[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6211 Introduced in House (IH)]
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115th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6211
To improve the collection and publication of statistics relating to the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 25, 2018
Miss Gonzalez-Colon of Puerto Rico introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to
the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Government Reform,
Education and the Workforce, Agriculture, the Judiciary, and Financial
Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the
jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To improve the collection and publication of statistics relating to the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Puerto Rico Data
Collection Equality Act of 2018''.
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as
follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
TITLE I--MATTERS RELATED TO FEDERAL STATISTICAL PROGRAMS
Sec. 101. Plan to include the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in Federal
statistical programs.
Sec. 102. Statistics to be collected and reported by the Census Bureau.
Sec. 103. National Center for Education Statistics treatment of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Sec. 104. National Agricultural Statistics Service treatment of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Sec. 105. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:
National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
Sec. 106. National Center for Health Statistics treatment of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
Sec. 107. Bureau of Justice inclusion of Puerto Rico in justice
statistics.
Sec. 108. Energy Information Administration treatment of Puerto Rico.
TITLE II--MATTERS RELATED TO THE PUERTO RICO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS
Sec. 201. Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.
TITLE III--MATTERS RELATED TO PUERTO RICO'S ECONOMY
Sec. 301. Annual update of the Report on the Competitiveness of Puerto
Rico's Economy.
Sec. 302. Effect of electric power on the economic growth of Puerto
Rico.
TITLE I--MATTERS RELATED TO FEDERAL STATISTICAL PROGRAMS
SEC. 101. PLAN TO INCLUDE THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO IN FEDERAL
STATISTICAL PROGRAMS.
(a) Plan.--The head of the Interagency Council on Statistical
Policy shall develop a plan to collect and publish statistics regarding
the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the same manner as statistics are
collected and reported by Federal agencies for the several States.
(b) Implementation.--The head of the Interagency Council on
Statistical Policy, in coordination with the heads of appropriate
Federal agencies, shall implement the plan developed under subsection
(a).
(c) Report.--Not later than two years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and every two years thereafter, the head of the
Interagency Council on Statistical Policy shall submit to Congress a
report which shall include--
(1) a description of the plan developed under subsection
(a); and
(2) information on the implementation of such plan.
SEC. 102. STATISTICS TO BE COLLECTED AND REPORTED BY THE CENSUS BUREAU.
(a) In General.--The Director of the Bureau of the Census, in
consultation with the heads of appropriate Federal agencies, shall
include statistics regarding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico collected
and reported by the Bureau as part of the statistical programs
described in subsection (b).
(b) Statistical Programs Described.--The statistical programs
described in this subsection include the following:
(1) Census of Governments.
(2) Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons.
(3) Building Permits Survey.
(4) Quarterly Workforce Indicators.
(5) American Housing Survey.
(6) Construction Progress Reporting Survey.
(7) Housing Vacancy Survey.
(8) Manufactured Housing Survey.
(9) Value of Construction Put in Place Survey.
(10) Current Population Survey.
(c) National Economic Census.--The Director of the Bureau of the
Census shall--
(1) collect and report statistics regarding the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for the Economic Census of Island
Areas in a manner consistent, in terms of both substance and
timing, with the collection and reporting of statistics for the
National Economic Census; and
(2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of
this Act, submit to Congress a report recommending whether
statistics regarding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico should be
included in the National Economic Census rather than in the
Economic Census of Island Areas.
SEC. 103. NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS TREATMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.
The Secretary of Education, acting through the National Center for
Education Statistics, shall, to the maximum extent practicable, collect
and publish data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the same manner
as data is collected and published for the several States.
SEC. 104. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE TREATMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.
(a) Surveys in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.--The Administrator
of the National Agricultural Statistics Service shall--
(1) include, to the maximum extent practicable, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the surveys conducted by the
Service; and
(2) in the case of agricultural data collection that cannot
be carried out under the surveys described in paragraph (1),
identify an alternative method of collecting such data from the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(b) Report on Feasibility of Surveys in the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this
Act, the Administrator of the National Agricultural Statistics Service
shall submit a report to Congress that includes recommendations on the
feasibility of conducting surveys in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
SEC. 105. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES ADMINISTRATION:
NATIONAL SURVEY ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH.
Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and
every 2 years thereafter, the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and
Substance Use shall submit to each committee of the Congress a report
on the status of efforts to include the populations of the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico and the other territories of the United States in the
National Survey on Drug Use and Health for fiscal year 2019 and
subsequent fiscal years.
SEC. 106. NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS TREATMENT OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.
Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 242k) is
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (n) as subsection (o); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (m) the following:
``(n) In carrying out this section, the Secretary, acting through
the Center, shall take all reasonable steps to collect, evaluate, and
make available information with respect to the populations of the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the other territories to the same
extent as the Secretary collects, evaluates, and makes available
information with respect to the populations of the several States.''.
SEC. 107. BUREAU OF JUSTICE INCLUSION OF PUERTO RICO IN JUSTICE
STATISTICS.
Section 302(d) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of
1968 (34 U.S.C. 10132(d)) is amended by inserting after paragraph (2)
the following:
``(3) Inclusion of puerto rico in justice statistics.--To
the extent practicable, the Director shall gather information
from Puerto Rico in carrying out the statistical collection,
analysis, and dissemination functions of the Bureau.''.
SEC. 108. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION TREATMENT OF PUERTO RICO.
The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Administrator of the
Energy Information Administration, shall annually update the data and
information included on the website of the Energy Information
Administration in order to ensure, to the extent practicable, that the
data and information included on the website with respect to Puerto
Rico is as inclusive and complete as the data and information included
on the website with respect to any State.
TITLE II--MATTERS RELATED TO THE PUERTO RICO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS
SEC. 201. PUERTO RICO INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS.
(a) Covered Territorial Instrumentality.--The Puerto Rico Institute
of Statistics is deemed to be a covered territorial instrumentality
subject to the requirements of PROMESA (48 U.S.C. 2101, et seq.).
(b) Report on Instrumentality Budget Funding Level.--Not later than
December 31 of the first full year after the date of the enactment of
this Act and of each year thereafter, the Oversight Board of Puerto
Rico shall submit to Congress a report on the Oversight Board's
rational, with supporting documentation, for the funding level for the
Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics in the most recent approved budget.
(c) Information Required To Be Available in English.--Not later
than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Puerto
Rico Institute of Statistics shall--
(1) make all communications, publications, information, and
other records of the institute created after the date of the
enactment of this Act available in English to the same or a
greater extent as those materials are available in Spanish; and
(2) publish a plan to make all communications,
publications, information, and other records of the institute
created before the date of the enactment of this Act available
in English to the same or a greater extent as those materials
are available in Spanish.
TITLE III--MATTERS RELATED TO PUERTO RICO'S ECONOMY
SEC. 301. ANNUAL UPDATE OF THE REPORT ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF PUERTO
RICO'S ECONOMY.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shall annually update the
report titled ``Report on the Competitiveness of Puerto Rico's
Economy'' (published June 29, 2012).
SEC. 302. EFFECT OF ELECTRIC POWER ON THE ECONOMIC GROWTH OF PUERTO
RICO.
The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Administrator of the
Energy Information Administration, shall annually submit to Congress a
report on the cost and unreliability of electric power in Puerto Rico
and how such cost and unreliability affects the economic growth of
Puerto Rico.
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