The office of Adjutant General of Puerto Rico is hereby created with a rank not lower than Division General, who shall hold office at the will of the Commander-in-Chief and until his successor is appointed. The Adjutant General shall fulfill the following requirements and shall discharge the following functions:
(a) Be a citizen of the United States of America and must have lived in Puerto Rico for at least one year prior to his appointment. Shall be an officer who has or may have had the corresponding federal acknowledgement as officer of the Armed Forces of the United States, shall be in the service of, or shall have served in the National Guard of Puerto Rico at least for a term of not less than five (5) years and shall have reached the grade of Lieutenant Colonel or its equivalent rank.
(b) Exercise the supervision and direct command of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico and as such shall have under his charge the organization, administration, direction, supervision, training, provisioning, operations and discipline of such Military Forces of Puerto Rico and shall be empowered to appoint the personnel necessary for the administration and service of same.
(c) Be responsible for carrying out such inspections as may be necessary of military installations located in Puerto Rico, and of the properties, books and records of the different military units.
(d) Prepare the reports for the United States Department of Defense on the dates and in the manner that the Secretary of Defense of the United States may, from time to time, prescribe.
(e) Keep and administer all the funds appropriated and shall be in charge of all the property entrusted to the Military Forces of Puerto Rico and shall render an annual report of such funds and property to the Commander-in-Chief. The said report shall also show the strength of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico, the state of its military training and discipline and its condition as to provision of uniforms and necessary equipment for the compliance of any mission that may be entrusted to them.
(f) Make [an] annual estimate of funds required for the operation of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico, pointing out all such funds furnished by the Government of the United States for the operation of the National Guard of Puerto Rico.
(g) Promulgate, in the name of the Commander-in-Chief, orders, directives and regulations to maintain the Military Forces of Puerto Rico duly trained, disciplined, uniformed and equipped at all times.
(h) See to the compliance of all orders issued by the Commander-in-Chief related to the Military Forces of Puerto Rico.
(i) Adopt and keep flags for the land, air and naval forces and an official seal for the National Guard of Puerto Rico which shall be used on all correspondence originating therein.
(j) Preserve the military archives and museums of Puerto Rico.
(k) Perform such other functions prescribed by the Commander-in-Chief and by the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(1) He may hire the services of employees and officers of the National Guard of Puerto Rico or of any other agency, instrumentality, dependency, public institution or political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico with the previous written consent of the head of the said government organizations for which the employee or officer is rendering his services and he may pay to them their due compensation for the additional services they render to the National Guard outside the regular hours of service they render as public servants, without being subject to the provisions of § 551 of Title 3 or to any other law.
(l) Shall appoint every Commonwealth official or employee of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico. Said officials and employees shall be within the exempt service. Every official or Commonwealth civilian employee of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico shall be excluded from all bargaining units for purposes of collective bargaining certified by the Public Service Labor Relations Commission.
(m) Shall provide, through regulations to the effect, the norms for the appointments, discipline, severance and general administration of personnel of the commonwealth officials and employees of the Military Forces of Puerto Rico. Said regulations shall further establish the procedure for any such official or employee to appeal, within the due process of law, from any administrative action adverse or prejudicial to him.
(n) Shall notify the Governor of Puerto Rico, the Legislature, the Department of Justice and the Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico, and shall remit a copy of the final federal report resulting from an investigation issued by the U.S. Department of Defense or any other federal agency regarding noncompliance of laws, regulations or instructions by the Puerto Rico National Guard or the Adjutant General of Puerto Rico.
History —June 23, 1969, No. 62, p. 117, § 208; Apr. 21, 1970, No. 16, p. 36; May 19, 1976, No. 44, p. 117, § 2; Sept. 29, 2007, No. 135, § 1; Aug. 24, 2012, No. 206, § 2.