Congress Continues to Influence Puerto Rico Financial Board
The Puerto Rico Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB), created by the PROMESA law, has been the subject of a number of complaints and concerns from members of the U.S. Congress. There have also been complaints about the board directed to the U.S. Congress.
On June 15, Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee and primary author of the PROMESA legislation, wrote a letter to FOMB Chairman Jose Carrion requesting that the agreement with the creditors of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA), Puerto Rico’s public electric utility, be grandfathered into PROMESA decisions. “Congress intended the protection and preservation of any consensually negotiated, voluntary agreements prior to the enactment of PROMESA,” he wrote, adding that the PROMESA Restructuring Support Agreement (RSA) “is the only such agreement.”
Chairman Bishop also directed that decisions made by the Board should be explained in writing to the Natural Resources committee.
The following day, two other legislators, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) and Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), co-wrote a competing letter directing the FOMB to “carefully examine the economic effects” that the PREPA RSA “will have on every resident of the Island,” noting that the Board “has clear legal authority to consider: the RSA. The Members also expressing their alarm that the cost of electricity was not being reduced, as had been recommended in a number of different conversations about setting Puerto Rico on a path to renewed prosperity.
Read more: http://www.puertoricoreport.com/congress-continues-oversee-promesa/