WASHINGTON – A House Natural Resources Committee subcommittee will hold a hearing on the status of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's restructuring support agreement on March 22.
The hearing before the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, chaired by Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., will start at 10:00 a.m., according to a release. The Natural Resources Committee took the lead on holding hearings on Puerto Rico last year and creating legislation that eventually turned into the PROMESA relief law.
PREPA, which has been working with its creditors toward a comprehensive restructuring of its more than $8.4 billion in debt since 2014, reached an agreement with its creditors in December to extend its restructuring agreement until March 31. The PREPA Forbearing Bondholders released a statement at the time of the agreement that said the extension of the agreement was a positive step and that it believed the agreement would ultimately lead to an implementation of a PREPA deal by mid-2017. The creditors have supported PREPA with incremental financial support as PREPA has not had access to the financial markets.
The fiscally distressed territory is continuing to work toward righting itself after PROMESA became law last June.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell- submitted a ten-year fiscal plan for the commonwealth last week that the seven-member oversight board PROMESA created rejected on Friday. Rossell- then re-submitted a plan over the weekend that the oversight board unanimously accepted Monday morning. The plan will allow the territory to pay less than 24% of debt due and includes imposed employee furloughs and reduced pension spending.
