Puerto Rico Public Buildings Authority

With fiscal year 2017 nearing an end in Puerto Rico, the Oversight Board was threatening to approve a budget Friday morning without local government agreement and the electric power authority was on the verge of default on a $423 million bond payment due Monday.

Puerto Rico Title III Judge Laura Taylor Swain retained control over deciding about the island's sales tax bonds and diminished the Oversight Board’s role in the case at Wednesday’s hearing.

The Puerto Rico legislature approved a General Fund budget without debt service, leaving it to the Oversight Board to say where money for bond payments will come from in fiscal 2018.

The governor said the Oversight Board lacks the authority decide about staffing levels and personnel spending.

A group of Puerto Rico bondholders accused the Oversight Board and governor of minimizing the commonwealth's health in a proposed budget that is too generous to non-debt holders.

Puerto Rico’s Oversight Board sent a letter to Puerto Rico’s leaders warning of a waning resolve to deal with a dire financial situation.

The judge overseeing Puerto Rico’s Title III bankruptcy process named five judges to help mediate disputes over island government and sales tax bonds in the biggest municipal restructuring in U.S. history.

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., attacked the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s plan to slash bondholder payments as illegal.

Puerto Rico’s voters overwhelmingly voted on Sunday for the island to become a state in a vote the opposition chose to boycott.

Puerto Rico’s government and Oversight Board have declined to say what debt service bondholders should expect in the coming fiscal year despite repeated inquiries.