House Youth Commission reviews bill to create young volunteer wardens program under DRNA

The Commission on Youth of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico held a public hearing April 25, 2025, in Salón 3 of the Capitol to review Proyecto de la Cámara 414, a bill to create “ley de cuerpo de jóvenes vigilantes voluntarios” — a volunteer program under the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA) to allow people ages 18 to 29 to assist the agency’s vigilantes in protecting and conserving natural resources.

University of Puerto Rico officials told the commission they support the objective of fostering environmental stewardship among youth but recommended integrating the program into existing UPR academic and extension structures rather than creating a new university seminar. “Respetuosamente proponemos considerar una alternativa a la creación de un nuevo seminario universitario,” said Mariel Nieves Hernández, vice president for academic affairs and research at the University of Puerto Rico. UPR staff proposed using INTD internships, Plan COOP, continuing-education modules through the Division of Continuing Education and Professional Studies (DSEP), extension-agriculture workshops and other existing fixtures to award credit or certification for volunteer hours.

UPR representatives raised practical limits tied to the university’s fiscal situation. Mariel Nieves said some short courses and extension-agriculture certificates are offered free, but fully free credit-bearing courses would require a formal funding agreement with DRNA. Edwin Vega, vice president interino for student affairs, and UPR staff said the university can help design curricula and registration systems but needs further details from DRNA about course content and coordination.

DRNA’s subsecretary and commissioner of the cuerpo de vigilantes, Nelson Cruz Santiago, presented the department’s written comments and a series of amendment suggestions. Cruz traced the agency’s authority to Ley Núm. 23 (20 de junio de 1962) and to the department’s reorganizing statute (Ley Núm. 171 de 2018) and said Law 110 (2020) already contemplates a juvenile vigilante program and an environmental volunteer warden role under article 4. Cruz said DRNA is in the process of drafting a regulation implementing article 4 and recommended the committee consider amending Law 110 instead of creating a separate statutory program that could duplicate work.

Cruz also provided operational context about the current cuerpo de vigilantes: “Aproximadamente, señor presidente, tenemos 244 compañeros,” he said, adding that about 50 are currently in academy and the administration aspires to grow to 600 officers during the current four‑year term. He estimated academy training costs at roughly $3,000–$4,000 per recruit under the department’s current contract and described core duties for vigilantes (patrol, investigations, enforcement of environmental laws, interagency coordination and public education). Cruz told legislators the DRNA has implemented a digital complaints platform and expects to record thousands of enforcement-related actions once fully operational.

DRNA proposed several substantive amendments to the bill, which Cruz read into the record: renaming the body or roles (for example, to “conservation officer” or “vigilante auxiliar”), aligning volunteer definitions with existing law, inserting language to enable access to certain federal funds, clarifying which positions may carry long firearms after training and supervisory authorization, and creating a chaplains/capellanes corps. Cruz said those changes are meant to avoid redundancy with Law 110 and to improve access to federal funding and administrative coherence.

Both DRNA and UPR urged the commission to harmonize Proyecto de la Cámara 414 with Puerto Rico’s Volunteering Act (referred to in testimony as Ley Núm. 261 del 2024, según enmendada) and to review the bill’s proposed “immunity” provisions so they conform with existing volunteer‑service law. UPR recommended explicitly aligning any academic crediting mechanism with institution accreditation and program requirements and suggested the committee request further documentation about existing UPR courses, extension workshops and certifications that could be used for the program; committee staff asked UPR to provide that information within five days.

Representatives on the committee also questioned DRNA about prior efforts to create juvenile vigilante groups and the status of administrative instruments needed to begin recruitment. Cruz said DRNA has begun administrative design and has informal local partnerships (the first local pilot is being coordinated with a Humacao school) but that formal implementation hinges on issuing an internal administrative order and on interagency agreements, particularly with the Department of Education, and on budget approvals.

No formal vote occurred during the hearing. The commission closed its work at 11:53 a.m. after receiving the testimonies and asking DRNA and the UPR for follow‑up information.

For the record, DRNA provided a public contact telephone number during testimony for reporting wildlife or environmental incidents (recorded in testimony as 787‑999‑2200, extension 2911).