What each agency does for people with disabilities

It is, above all, a transparency law. Its most useful article requires every agency that already reports to the Governor or the Legislative Assembly to include a chapter on what it does for people with disabilities, to say under which legal norm it does so, to publish it on its website, and — this is the part that makes it usable — to state in the report if it does nothing. It also creates one concrete programme: Adapted Sport, at the Department of Recreation and Sports.

The Act creates no benefit to apply for, so there is no requirement to meet. The duty to report falls on “all Agencies and Instrumentalities of the Government of Puerto Rico obliged to report periodically to the Governor or the Legislative Assembly.” The Adapted Sport Programme, per the text, shall give access “to all persons with disabilities and special needs to recreate and play sports”; the Act publishes no admission criteria or ages.

Information pending verification.

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: The agency must publish it on its website

   This is the article you can use. Article 10 provides that all agencies and instrumentalities obliged to report periodically to the Governor or the Legislative Assembly “shall include in those reports a chapter on the implementation, results and effectiveness of all programmes, benefits, services and activities available in their respective Agencies and Instrumentalities for the population of persons with disabilities.” And it adds publication: “The foregoing information shall be made available for public scrutiny through the corresponding Agency’s or Instrumentality’s website.”

2. 2

   Step 2: And if it does nothing, it must say that too

   It is the sentence that closes the easy exit, which is why we quote it separately: “Should any public Agency or Instrumentality not carry out activities, services, programmes or benefits directed at the population of persons with disabilities, they shall so state in those reports.” Silence is not a written option: either there is a chapter with programmes, or there is a statement that there are none.

3. 3

   Step 3: They must say under which law they do it

   The same Article 10 asks for more than a list of activities: “They shall also state the legal or regulatory norms obliging them to carry out those programmes, benefits, services and activities in favour of persons with disabilities.” That turns the report into a map of obligations, not merely of good intentions.

4. 4

   Step 4: The duty to orient you, at each responsible agency

   Article 9 lists the duties of the agency heads in charge, and the first runs directly to you: “to provide orientation to the general public and to persons with disabilities about the services covered by the various programmes and initiatives.” The same article requires them “to follow up and give continuity to the administrative steps taken to advance and implement the corresponding programmes and initiatives.”

5. 5

   Step 5: Who is responsible, by title

   Knowing whose job it is is half the work, and Article 9 names them: the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, the Secretary of the Department of Health, the Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Public Works, the Secretary of the Department of Housing, the Secretary of the Department of Recreation and Sports, the Administrator of the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration, the Executive Director of the Health Insurance Administration of Puerto Rico and the Administrator of the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration. The Act clarifies those duties are “without this being understood as a limitation.”

6. 6

   Step 6: The Adapted Sport Programme

   It is the only thing this Act newly creates, which is why we separate it from the rest. Article 8 “creates the ‘Adapted Sport Programme’ attached to the Department of Recreation and Sports,” and describes its purpose: to develop “physical activity initiatives that tend to break the barriers and attitudes affecting the ability of persons with disabilities to become physically active.” It adds that “Through the Programme access shall be given to all persons with disabilities and special needs to recreate and play sports,” with a “multidimensional model of education, health, recreation, physical activity and sport.” The Act publishes no place or time to enrol, and we do not invent them.

7. 7

   Step 7: What the other articles do and do not do

   We would rather tell you than have you discover it by reading. Articles 4 to 7 charge the Secretaries of Health, Transportation, Economic Development and Housing with “taking all necessary actions” or “promoting” and “fostering” improvements in medical assistance, transportation — the Act names the Llame y Viaje programme — training and job placement, and housing projects or modifications. These are charges to agency heads: they set no deadline, no measurable standard, and no procedure you can file. That is why this guide rests on Articles 10 and 8, which do produce something verifiable.

8. 8

   Step 8: The fiscal limit is written into the Act

   We publish this because it explains why an initiative may not exist. Article 9(h) requires agency heads “to ensure that, in implementing the various programmes and initiatives, the provisions of PROMESA, the Certified Fiscal Plan and the Certified Budget are complied with.” And Article 2’s own policy declaration says the Government will provide adequate conditions “to the extent its means, resources and fiscal situation make it feasible.” We did not read PROMESA or the certified plans.

9. 9

   Step 9: The deadlines the Act did set

   There are two and both have passed, which is useful to know when asking. Article 9(g) gave each agency “a term of up to one hundred twenty (120) days from this measure’s approval to issue the regulations” on the organization, functioning and resources of its programmes. Subsection (i) requires all secretaries, administrators and executive directors to issue “a report every one hundred eighty (180) days from this Act’s approval, on the implementation and progress of the programmes,” with a copy to the Secretary of State’s Office and the presidents of each legislative chamber.

There is no single counter: this Act distributes charges among eight agency heads and creates one programme at the Department of Recreation and Sports. The report with the disability chapter should be on each agency’s website, per Article 10. If what you want is an office that investigates and adjudicates a rights complaint, that is the Office for the Defence of Persons with Disabilities and it has its own guide; if you want legal representation, the Protection and Advocacy Office, also with its own guide.

• Expecting this Act to give you a benefit to apply for: it distributes charges among agencies and creates one programme; it creates no citizen procedure.
• Accepting an agency saying it has no information: Article 10 requires it to publish the chapter on its website, and to state if it has no programmes.
• Asking only for the list of activities: the Act also requires stating the legal or regulatory norms that demand them.
• Looking for the Adapted Sport Programme at Health: it is attached to the Department of Recreation and Sports.
• Believing Articles 4 to 7 create enforceable rights: they are charges to agency heads, with no deadline or standard.
• Ignoring the fiscal limit: the Act subordinates implementation to PROMESA, the Certified Fiscal Plan and the Certified Budget.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Portal de Servicios del Gobierno de Puerto Rico (PR.gov)

  PR.gov

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov