2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 120 - Puerto Rico Emergency Moratorium and Rehabilitation Act (§§ 9281 — 9311) › Subchapter II - Moratorium for Government Entities (§§ 9291 — 9296) › § 9293 - Emergency bank measures; deposits; permissible and prohibited withdrawals; suspension of requirements to deposit funds in the Bank

(a) At any time during the covered period, regardless of whether the Bank has covered obligations, the Governor is authorized to take any and all actions that are reasonable and necessary to allow the Bank to continue carrying out its operations.
(b) For the purposes of this section, actions that are “reasonable and necessary” shall include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1) Prescribing such conditions or restrictions for the conduct of the business of the Bank, including dispensing with the compliance, in whole or in part, of any requirement prescribed by otherwise applicable law, including those that require the Bank to maintain deposit reserves above a certain threshold;
(2) ordering the limitation of any payment of any obligation pursuant to terms the Governor prescribes to address the Bank’s liquidity needs or facilitate the Bank’s ability to carry out its operations;
(3) suspending:
(A) The Bank’s obligation to pay under any guarantee;
(B) payments on any letter of credit; and
(C) any obligation or commitment to lend or extend money or credit;
(4) taking any action with respect to the Bank as provided for in §§ 551 et seq. of Title 7; and
(5) delegating to the Bank, its Board, or its employees authority to take actions in furtherance of this section.
(c) If any restriction is placed on disbursements by the Bank pursuant to subsection (a) of this section:
(1) The Bank shall not be permitted to disburse any loans unless authorized by the Governor;
(2) the Bank shall honor requests to withdraw or transfer any deposit, including by check or other means, of an agency, public corporation, or instrumentality of the Commonwealth (other than those listed in clause (3) of this subsection) as may be authorized by the Governor, from time to time, and in making any such authorization, the Governor shall consider the availability of funds and the need to fund the provision of essential services by such depositor, which must be demonstrated by a joint certification from the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Treasury that honoring such request, with respect to such deposit, is necessary to fund the provision of specifically identified essential services by a government entity, provided, further, that when certifying such withdrawal requests, the Office of Management and Budget and the Secretary of the Treasury may reduce the amount of any request to an amount deemed necessary to fund essential services;
(3) subject to the availability of funds and the aggregate disbursements established by the Governor, the Bank shall honor any request to withdraw or transfer any deposit held by, or request to honor any check written by, a municipality or any of the Judicial Branch, UPR, Legislative Branch, Office of the Comptroller, Office of the Electoral Comptroller, State Elections Commission, Government Ethics Office, Independent Prosecutors Panel; Provided, however, That an authorized officer of such municipality or listed entity certifies along with supporting documentation that such funds will be used for the payment of essential services; and
(4) Any provision of any law that requires any entity, public or private, to deposit funds in the bank shall be suspended.
(d) During the covered period, deposits shall accrue interest at a rate:
(1) Equal to the contract rate but only to the extent that the depositor’s ability to withdraw such deposits is limited by other laws or contract and not solely by this chapter; or
(2) equal to the average interest rate applicable to the unpaid principal obligations of the Bank, if:
(A) Such deposits could be withdrawn at any time but for the operation of this chapter, or
(B) such deposits would otherwise become eligible for withdrawal during the emergency period but for the operation of this chapter.
(e) Except as provided in subsection (f) of this section, to the extent that such creditor is secured by an interest in property, or to the extent that such creditor is entitled to setoff under otherwise applicable non-insolvency law if any restriction is placed on disbursements from the Bank pursuant to this section, then any value disbursed to a creditor after such restriction is imposed shall be subtracted from the value of any distribution that such creditor is entitled to receive, as of the first date of the restriction, if the Bank is subsequently liquidated or placed into a receivership. Likewise, except as provided in subsection (l) of this section, which governs the use of the municipal redemption fund created pursuant to Act No. 64-1996 (other than with respect to surplus funds deposited therein), if any governmental entity assumes, discharges or otherwise satisfies any liability of the Bank prior to it being liquidated or placed into receivership, such governmental entity shall subrogate itself in place of the Bank’s creditor and have claim against the estate of the same rank and preference assigned to such obligation by law, equal to the amount assumed (provided the Bank is released from the assumed obligation), discharged or paid on behalf of the Bank and, if applicable, such claim shall be subtracted from any amount owed by such governmental entity to the estate in direct order of maturity.
(f) Disbursements made by the Bank before or during the covered period that are made in the ordinary course, including disbursements to cover expenses of the nature described in clause (2) or (3) of subsection (a) of § 559a of Title 7, or to pay for goods and services provided to the Bank, shall, for the avoidance of doubt, in each case, be exempt from § 562c of Title 7 (renumbered as Article 17 pursuant to Section 302 of this Act).
(g) Any and all actions undertaken pursuant to §§ 9291, 9292 and 9293 of this title shall expire at the end of the covered period.
(h) Any check written in violation of this chaptert or an executive order issued pursuant to it shall be null and void, and any person that intentionally writes a check to withdraw all or a substantial portion of their deposit balance in violation of this section shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for up to one (1) year or by a fine of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000).
(i) The Secretary of Treasury of the Commonwealth and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are hereby authorized to identify from the fiscal year 2016 General Fund budget the funds necessary to cover essential governmental needs that would have otherwise been funded during fiscal year 2016 from disbursements from GDB loans subject to the restrictions included in § 9293(c)(1) of this title.
(j) The Secretary of the Treasury of the Commonwealth and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are directed to identify from the fiscal year 2016 general fund budget, $2,000,000 to fund the costs of the commission of the integral public credit created by §§ 2111 et seq. of Title 7.
History —Apr. 6, 2016, No. 21, § 203; July 12, 2016, No. 68, sec. 1.16.