Puerto Rico Preemption Redux: Back to You, Congress

On February 6, 2015, a district court held Puerto Rico's Recovery Act to be expressly preempted by section 903 of the Bankruptcy Code.

On July 6, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the finding: The Recovery Act is preempted, on both express preemption and conflict preemption grounds. 

Judge Torruella wrote a separate concurrence starting on page 50 of the decision. One of his points bearing special mention here is that he finds unconstitutional the 1984 Bankruptcy Code amendment that stripped Puerto Rico's right to authorize chapter 9 for its municipalities, due to the lack of a rational basis. Had he secured another vote for that view...

Credit Slips contributors surely will weigh in more, in this space or elsewhere, on the decision and  next steps. For now, Congress needs to move on H.R. 870, which now has support in the Senate. H.R. 870 simply reinstates Puerto Rico's ability to authorize its municipalities to use chapter 9, akin to states. Others advocate for bankruptcy relief for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico itself; that proposal is separate from, and considerably more controversial than, H.R. 870.