Congress should exempt Puerto Rico from shipping law, ABA House says (ABA Journal)
ABA Journal, August 7, 2018
Congress should exempt Puerto Rico from shipping law, ABA House says
“A nearly century-old shipping regulation is hampering Puerto Rico’s economic and physical recovery in the wake of Hurricane Maria last year, and Congress should enact legislation to permanently exempt the island, the ABA House of Delegates declared in a vote on Tuesday….’The Jones Act raises the price of energy on the island at a time when Puerto Rican families are suffering through an energy crisis, and it raises the price of food when over 44% of the island is living in poverty,” says the report, which was written in a partnership between the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association. ‘Because of these substantial costs, a wide range of voices, on a bipartisan basis, have consistently requested that Puerto Rico be exempted from the substantial burdens of the Jones Act. The time to listen to these voices is now.’ The presidents of the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association rose to speak in favor of the resolution. Michael Miller of the New York State Bar Association said the resolution was the product of ‘an unprecedented collaboration’ between the bar associations, and joked that an issue would have to be important if the associations could put aside their traditional rivalry to advocate for it….President Roger Juan Maldonado of the New York City Bar Association spoke movingly about the destruction of his brother’s farm after the hurricane and the struggle to rebuild.”
