Puerto Rico risked upending months-long efforts on Wall Street and in Washington to address the commonwealth’s fiscal crisis by authorizing the government to halt payments on a wide swath of its $70 billion debt.

Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed a moratorium bill Wednesday, just hours after it won final passage in the legislature. It gives him authority to suspend payments through January 2017 on general-obligation bonds, sales-tax securities, and debt from the island’s Government Development Bank and other public agencies. A default on those obligations would be a first for Puerto Rico, which so far has only failed to pay on bonds backed by legislative appropriation and rum taxes.

“This legislation provides us with the tools to address the highest priority of needs — providing essential services to our people — without fear of retribution,’’ Garcia Padilla said Wednesday in a statement.

The decision marks an escalation of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis and complicates talks with creditors and US lawmakers that have been dragging on since Garcia Padilla in June declared that the island’s debts were unpayable. The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, known as Prepa, already reached an agreement with bondholders that would lower its obligations. Representatives in Congress, after months of debate, drafted legislation last month that would help Puerto Rico restructure its debt.

“Lawmakers have acted precipitously by allowing the governor to unilaterally impose debt payment moratoriums,’’ Stephen Spencer, managing director at Houlihan Lokey, an adviser to Prepa bondholders, said in a statement. He said the law may violate the terms of the negotiated agreement, which is “cast into a state of uncertainty.’’

Garcia Padilla has long-held that Puerto Rico can’t continue to pay creditors on time — even those holding constitutionally-guaranteed securities — while still providing essential services to its 3.5 million residents. He welcomed the proposed federal legislation, but said “the price is too high’’ in how much control it would give the United States over the commonwealth, and previously threatened to call for a moratorium if a deal with investors couldn’t be reached.

Non-constitutionally protected bond payments could be suspended immediately under the island’s law, while those backed by the constitution could be halted starting July 1, when Puerto Rico owes $805 million on its general obligations. It also prevents creditors from suing the commonwealth for defaulting through January 2017, the same as the moratorium period.

The step underscores the need for action in Congress, where lawmakers are waiting for legislation to emerge from the House, said US Senator John Cornyn, the Republican majority whip.

“We’re talking more and more about it,’’ he said. “I think people are realizing that something is going to have to be done sooner rather than later, but I think we’re waiting for the House to show us what they will support.’’

Senator Orrin Hatch, the Republican head of the finance committee, said it would be harmful for Puerto Rico to stop paying investors outright. “That would be a disastrous thing for them to do,’’ he said. “I think secured creditors should be secured. They ought to be treated very fairly.’’