[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1774 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1774

 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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 15, 2015

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Nelson, Mrs. Gillibrand, 
    Ms. Warren, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Booker, Mr. Reid, Mr. Murphy, Mr. 
 Sanders, Mr. Heinrich, and Ms. Hirono) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and 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 any amendment made by this Act, or 
the application of such provision or amendment to any person or 
circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act 
and the amendments made by this Act, or the application of that 
provision or amendment to other persons or circumstances, shall not be 
affected.
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