[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 870 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 870

 To amend title 11 of the United States Code to treat Puerto Rico as a 
     State for purposes of chapter 9 of such title relating to the 
                 adjustment of debts of municipalities.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 11, 2015

Mr. Pierluisi introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 11 of the United States Code to treat Puerto Rico as a 
     State for purposes of chapter 9 of such title relating to the 
                 adjustment of debts of municipalities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Puerto Rico Chapter 9 Uniformity Act 
of 2015''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.

    Section 101(52) of title 11, United States Code, is amended to read 
as follows:
            ``(52) The term `State' includes Puerto Rico and, except 
        for the purpose of defining who may be a debtor under chapter 9 
        of this title, includes the District of Columbia.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICATION OF AMENDMENT.

    (a) Effective Date.--Except as provided in subsection (b), this Act 
and the amendment made by this Act shall take effect on the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Application of Amendment.--The amendment made by this Act shall 
apply with respect to--
            (1) cases commenced under title 11 of the United States 
        Code on or after the date of the enactment of this Act, and
            (2) debts, claims, and liens created before, on, or after 
        such date.

SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY.

    If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision 
to any person or circumstance, is found to be unconstitutional, the 
remainder of this Act, or the application of that provision to other 
persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.
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