Congressman Ruben E Hinojosa who had his bankruptcy petition sealed has now filed his Chapter 11 Plan and Disclosure Statement

Congressman Ruben E. Hinojosa is in the bankruptcy context is most know for while having voted for the reform bill BAPCPA had himself exempted from Debtor In Possession accounts and Congressman Hinojosa had his bankruptcy petition sealed.   The sealing of his petition is now on appeal.  He has now proposed his Chapter 11 Plan and Disclosure Statement.

The Chapter 11 plan proposes 60 months of payments and a 0.00009% payment on general unsecured claims.  Interestingly it also appears to provide for a discharge upon confirmation of the plan rather than upon completion of payments as is now required by BAPCPA that Congressman Hinojosa voted for himself back in 2005.  While I cannot fault any bankruptcy attorney for trying to obtain the best possible treatment for his client, it is ironic that one of its provisions requiring that the discharge in Chapter 11 only take place upon completion of the payments effectively be waived for himself.  Additionally the BAPCPA means test was meant to ensure that debtors paid what they could, but it is pretty soft in Chapter 11 and has no teeth, unlike its counterparts in Chapters 7 and 13.

Additionally the Disclosure statements touts a lot of his accomplishments and brags about Congressman Hinojosa being a champion of the disadvantaged.  It fails to mention BAPCPA as an accomplishment.  Maybe Congressman Hinojosa has changed his mind about BAPCPA now that he knows what it is like to be subject to it.  I have yet to see a bill sponsored by Hinojosa seeking to repeal or soften BAPCPA, he seems to be content with exempting himself from parts of it.

Read the documents here:

Congressman Ruben Hinojosa’s Chapter 11 Plan Filed by His Bankruptcy Attorney

Congressman Ruben Hinojosa’s Disclosure Statement Filed by His Bankruptcy Attorney