House commission hears agency testimony on compliance with Law 219’s 5% hiring requirement for people with disabilities

The House of Representatives’ Commission on Older Adults and Social Welfare held a public hearing on May 5, 2026, to review compliance with Law 219 (2006), which seeks to ensure that agencies include persons with disabilities in public employment. The hearing—called under Resolution Cámara 406—brought testimony from the Administración de Rehabilitación Vocacional (ARV) and representatives of OATH, and included extended questioning by commissioners about data, audits and enforcement.

ARV officials described the agency’s mission and services and said it operates six regions and 21 satellite offices to prepare people with disabilities for the workforce. “Nuestra misión es integrar a las personas con impedimento la fuerza laboral y a una vida más independiente,” ARV testimony said, summarizing the agency’s purpose and program components, which include counseling, evaluation, assistive-technology supports, interpreter services and job-coaching through CAME centers.

Rosa Lugo Cabán, administradora de la ARV, detailed three employment pathways offered by the agency: regular employment, supported employment (with intensive job-coach support that can taper over time and a 90‑day follow-up) and self-employment. She said ARV provides training and employer outreach, and described on-the-job supports that can last up to 18 months for the most significant cases.

ARV also offered placement statistics and internal counts: it reported 4,021 active cases and summarized recent placements—2,279 in fiscal 2024, 2,134 in fiscal 2025 and 2,318 so far in the current fiscal year. The testimony also included a separate reference to an earlier increase figure that appears inconsistent with those numbers, an inconsistency the commission asked agencies to clarify in written follow-up.

Yamil García, director of labor affairs and human resources at ARV, said the agency itself employs 593 people as of April 30, 2026, and that 121 of those employees are identified as persons with disabilities, a proportion the agency described as roughly 20 percent of its workforce. García said the number could be higher because employees are not required to disclose a disability when applying for work.

OATH representatives framed their role as the central HR/audit authority under Law 8 (2017) and said existing regulatory guidance (Reglamento 8868, Dec. 5, 2016) contemplates definitions, audit processes and reporting timelines. “La realidad es que no contamos con esa información,” Javier Flores said when asked whether OATH had a current list of agencies meeting the 5 percent threshold; he asked five days to provide the requested report to the commission.

OATH witnesses and ARV staff told lawmakers that OATH does not currently enforce monetary sanctions for noncompliance because the underlying statute does not expressly grant that power, even though the regulation contemplates fines for delayed reporting. Flores summarized the regulatory gap: the reglamento includes fines (for example, a daily amount for late reports) but OATH said the law does not clearly provide authority to collect those fines.

Lawmakers repeatedly pressed witnesses on monitoring capacity. Both agencies said there is no centralized, real-time platform that tracks compliance across all government agencies and that audits have not been performed consistently in recent years; OATH acknowledged it currently lacks a staffed audit unit to perform continuous monitoring. ARV described employer outreach efforts: in calendar year 2025 its staff reportedly provided orientation to 1,829 employers and the agency said it offers wage incentives (three months of full salary for some non-significant cases and four months in more significant ones) to encourage placements.

Commission members discussed legislative remedies the commission could recommend: clarifying statutory authority to impose or collect sanctions, mandating standardized data reporting or a centralized monitoring platform, and legislatively requiring or funding sensitivity and hiring‑practice training for agency HR staffs. ARV recommended mandatory training and annual monitoring, plus workshops for agencies and municipalities to improve recruitment and accommodation practices.

The hearing concluded with the commission requesting written follow-up. OATH committed to provide the requested listing of agencies and their compliance status within five days; commissioners said they would issue formal letters of requirement to agency heads to secure the missing data. The session was adjourned at 10:33 a.m.

What lawmakers can expect next: the commission will collect the written materials from ARV and OATH, evaluate the agency-supplied listings and consider legislative language to clarify enforcement powers, data reporting and mandated training for public-employer HR units.