A public corporation and instrumentality of the Commonwealth is hereby created, attached to the National Guard of Puerto Rico, which constitutes an independent corporate body to be known as the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust, to be the owner and administrator of the real property and other property in which the concessionaire who operates the post exchanges conducts his commercial enterprise; which from time to time are transferred to it by the Adjutant General of Puerto Rico; as well as to provide assistance and benefits to the Puerto Rico National Guard, its members, spouses and descendants, and to administer the annuities, education and repairs funds, and which shall exercise its powers independently. The powers of the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust shall be exercised by a Board of Directors, which shall be composed of seven (7) members.
Three (3) of the components of the Board of Directors shall be members ex officio. The Adjutant General of Puerto Rico shall be its president, the President of the Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico, who will be its vice-president, and the Secretary of Justice, or those [whom] these public servants appoint, who must have the capacity, knowledge and decisional power to effectively represent the executive public servant that they replace. Those appointed shall report directly to the Agency Chief, who in his turn, shall be responsible for the determinations that are taken by the Board.
The remaining directors shall be appointed by the Governor for a four (4) year term. Of these, three (3) shall be from the Military Forces of Puerto Rico, at the suggestion of the Adjutant General, and the other shall be a representative of the community.
The person who fills a vacancy in the appointments referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be appointed in the same manner specified therein.
The Board may elect the officials that it deems necessary or convenient to carry out the public purposes for which the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust is created, and in the case of those officials who are not officers nor public employees, it shall establish their remuneration and other pertinent benefits.
The members of the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust Board shall not receive any compensation for their services as such. However, the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust shall reimburse the members of the Board of Directors who are not public officials or employees, the necessary expenses incurred while performing their duties.
Four (4) members of the Board shall constitute quorum and the affirmative vote of at least three (3) of the members present shall be necessary for any action taken by the Board, with the exception of adjournment. No absence or vacancy among the members of the Board shall prevent that [sic] the same, once there is a quorum, shall exercise all its rights and perform all its duties.
The Board and its individual directors and the officials, agents or employees of the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust shall not incur civil liability for any action taken in good faith in the performance of their duties and responsibilities, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, and shall be compensated for all costs incurred with respect to any claim for which they enjoy immunity pursuant to what is provided herein. The Board and its individual directors, and the officials, agents or employees of the Puerto Rico National Guard Institutional Trust shall be fully compensated for any civil liability adjudicated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the laws of the United States of America, provided their actions and decisions have been made in good faith within the scope of their functions.
History —July 23, 1991, No. 23, § 4; Jan. 1, 2003, No. 8, § 1.