Puerto Rico

A House bill designed to help Puerto Rico will now move to the Senate after House members passed the bill 297 to 127 during a session that stretched into early Thursday evening.

In a decision on Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Rico enjoys most types of sovereignty but not a type relevant to the criminal case at hand.

The full House is expected to vote today on a bill designed to help Puerto Rico after the House Rules Committee set the table for the bill's consideration during a lengthy hearing that stretched into Wednesday night.

Puerto Rico chief financial officer Melba Acosta Febo said Puerto Rico may pay some, but probably not all, of the commonwealth’s general obligation bond debt due July 1.

Observers of Puerto Rico politics say that Ricardo Rosselló Nevares’ win in Sunday’s gubernatorial primary was a victory for a more aggressive pursuit of statehood.

Puerto Rico’s main employee retirement system slipped to a 0.27% funded ratio in the most recent audited statement and has since fallen into a deficit, according to its auditor.

Presidential candidate and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has vowed to introduce an alternative bill to one pending before the House that CBO says would cost the territory $370 million over ten years.

A government-appointed commission is suggesting that much of Puerto Rico’s debt may have been sold illegally.

Sources confirmed that Puerto Rico was paying at least $41.2 million of $99.5 million due on Wednesday.

Candidates to become Puerto Rico’s next governor advocate solutions ranging from a local debt authority, to statehood, to a moratorium on principal payments.

Puerto Rico’s inflation-adjusted gross national product declined by 0.6% in 2015 from 2014.

The Puerto Rico Senate put an end Thursday to the roll out of a value added tax.

A key Puerto Rico leader, David Bernier, said he would sue to block a federal control board over Puerto Rico.

Gov. Alejandro García Padilla’s proposed budget anticipates the continued payment of bonds of the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Finance Authority in fiscal year 2016-2017.

Proposed House legislation designed to help Puerto Rico is moving to the full floor with light amendments after a 29-10 House Natural Resources Committee vote on Wednesday.

Leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee and Rep. Pedro Pierluisi on Tuesday night urged their colleagues to approve a bill to help debt-ridden Puerto Rico, even though they may not support certain provisions or worry the measure does not go far enough.

Analysts said the minimal allotment to debt service and a lack of other spending cuts add fuel to the argument that an outside control board, as being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives, is needed.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority intends to increase rates by 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, it announced Tuesday.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla is proposing a budget for the coming fiscal year with 86% less money allocated to paying debt service than the approved current-year budget.

Hedge funds holding more than $750 million of the debt of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank revived a lawsuit, accusing the government of “changing the rules of the game” by amending its debt payment moratorium law.