Community Driven Recovery for Puerto Rico Act

Two members to represent the municipalities of Puerto Rico, selected by the 78 Mayors of Puerto Rico in an election held during a general assembly of Mayors. Each Mayor shall nominate a resident of their municipality to participate as a candidate for representative to the civil society task force. Candidates should be of legal age and should not be employed by the government.

Four members to represent the organized low-moderate income communities, selected in an election held during a general assembly of eligible community leaders. Eligible community leaders shall have been the elected representatives of their official community Board as shown by certification from that Board.

Two members to represent community based non-profit organizations, selected in an election held during a general assembly of eligible non-profit organizations. Eligible non-profit organizations must be registered as such in the Puerto Rico State Department, be exempt from local or federal taxes, and provide socioeconomic services directly to communities, including social services, education, health, economic development, housing, environment, culture and arts. Educational institutions, such as private schools, universities or other post-secondary education organizations, or hospitals that are not small community health providers are not eligible to participate in the general assembly of non-profit organizations.

One member to represent the foundation and philanthropic sector, selected in an election held during a general assembly of eligible non-profit philanthropic foundations. Eligible philanthropic foundations must be registered as such in the Puerto Rico State Department, and concentrate their efforts in offering grants, donations and financial support to other service providers.

One member to represent the business sector, selected in an election held during a general assembly convened by the principal business organizations of Puerto Rico, including the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, Cooperative Executives Association (Asociación de Ejecutivos de Cooperativas), Centro Unido de Detallistas, Entrepreneurs for Puerto Rico (Empresarios por Puerto Rico), the Public Accountant Bar (Colegio de Contadores Públicos Autorizados) and the Economist Association of Puerto Rico (Asociación de Economistas de Puerto Rico).

One member to represent labor unions, selected through an election held during a general assembly of eligible unions in Puerto Rico. An eligible union must be recognized as such by the Department of Labor.

Two members to represent higher academic institutions, colleges and universities in Puerto Rico, one selected by the University of Puerto Rico, and another selected in an election held during a general assembly of eligible private higher education institutions. Eligible private higher education institution must be recognized as such by the Puerto Rico State Department Board of Postsecondary Institutions.

Timely and effective notification of participants in each general assembly.

Verification of participant eligibility in each general assembly.

Procedures for holding elections to determine each group’s representative to the Civil Society Task Force.

Uniform standards for quorum and necessary parliamentary mechanisms to guarantee a fair general assembly and election process for all eligible participants.

Best practices for encouraging gender parity in the selection process.

the Mayors of Puerto Rico, in the case of members described in paragraph (2)(A); and

the assembly of the sector that selected the member, in the case of members described in subparagraphs (B) through (G) of paragraph (2).

one year; and

subsequent one year terms, if the Civil Society Task Force Representative is renominated by unanimous vote of the Task Force.

have substantial knowledge and expertise in post-disaster planning, including establishing credible and transparent governance structures;

be fluent in both English and Spanish languages;

have demonstrated expertise and experience in Federal and local disaster recovery policy, resilience planning, socio-economic development, environmental justice, rights-based policies to address poverty and inequality, or a combination of those fields;

not currently provide goods or services to the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the preceding calendar year;

not be the spouse, parent, child, or sibling of a person who provides or has provided goods and services to the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the preceding calendar year; and

not be an officer, employee of, or former officer or employee of the government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the preceding 3 calendar years.

Promote collaboration between Federal agencies, the central Government of Puerto Rico, local municipal governments, nonprofit organizations, local businesses, and other civil society groups involved in the recovery process and to ensure that people with disabilities and elderly populations are prioritized and able to participate in the planning and implementation process.

Through the Civil Society Task Force Representatives, initiate regional, collaborative actions for mitigation, adaptation and disaster risk recovery and oversee agencies and institutions to ensure that they undertake proper stakeholder analysis for effective public participation.

With the assistance of the Civil Society Task Force Representatives, review, assess, and oversee the operation of the programs funded with Federal funds to ensure that policies and recovery and development project prioritization and implementation—

Propose ways in which the canalization of Federal funds can be agile.

Identify problems of accountability and transparency that should be solved by each agency.

Review the data used and produced by the programs and make sure that data is available for public review.

With the assistance of the Civil Society Task Force Representatives, provide information to the public about the progress of programs in addressing the needs of resilient recovery.

With the assistance of the Civil Society Task Force Representatives—

Monitor that recovery actions and programs do not violate human rights, especially those of the most vulnerable populations.

Facilitate cooperation between community organizations and experts in Puerto Rico to build a base of local knowledge and best practices for disaster preparedness, relief, recovery and reconstruction; enhance local capacity to carry out Federal contracts in those areas; and establish processes within Federal agencies to ensure that Federal contracts benefit local organizations, firms, and individuals.

Produce and publish impact dashboards with the reports required under paragraph (4)(A).

Contract and consult with local scientists, professionals and nonprofits whenever possible and justify any contract with an organization, firm, or individual based outside of Puerto Rico in writing in the contract file.

work within their agency to develop work plans and execute the duties of the Task Force, as outlined above;

serve as special advisors to the Executive Directors of their agency to oversee processes in which priorities are identified, criteria established, final documentation is produced for submission to the Federal agencies for release of funds and to attend to any concern about transparency and accountability in contracting, among other possible duties within their responsibilities before the Task Force;

ensure that policies and guidelines are in place to protect against discrimination and displacement, and guarantee the right to housing and other lifelines to low-, moderate-income and vulnerable communities;

serve as special advisors to the top official responsible for Puerto Rico funding to oversee processes of creation and implementation of policies that ensure effective public participation and equitable recovery and development; that the requests made by local agencies are expeditiously processed; attend to any concern about transparency and accountability in contracting, among other possible duties within their responsibilities before the Task Force; and

meet with the Task Force at least on a monthly basis, and provide reports as outlined in this article, in subsection (e)(3)(A).

Adopt internal policies and regulations for the proper operations and execution of the obligations of the Office, including the selection of the Chairman of the Task Force, who will be the leader and spokesperson of the Office.

Designate and hire the necessary personnel to carry out the duties of the Office. Such personnel shall be duly qualified, with no conflicts of interest. Outside consultants and businesses may be designated or hired only if all the documentation regarding such hiring, compensation, and evaluation is publicly available on the website of the Task Force. Local firms and professionals shall be given priority and the economic impact hiring such firm and professionals will have on the economy of Puerto Rico will be a positive factor during any hiring decisions. Hiring of businesses with less than 5 full time employees based in Puerto Rico should be explained with the explanation available to the public.

Develop, review, and implement an annual budget and an operational plan for the Task Force.

Request, when appropriate, technical support from any public institution, including the University of Puerto Rico, or other organizations.

Hold meetings not less than once a month and special meetings upon the request of 5 or more members of the Task Force.

Access the information necessary to discharge its duties. If Federal or local agencies do not comply with a request for information within 30 days after a request for that information, the Task Force shall have standing to seek and obtain judicial intervention. The following information should be proactively disclosed in a machine-readable format to enable proper monitoring and oversight of recovery funds:

File reports before local or Federal Governments, as required in this Act and to fulfill its duties.

Propose rules and policies relating to promoting the principles listed in section 1(5).

Order monitoring and auditing processes.

Have primary jurisdiction to intervene, have knowledge of, and conduct, on the initiative of the Task Force, any investigation on any matter or dispute relating to the principles and its duties under this Act.

Request specific actions from agency directors relating to the Task Force duties.

Advocate for strong administrative oversight and have standing to undertake administrative or judicial review processes as needed.