PRRADA

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1675 To impose requirements on the payment of compensation to professional persons employed in voluntary cases commenced under title III of PROMESA. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 23 (legislative day, MAY 22), 2019 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. KEN- NEDY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To impose requirements on the payment of compensation to professional persons employed in voluntary cases com- menced under title III of PROMESA. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puerto Rico Recovery 4 Accuracy in Disclosures Act of 2019’’ or ‘‘PRRADA’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE BY PROFESSIONAL PERSONS SEEKING 6 APPROVAL OF COMPENSATION UNDER SEC- 7 TION 316 OR 317 OF PROMESA. 8 (a) REQUIRED DISCLOSURE.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1675.IS S1675 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1675 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—In a voluntary case com- 1 menced under section 304 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2 2164), no attorney, accountant, appraiser, auc- 3 tioneer, agent, consultant, or other professional per- 4 son may be compensated under section 316 or 317 5 of that Act (48 U.S.C. 2176, 2177) unless prior to 6 making a request for compensation, the professional 7 person has submitted a verified statement con- 8 forming to the disclosure requirements of rule 9 2014(a) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Proce- 10 dure setting forth the connection of the professional 11 person with— 12 (A) the debtor; 13 (B) any creditor; 14 (C) any other party in interest, including 15 any attorney or accountant; 16 (D) the Financial Oversight and Manage- 17 ment Board established in accordance with sec- 18 tion 101 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2121); and 19 (E) any person employed by the Oversight 20 Board described in subparagraph (D). 21 (2) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—A professional 22 person that submits a statement under paragraph 23 (1) shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1675.IS S1675 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1675 IS (A) supplement the statement with any ad- 1 ditional relevant information that becomes 2 known to the person; and 3 (B) file annually a notice confirming the 4 accuracy of the statement. 5 (b) REVIEW.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Trustee 7 shall review each verified statement submitted pur- 8 suant to subsection (a) and may file with the court 9 comments on such verified statements before the 10 professionals filing such statements seek compensa- 11 tion under section 316 or 317 of PROMESA (48 12 U.S.C. 2176, 2177). 13 (2) OBJECTION.—The United States Trustee 14 may object to compensation applications filed under 15 section 316 or 317 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2176, 16 2177) that fail to satisfy the requirements of sub- 17 section (e). 18 (3) RIGHT TO BE HEARD.—Each person de- 19 scribed in section 1109 of title 11, United States 20 Code, may appear and be heard on any issue in a 21 case under this section. 22 (c) JURISDICTION.—The district courts of the United 23 States shall have jurisdiction of all cases under this sec- 24 tion. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1675.IS S1675 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1675 IS (d) RETROACTIVITY.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—If a court has entered an 2 order approving compensation under a case com- 3 menced under section 304 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 4 2164), each professional person subject to the order 5 shall file a verified statement in accordance with 6 subsection (a) not later than 30 days after the date 7 of enactment of this Act. 8 (2) NO DELAY.—A court may not delay any 9 proceeding in connection with a case commenced 10 under section 304 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2164) 11 pending the filing of a verified statement under 12 paragraph (1). 13 (e) LIMITATION ON COMPENSATION.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—In a voluntary case com- 15 menced under section 304 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 16 2164), in connection with the review and approval of 17 professional compensation under section 316 or 317 18 of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2176, 2177), the court 19 may deny allowance of compensation for services and 20 reimbursement of expenses, accruing after the date 21 of the enactment of this Act of a professional person 22 if the professional person— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1675.IS S1675 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1675 IS (A) has failed to file statements of connec- 1 tions required by subsection (a) or has filed in- 2 adequate statements of connections; 3 (B) except as provided in paragraph (3), is 4 on or after the date of enactment of this Act 5 not a disinterested person, as defined in section 6 101 of title 11, United States Code; or 7 (C) except as provided in paragraph (3), 8 represents, or holds an interest adverse to, the 9 interest of the estate with respect to the matter 10 on which such professional person is employed. 11 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making a determina- 12 tion under paragraph (1), the court may take into 13 consideration whether the services and expenses are 14 in the best interests of creditors and the estate. 15 (3) COMMITTEE PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS.— 16 An attorney or accountant described in section 17 1103(b) of title 11, United States Code, shall be 18 deemed to have violated paragraph (1) if the attor- 19 ney or accountant violates section 1103(b) of title 20 11, United States Code. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:29 Jun 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1675.IS S1675 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS