Type to search

In-Brief

P.R. business, community leaders support transparency legislation

A number of civic and professional organizations that met during the 10th Annual Puerto Rican Summit held in Orlando, Florida May 17th, 2019 agreed to endorse U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 683, the Puerto Rico Recovery Accuracy Disclosures Act of 2019 that establishes conflict of interest disclosure provisions.

Representatives of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce (Miami), the Puerto Rican Chamber of Central Florida (Orlando), the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce (San Juan), the Florida Chapter of the Puerto Rico Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association came together at the summit.

“The Puerto Rican Summit provides an opportunity for community leaders to come together and discuss issues of importance to Puerto Rico and the greater Puerto Rican community on the island and on the mainland. Our discussions reveal agreement that Puerto Rico should have the same bankruptcy transparency requirements as the mainland United States, and we support legislation that achieves this common sense goal by fixing the flaws in PROMESA,” said Luis De Rosa, executive director of the Puerto Rican Summit.

“We need to ensure that there are appropriate protections in place during Puerto Rico’s economic recovery and that every tax dollar spent in this process is done so prudently and with the appropriate oversight,” he said.

When Congress passed PROMESA in 2016, the law helped Puerto Rico take the first steps towards economic stability, but it was “missing key provisions to prevent conflicts of interest from playing a role in the debt restructuring process, leaving Puerto Rico at a disadvantage in bankruptcy proceedings compared to other parts of the United States,” the group said.

The bill was introduced to address PROMESA’s shortcomings with needed improvements. It will strengthen requirements for disclosures and investigating potential conflicts of interest during the bankruptcy process in Puerto Rico, bringing Puerto Rican bankruptcy requirements up to par with that of the rest of the United States.

“We want to thank Representatives Rob Bishop, Nydia Velázquez, Darren Soto, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón and the bipartisan group of co-sponsors who are taking a strong stand for transparency and accountability in Puerto Rico’s economic recovery process,” said De Rosa. “It’s time for the full Congress to act and pass this important legislation.”

The organizations participating at the Puerto Rican Summit committed to educating the Puerto Rican community on this issue and seeking bi-partisan support of H.R. 683 from members of Congress.

Author Details
Author Details
This story was written by our staff based on a press release.
Tags:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *