyer with at least seven (7) years of experience practicing in Puerto Rico, as well as the member who is a public or private sector employee. The member who is an employer with at least fifteen (15) employees, or who is a director and shareholder of a corporation with at least fifteen (15) employees, shall be selected in an election to be supervised by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DACO, Spanish acronym) to be held in accordance with the procedures set forth in this section. The State Insurance Fund Corporation shall provide the financial resources and the facilities to hold the election.
The term of appointment or election of the seven (7) members shall be four (4) years or until their successors take office. One (1) of the seven (7) members shall be designated as Chairperson by the Governor.
Board vacancies due to resignation, dismissal, physical or mental disability, or death shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term of the original appointment.
All members of the Board shall be legal residents of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and shall be subject to the provisions of the Puerto Rico Government Ethics Act of 2011, §§ 1854 et seq. of Title 3.
Four (4) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum.
The members of the Board shall discharge their functions without compensation, but they shall be reimbursed for any special expense incurred in the fulfillment of their duties.
The Governing Board shall appoint a Secretary from among its members.
The Governor, on his own motion or by recommendation of the Board, may remove any board member for just cause, upon the filing of charges and the opportunity to be heard. The Board shall establish the mechanisms to evaluate the performance of its members through regulations.
No person may become a member of the Board (including the employer who is an elected member) if he: (i) is an employee, retired employee, or has a substantial financial interest, directly or indirectly, in any private company with whom the Corporation has any contracts or with whom it engages in transactions of any kind; (ii) within the (2) years before holding office, has had a business relationship with or any interest in any private company with whom the Corporation has any contract or with whom it engages in transactions of any kind; (iii) has been a member of the central or local governing body of a political party registered in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico during the year immediately preceding his appointment; (iv) is an employee, member, advisor, or contractor of the Corporation’s labor unions; (v) has failed to provide the certification of having filed tax returns during the five (5) preceding taxable years, the No Debt Certification issued by the Department of the Treasury, the Criminal Record issued by the Puerto Rico Police, as well as negative certifications from the Child Support Administration (ASUME, Spanish acronym), and the Municipal Revenue Collection Center (CRIM, Spanish acronym).
(b) Election of the member who is an employer with at least fifteen (15) employees, or who is the director and shareholder of a corporation with at least fifteen (15) employees:
(1) DACO shall approve regulations to implement the election procedure established in this subsection.
(2) On or before sixty (60) days after a vacancy arises in the Governing Board, the Secretary of DACO shall issue a notice of elections specifying the necessary requirements to be met to be nominated as a candidate. The notice must be published by means of media advertisements on the State Insurance Fund Corporation webpage, and sent by regular mail to all employers insured with this public corporation, together with a Request for Nomination form. In said form, any person who wishes to be nominated as a candidate shall state, under oath, his name, personal circumstances, street address, mailing address, telephone number, place of work, profession, and policy number. The request for nomination shall include the signatures of at least twenty-five (25) insured employers who endorse the aspirant’s nomination, as well as their names, addresses, and their State Insurance Fund Corporation policy numbers.
(3) The Secretary of DACO shall include a mechanism to validate endorsements pursuant to the purposes of this section. Likewise, said regulations shall include the requirements to be met by the candidates pursuant to the applicable laws.
(4) On or before the sixty (60) days of having issued, published, and mailed the notice, the Secretary of DACO shall certify as candidates no more than ten (10) aspirants who have submitted the most endorsements, and who met the remaining requirements established in this section, and shall then proceed to design and print the ballots.
(5) Ballots shall be distributed by regular mail to all insured employers of the State Insurance Fund Corporation.
(6) Each of the ten (10) candidates selected shall designate one person to represent him during the process and such ten (10) individuals, together with a representative of the Secretary of DACO, shall compose the Election Committee, which shall be chaired and directed by the representative of the Secretary of DACO.
(7) The Election Committee shall begin the canvassing within ten (10) days after the deadline to receive ballots and notify the results thereof to the Secretary of DACO, who shall certify the candidate-elect and notify such certification to the Governor so he can proceed with the designation.
History —Apr. 18, 1935, No. 45, p. 250, added as § 1B-2 on Oct. 29, 1992, No. 83, Dec. 30, 1997, No. 209, § 1; May 6, 2013, No. 16, § 1.