Puerto Rico government says it is on track for SNAP transition

The government of Puerto Rico told the U.S. Department of Agriculture that, despite doubts expressed by the top official of the USDA, the Island is taking steps to prepare for a potential transition from the Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP) to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The response comes days after Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack shared he was not convinced that Puerto Rico would be ready for the transition. “I think it´s not a matter, unfortunately of weeks or months, but I think it is certainly in the foreseeable future, the expectation and the goal is to actually transition (to SNAP),” Vilsack said when asked about SNAP by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) during a Senate Agriculture Committee hearing last week. In a letter to Vilsack, Family Secretary Ciení Rodríguez Troche and the Administrator for the Socioeconomic Development of the Family, Alberto Fradera Vázquez said they are already working toward a possible transition program. They cited a pilot project now underway in Carolina that incorporates SNAP work requirements. The officials also claim to have a plan to transition to SNAP within five years instead of over a full decade, meeting the standard called for in a report commissioned by the USDA. Gillibrand introduced legislation for a transition process from NAP to SNAP for Puerto Rico; she might attempt to attach the measure to the reauthorization of the Farm Bill later this year.

Over $10 million in real estate sales registered in Dorado Beach 

According to El Nuevo Dia, residential property sales have exceeded $10 million in one upscale community during the initial months of 2024: the Dorado Beach Resort. This includes an apartment recently purchased by retired St. Louis Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina for $11 million. It is located next to the Ritz-Carlton Reserve in the West Beach residential-tourist complex. Last year’s largest transaction was the sale of Molina’s 12,000-square foot mansion to boxer Jake Joseph Paul, for $15.75 million. All of this is in contrast to sales in 2022. During that year, Dorado saw 12 residential sales exceeding $10 million. The largest transaction was the sale of Jason W. Moore’s mansion for $40 million, a record for the Island’s residential market.

Payments to LUMA set to increase dramatically

Due to inflation and the bankruptcy of the Puerto Rican Electric Power Authority (PREPA), payments to LUMA Energy will increase by approximately $600 million over 15 years, El Nuevo Dia reports. Under the terms of a privatization agreement, both fixed payments and bonuses will skyrocket.  Approximately $366 million of this amount has been paid since 2021, after a supplemental contract took effect that enables PREPA to complete its restructuring process. On top of that, the government of Puerto Rico has added $269 million to its future obligations to LUMA. “We have been experiencing unprecedented inflation in recent years. It is usual in these public-private partnership contracts worldwide to consider inflationary increases, and not just in the contract language,” said Fermín Fontanés Gómez, executive director of the agency managing the contract between LUMA Energy and PREPA.