[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10074 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                               H. R. 10074

    To provide for the specific allocation of certain funding made 
 available in accordance with the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth 
  of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United 
               States of America, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 10, 2026

Ms. King-Hinds introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the specific allocation of certain funding made 
 available in accordance with the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth 
  of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United 
               States of America, 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.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Affordable Power for the Northern 
Marianas Act''.

SEC. 2. ALLOCATION OF MANDATORY FUNDING.

    (a) Allocations Specified.--Of the amounts made available for 
capital improvement projects in accordance with the funding agreement 
(as in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act) entered into 
pursuant to section 702 of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States 
of America (48 U.S.C. 1801 note), for fiscal year 2027 and each fiscal 
year thereafter except as provided in subsection (d), $15,000,000 shall 
be allocated for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, to 
be made available as follows:
            (1) Not more than $3,000,000, to address immigration, 
        labor, or law enforcement issues in the Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands.
            (2) For capital infrastructure projects that modernize, 
        replace, repair, rehabilitate, harden, expand, or otherwise 
        improve the affordability, reliability, efficiency, resilience, 
        and stability of the Commonwealth's electric energy generation 
        system, including fuel, storage, transmission, distribution, 
        control, communication, and other infrastructure necessary to 
        support, integrate, operate, or stabilize electric generation 
        resources.
    (b) Prioritization.--In making funds available pursuant to 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior--
            (1) shall first make funds available for the purposes 
        described in paragraph (1) of that subsection before making any 
        funds available for any of the purposes described in paragraph 
        (2) of that subsection; and
            (2) with respect to amounts made available for a purpose 
        described in such paragraph (2)--
                    (A) shall give priority to projects reasonably 
                expected to reduce or stabilize electricity rates, 
                reduce fuel or operating costs, reduce exposure to fuel 
                price volatility, improve generation or system 
                efficiency, or reduce the frequency, duration, or 
                economic cost of electric service interruptions;
                    (B) shall ensure that such projects are carried out 
                by, through, or for the benefit of the Commonwealth 
                Utilities Corporation or any successor public utility 
                responsible for electric service in the Commonwealth; 
                and
                    (C) notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
                shall not require any local matching or cost-sharing 
                requirement with respect to such projects.
    (c) Limitation.--Except as provided in subsection (d), nothing in 
this Act may be construed to alter or affect--
            (1) the total amount made available for capital improvement 
        projects for any fiscal year for all insular areas in 
        accordance with the funding agreement entered into pursuant to 
        section 702 of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the 
        Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United 
        States of America (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 
        this Act); or
            (2) the total amount otherwise made available for all 
        insular areas pursuant to subsections (b) and (c) of section 4 
        of Public Law 94-241 (48 U.S.C. 1804(b) and (c)).
    (d) Termination.--The date described in this subsection is the date 
on which there enters into effect a successor multi-year funding 
agreement to the agreement entered into in 2004 pursuant to section 702 
of the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands in Political Union with the United States of America and as in 
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. Beginning October 1 of 
the first year for which such successor multi-year funding agreement 
takes effect, financial assistance to the Commonwealth shall be 
provided in accordance with the amounts, purposes, terms, and 
conditions established by such agreement and the Act of Congress 
approving or implementing such agreement.
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