Puerto Rico can’t use a local law to restructure the debt of its financially ailing public utilities as it tries to overcome a decade-long economic crisis, the Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The 5-2 ruling said that federal bankruptcy law bars Puerto Rico from enacting its own law to restructure about $20 billion in debt. The decision means the U.S. territory must wait for Congress to pass debt-relief legislation that would address its fiscal woes.
Puerto Rico lawmakers passed the law in 2014 to help cash-strapped utilities meet obligations to bondholders and creditors. Puerto Rico argued that it could enact its own measures since the island is precluded from using bankruptcy law. But lower courts struck down the law.
The comm…
Read the full article at: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/high-court-rules-puerto-rico-debt-case-39816249