With over $70 billion in debt and little cash to fund its ongoing operations, Puerto Rico remains in a state of fiscal crisis. After this summer’s decision by the First Circuit affirming that Puerto Rico’s attempt at legislative self-help, the so-called “Recovery Act,” was unconstitutional, the Commonwealth was left to negotiate with its many creditors or else seek relief from the federal government.

On October 21, the White House introduced a plan urging Congress to address the situation in Puerto Rico, claiming that it “could become a humanitarian crisis” absent federal intervention.

The heart of the Obama administration’s plan is a robust legislative framework for extending bankruptcy protection to Puerto Rico’s public organs. In addition to supporting currently pending legislation that would extend Chapter 9 to Puerto Rico – allowing Puerto Rico’s municipalities to file for bankruptcy – the plan also proposes “a broader legal framework that goes beyond Chapter 9 to allow for a comprehensive restructuring of Puerto Rico’s liabilities.” The plan conditions access to this new territorial bankruptcy regime on the establishment of a fiscal oversight body to ensure that Puerto Rico “adheres to its recovery plan and fully implements proposed reforms.” The plan also encouraged Congress to reform Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program and to provide Puerto Ricans with access to the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The plan, described by the White House as A Roadmap for Congressional Action, received a “chilly” reception at a Senate committee hearing on Thursday, largely due to its lack of detail and the limited amount of information available.

For our previous posts on the situation in Puerto Rico, see here and here.

(This post was drafted by Bankruptcy Roundtable Managing Editor Robert Niles, J.D./M.B.A. ’16.)

Puerto Rico is facing the most critical fiscal situation in its history. Its public corporations are especially compromised, overwhelmed by growing deficits and unsustainable debt loads but barred from reorganizing under federal law. Last June, Puerto Rico enacted the Puerto Rico Public Corporation Debt Enforcement and Recovery Act, which allows eligible public corporations to restructure their debt burdens.

The Recovery Act is likely preempted by federal bankruptcy law. Although the Recovery Act was justified as a valid exercise of the Commonwealth’s police power, the statute is likely unconstitutional under the Supremacy Clause. Where state law conflicts with federal law — as does the Recovery Act with section 903 of the Bankruptcy Code — the state law is preempted. On February 6, 2015 Judge Francisco Besosa of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico held this was the case in Franklin California Tax-Free Trust v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and Blue Mountain Capital Management v. Governor Alejandro Garcia-Padilla.

Yet despite the Recovery Act’s probable constitutional infirmity, the threat of potential public corporation default nonetheless exerted sufficient pressure to motivate temporary consensual relief. In choosing this approach, Puerto Rico risks weakening outside investor interest in future securities offerings. But perhaps such high-stakes federalism will prompt Congress to reconsider the basis for and desirability of Puerto Rico’s idiosyncratic treatment under Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code, and elsewhere in federal law.

This article was published in the Harvard Law Review, February 2015. To read the full article, click here.

This post comes from Robert Niles (J.D./M.B.A. ’16), a member of the Bankruptcy Roundtable team