2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 120 - Puerto Rico Emergency Moratorium and Rehabilitation Act (§§ 9281 — 9311) › Subchapter I - General Provisions (§§ 9281 — 9288) › § 9282 - Declaration of state of emergency

It is hereby found and declared that the grave public emergency identified and declared to exist by the Legislative Assembly on numerous occasions has worsened dramatically, requiring additional measures to be taken by the Legislative Assembly, in the further exercise of its police powers, to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth. The Legislative Assembly has consistently sought to avert the fiscal emergency in which Puerto Rico currently finds itself through the enactment of a diverse set of legislative measures. These efforts include Act 3-2013 (reforming the ERS), Act 160-2013 (reforming the Teachers Retirement System), Act 66-2014 (implementing special fiscal and operational measures to reduce the deficit and address the fiscal emergency), Act 71-2014 (providing certain of Puerto Rico’s instrumentalities with an orderly debt restructuring mechanism), and Act 1-2015 (increasing the sales and use tax surcharge and implementing additional revenue raising measures), to name a few.
However, despite these efforts, Puerto Rico’s fiscal emergency continues and indeed has become more desperate. Today, not only is the Bank threatened with a disorderly default on its outstanding obligations, but other government entities of Puerto Rico are similarly threatened by the prospect of a disorderly default on their respective obligations. In addition, adding further obstacles, failure by the United States Congress to provide Puerto Rico with an orderly regime to restructure the outstanding debt of the Commonwealth and its instrumentalities leaves Puerto Rico at the mercy of uncertainty and chaos. The people of Puerto Rico are faced with a humanitarian crisis never before experienced in Puerto Rico, or elsewhere in the United States. Simply and plainly, the grave fiscal emergency now facing Puerto Rico threatens its ability to honor its outstanding obligations while protecting the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico. But we, as a Government, have a duty to act responsibly, in the exercise of our police powers, to provide essential government services and safeguard the interests of all of the Commonwealth’s stakeholders, including its creditors.
The Legislative Assembly hereby finds that asking the Commonwealth government, its instrumentalities, and the inhabitants of Puerto Rico to continue shouldering by themselves the burdens of the Governor of Puerto Rico’s grave fiscal emergency is unsustainable and would further damage the economy of Puerto Rico to the detriment of every stakeholder of the Commonwealth, including its creditors. The Governor of Puerto Rico must also be authorized and directed to honor his duty to provide for the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth by granting him emergency police powers under this chapter to declare a temporary moratorium of debt payments. These measures will positively enhance the Commonwealth’s and the other government entities” ability to honor their outstanding debt obligations. Otherwise, the potential catastrophic effects of allowing creditors to exercise their enforcement remedies would undeniably harm the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the Commonwealth. Likewise, it could further impair creditors” ability to recover on their claims.
History —Apr. 6, 2016, No. 21, § 102.