Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB596 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 596
5	5	To require a study relating to the consolidation of certain grant programs
6	6	currently available to insular areas and the suitability of such consolida-
7	7	tion for Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY21, 2025
10	10	Ms. V
11	11	ELA´ZQUEZ(for herself, Mr. TORRESof New York, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ,
12	12	Mrs. R
13	13	AMIREZ, Mr. GOLDMANof New York, Ms. MENG, Mr. ESPAILLAT,
14	14	and Mr. H
15	15	ERNA´NDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred
16	16	to the Committee on Natural Resources
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To require a study relating to the consolidation of certain
19	19	grant programs currently available to insular areas and
20	20	the suitability of such consolidation for Puerto Rico,
21	21	and for other purposes.
22	22	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
23	23	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
24	24	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
25	25	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Report on Grant Con-4
26	26	solidation Authority for Puerto Rico Act’’. 5
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29	29	•HR 596 IH
30	30	SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF 1
31	31	PURPOSE. 2
32	32	(a) I
33	33	NCREASEDBURDEN ON THEPUBLICSECTOR OF 3
34	34	P
35	35	UERTORICO.—The Congress makes the following find-4
36	36	ings: 5
37	37	(1) Puerto Rico faces a severe economic crisis, 6
38	38	characterized by the largest municipal bankruptcy in 7
39	39	the United States history, higher levels of poverty 8
40	40	and socioeconomic inequality when compared to the 9
41	41	rest of the United States, and a reduced labor force. 10
42	42	(2) Puerto Rico is managing a large recovery 11
43	43	and reconstruction process prompted by hurricanes 12
44	44	Irma, Marı´a, and Fiona, the 2020 earthquakes, and 13
45	45	the COVID pandemic. 14
46	46	(3) The set of post-disaster conditions has ex-15
47	47	erted a great burden on the public sector of the 16
48	48	Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Public employees 17
49	49	have had to comply with new fiscal requirements im-18
50	50	posed by the Financial Oversight and Management 19
51	51	Board under the Puerto Rico Oversight, Manage-20
52	52	ment, and Economic Stability Act (‘‘PROMESA’’), 21
53	53	handle historic allocations of Federal funds, which 22
54	54	involves engaging with new agencies, programs, and 23
55	55	requirements over time, and balance fiscal con-24
56	56	straints with the urgency to recruit specialized and 25
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59	59	•HR 596 IH
60	60	full-time workforce for the best use of disaster fund-1
61	61	ing. 2
62	62	(b) S
63	63	TATEMENT OFPURPOSE.—It is the purpose of 3
64	64	this Act to study the suitability of grant consolidation to 4
65	65	minimize the burden upon the public sector of the Com-5
66	66	monwealth of Puerto Rico and maximize its available re-6
67	67	sources to access Federal funding. 7
68	68	SEC. 3. STUDY REQUIRED. 8
69	69	(a) I
70	70	NGENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 9
71	71	date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 10
72	72	of the United States shall submit to the appropriate con-11
73	73	gressional committees a report containing the results of 12
74	74	a study on the process by which grants made available 13
75	75	by the Federal Government are consolidated for insular 14
76	76	areas pursuant to part 97 of title 45, Code of Federal 15
77	77	Regulations. Such report shall also contain the following: 16
78	78	(1) An analysis, in consultation with appro-17
79	79	priate officials of local agencies in Puerto Rico, 18
80	80	about the manner in which such agencies currently 19
81	81	access funding from programs that are listed in sec-20
82	82	tion 97.12 of such part 97. 21
83	83	(2) A list of each grant or other program that 22
84	84	such officials would recommend adding to the list of 23
85	85	programs under such section 97.12. 24
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89	89	(3) Any challenges noted by the Comptroller 1
90	90	General or by such officials relating to meeting the 2
91	91	existing requirements for obtaining funding for 3
92	92	Puerto Rico from such listed programs. 4
93	93	(4) An assessment by the Comptroller General 5
94	94	whether any of the challenges described pursuant to 6
95	95	paragraph (3) with respect to existing requirements 7
96	96	for obtaining funding would be partially or wholly 8
97	97	addressed by extending access to the consolidation of 9
98	98	such funding to Puerto Rico in the same manner 10
99	99	and to the same extent as the insular areas. 11
100	100	(5) Any recommendations of such officials re-12
101	101	garding the manner in which that current process 13
102	102	for access to such funding should change, including 14
103	103	recommendations relating to extending access to the 15
104	104	consolidation of such funding to Puerto Rico. 16
105	105	(b) A
106	106	CCESS TOPROMPT ANDCOMPLETEINFORMA-17
107	107	TION.—Any official of Puerto Rico from whom the Comp-18
108	108	troller General seeks information for purposes of the re-19
109	109	port required by subsection (a) shall promptly and com-20
110	110	prehensively respond to such request for information, and 21
111	111	in no case later than 90 days after the receipt of such 22
112	112	a request. To the extent appropriate, the Comptroller Gen-23
113	113	eral may interpret a lack of response, or a partial or in-24
114	114	complete response, to any such request for information ad-25
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117	117	•HR 596 IH
118	118	versely in compiling the report required by such sub-1
119	119	section. 2
120	120	(c) A
121	121	PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONALCOMMITTEESDE-3
122	122	FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-4
123	123	sional committees’’ means— 5
124	124	(1) the Committee on Natural Resources, the 6
125	125	Committee on Education and Labor, and the Com-7
126	126	mittee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 8
127	127	Representatives; and 9
128	128	(2) the Committee on Energy and Natural Re-10
129	129	sources and the Committee on Health, Education, 11
130	130	Labor, and Pensions of the Senate. 12
131	131	Æ
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