All posts by José Alvarado Vega

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  SSI Exclusion Leaves Puerto Rico in the Cold

  Associate Justice Sees Potential Repeal of ‘Shameful’ Insular Cases The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that the U.S. Constitution does not require Congress to extend Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to residents of Puerto Rico, in a...

  • Posted May 13, 2022
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  HTA Plan Filed in Court Proposes 80% Debt Cut; Requires Restructuring, Toll Hikes

  Proposes 80% Debt Cut; Requires Restructuring, Toll Hikes Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) announced on Monday that it had filed a plan of adjustment (POA) in federal court to restructure about $6.4 billion in...

  • Posted May 6, 2022
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  Tug of War on the Energy Front

  Blackouts a Part of Painful LUMA Transition; T&D Operator Blames Troubled Grid; Repairs Delayed The Puerto Rico government gave a $1.5 billion, 15-year contract to LUMA Energy LLC in 2020 to turn around the transmission and distribution...

  • Posted April 23, 2022
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  Citizen Groups Request Participation in Prepa Talks

  Say Process Leaves Out Key Stakeholders, Utility Customers The Institute for the Competitiveness and Economic Sustainability of Puerto Rico (ICSE) has filed a motion before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain requesting that the new court-ordered mediation...

  • Posted April 22, 2022
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  Permanent Medicaid Funding Sought

  Federal Funding Caps Lead to Exit of Health Personnel The lack of certainty regarding federal funding for Puerto Rico’s health care programs has contributed to the exodus of physicians and other medical providers to other U.S. jurisdictions...

  • Posted April 7, 2022
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  CNE: Prepa Debt Cut Should Be Deeper

  At Least 44% Needed to Make Utility Solvent, Think Tank Says A new restructuring support agreement (RSA) for Power Authority (Prepa) would have to cut the utility’s $9 billion legacy debt by at least 44 percent to...

  • Posted April 1, 2022
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  FOMB-Approved Projects to Push Green Energy Share to 23 Percent

  18 Renewable PPOAs Conditioned on Cost Controls As Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) “conditionally” approved last week 18 proposed power purchase and operating agreements (PPOAs) between the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) and...

  • Posted March 31, 2022
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  Gov’t Finances Still a Challenge to Bankruptcy Exit

  Work Unfinished on Uniform Commonwealth Accounting Gov. Pedro Pierluisi’s fiscal team says it is charting a path to Puerto Rico’s exit from bankruptcy, despite the unfinished task of creating a sustained and uniform accounting system that would...

  • Posted March 25, 2022
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  Ukraine Crisis Challenges Puerto Rico Economy

  Banning of Russian Oil, Commodities Could Lead to Stagflation Puerto Rico faces formidable challenges to its already precarious economy as it braces for the effects of severe sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia, a major...

  • Posted March 19, 2022
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  Gov’t Justifies Cancelation of Prepa RSA

  Says 2019 Deal No Longer ‘Feasible’ with Economic Shifts Gov. Pedro Pierluisi decided last week to cancel the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s (Prepa) restructuring support agreement (RSA) not only due to the lack of legislative support...

  • Posted March 18, 2022