[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6363 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6363

   To provide for an additional requirements payment under the Help 
 America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that Puerto Rico is treated in the 
 same manner as other States for purposes of determining the amount of 
 the requirements payment made under such Act, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 5, 2006

 Mr. Fortuno introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL



   To provide for an additional requirements payment under the Help 
 America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that Puerto Rico is treated in the 
 same manner as other States for purposes of determining the amount of 
 the requirements payment made under such Act, 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. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds as follows:
            (1) The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) established a 
        series of Federal requirements for election administration and 
        provided funding for States and territories to meet those 
        requirements.
            (2) The amount of funds provided to a State was determined 
        under a formula which is based largely on the State's voting 
        age population, with a base minimum amount. However, the base 
        minimum amount for a State for a fiscal year was one-half of 
        one percent of the total amount appropriated for the year, 
        while the base minimum for amount for Puerto Rico and the other 
        territories was one-tenth of one percent of the total amount 
        appropriated for the year.
            (3) Of all the States and territories whose payment under 
        HAVA was the base minimum amount, only Puerto Rico received 
        less than it would have received if the payment had been based 
        on voting age population. Puerto Rico ranked 27th in voting age 
        population in 2000 (2,716,509), but received less than any 
        State and received the same amount as American Samoa (whose 
        voting age population was 31,753), Guam (99,951), and the 
        United States Virgin Islands (74,323).
            (4) 24 states and the District of Columbia had smaller 
        voting age populations than Puerto Rico but received more HAVA 
        funding to meet the new Federal requirements.
            (5) The costs which a State incurs in meeting HAVA's 
        requirements are driven largely by the size of its electorate.
            (6) Because the amount provided to Puerto Rico under HAVA 
        was not based upon the size of its electorate, HAVA failed to 
        provide Puerto Rico with an amount which reflected the costs of 
        complying with the Act's requirements.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS PAYMENT FOR PUERTO RICO FOR ELECTION ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Payment.--Not later than December 31, 2007, the Election 
Assistance Commission shall make a requirements payment under subtitle 
D of title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 et 
seq.) to the State Election Commission of Puerto Rico.
    (b) Use of Payment.--The use of the payment made under subsection 
(a) shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as the use of a 
payment made under section 251 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
    (c) Amount of Payment.--The amount of the payment made under 
subsection (a) shall be equal to the difference between--
            (1) the aggregate amount of requirements payments made to 
        Puerto Rico under subtitle D of title II of the Help America 
        Vote Act of 2002 prior to the enactment of this Act; and
            (2) the aggregate amount of requirements payments which 
        would have been made to Puerto Rico under such subtitle prior 
        to the enactment of this Act if Puerto Rico had been treated in 
        the same manner as each of the several States and the District 
        of Columbia.

SEC. 3. REVISION OF FORMULA FOR DETERMINING MINIMUM AMOUNT OF 
              REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS TO PUERTO RICO.

    Section 252(c) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 
15402(c)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``several States or the 
        District of Columbia,'' and inserting ``several States, the 
        District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,''; 
        and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico,''.
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