Puerto Rico Data Collection Equality Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1405 To improve the collection and publication of statistics relating to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico (for herself and Mr. SERRANO) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, Oversight and Reform, Education and Labor, 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 relat- ing to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Puerto Rico Data Collection Equality Act’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1405 IH 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 statis- tical programs. Sec. 102. Statistics to be collected and reported by the Census Bureau. Sec. 103. Bureau of Economic Analysis treatment of U.S. Territories. Sec. 104. National Center for Education Statistics treatment of the Common- wealth of Puerto Rico. Sec. 105. National Agricultural Statistics Service treatment of the Common- wealth of Puerto Rico. Sec. 106. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Na- tional Survey on Drug Use and Health. Sec. 107. National Center for Health Statistics treatment of the Common- wealth of Puerto Rico. Sec. 108. Bureau of Justice inclusion of Puerto Rico in justice statistics. Sec. 109. Energy Information Administration treatment of Puerto Rico. Sec. 110. Bureau of Labor Statistics treatment of Puerto Rico. TITLE II—MATTERS RELATED TO PUERTO RICO’S ECONOMY Sec. 201. Annual update of the Report on the Competitiveness of Puerto Rico’s Economy. Sec. 202. Effect of electric power on the economic growth of Puerto Rico. TITLE I—MATTERS RELATED TO 1 FEDERAL STATISTICAL PRO- 2 GRAMS 3 SEC. 101. PLAN TO INCLUDE THE COMMONWEALTH OF 4 PUERTO RICO IN FEDERAL STATISTICAL 5 PROGRAMS. 6 (a) PLAN.—The head of the Interagency Council on 7 Statistical Policy shall develop a plan to collect and pub- 8 lish statistics regarding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico 9 in the same manner as statistics are collected and reported 10 by Federal agencies for the several States. 11 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The head of the Interagency 12 Council on Statistical Policy, in coordination with the 13 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1405 IH heads of appropriate Federal agencies, shall implement 1 the plan developed under subsection (a). 2 (c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 3 of the enactment of this Act, and every two years there- 4 after, the head of the Interagency Council on Statistical 5 Policy shall submit to Congress a report which shall in- 6 clude— 7 (1) a description of the plan developed under 8 subsection (a); and 9 (2) information on the implementation of such 10 plan. 11 SEC. 102. STATISTICS TO BE COLLECTED AND REPORTED 12 BY THE CENSUS BUREAU. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of the 14 Census, in consultation with the heads of appropriate Fed- 15 eral agencies, shall include statistics regarding the Com- 16 monwealth of Puerto Rico collected and reported by the 17 Bureau as part of the statistical programs described in 18 subsection (b). 19 (b) STATISTICAL PROGRAMS DESCRIBED.—The sta- 20 tistical programs described in this subsection include the 21 following: 22 (1) Census of Governments. 23 (2) Survey of Business Owners and Self-Em- 24 ployed Persons. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1405 IH (3) Building Permits Survey. 1 (4) Quarterly Workforce Indicators. 2 (5) American Housing Survey. 3 (6) Construction Progress Reporting Survey. 4 (7) Housing Vacancy Survey. 5 (8) Manufactured Housing Survey. 6 (9) Value of Construction Put in Place Survey. 7 (10) Current Population Survey. 8 (c) NATIONAL ECONOMIC CENSUS.—The Director of 9 the Bureau of the Census shall— 10 (1) collect and report statistics regarding the 11 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for the Economic 12 Census of Island Areas in a manner consistent, in 13 terms of both substance and timing, with the collec- 14 tion and reporting of statistics for the National Eco- 15 nomic Census; and 16 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en- 17 actment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 18 recommending whether statistics regarding the Com- 19 monwealth of Puerto Rico should be included in the 20 National Economic Census rather than in the Eco- 21 nomic Census of Island Areas. 22 (d) POPULATION OF TERRITORIES.—With respect to 23 any calculation or estimate of the total population of the 24 United States conducted by the Bureau of the Census, in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1405 IH cluding the decennial census of population under section 1 141 of title 13, United States Code, the Director of the 2 Bureau of the Census shall include in any such calculation 3 or estimate, and any report issued or published in connec- 4 tion with such calculation or estimate, the total population 5 of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and any other terri- 6 tory or possession of the United States. 7 SEC. 103. BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS TREATMENT OF 8 U.S. TERRITORIES. 9 The Bureau of Economic Analysis shall include Puer- 10 to Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 11 Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States 12 Virgin Islands in its quarterly calculation of real gross do- 13 mestic product by State and include such calculations in 14 its estimates of the gross domestic product of the Nation 15 as a whole. 16 SEC. 104. NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS 17 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 18 PUERTO RICO. 19 The Secretary of Education, acting through the Na- 20 tional Center for Education Statistics, shall, to the max- 21 imum extent practicable, collect and publish data for the 22 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the same manner as 23 data is collected and published for the several States. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1405 IH SEC. 105. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE 1 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 2 PUERTO RICO. 3 (a) SURVEYS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO 4 RICO.—The Administrator of the National Agricultural 5 Statistics Service shall— 6 (1) include, to the maximum extent practicable, 7 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the surveys 8 conducted by the Service; and 9 (2) in the case of agricultural data collection 10 that cannot be carried out under the surveys de- 11 scribed in paragraph (1), identify an alternative 12 method of collecting such data from the Common- 13 wealth of Puerto Rico. 14 (b) REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF SURVEYS IN THE 15 COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.—Not later than 1 16 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad- 17 ministrator of the National Agricultural Statistics Service 18 shall submit a report to Congress that includes rec- 19 ommendations on the feasibility of conducting surveys in 20 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 21 SEC. 106. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERV- 22 ICES ADMINISTRATION: NATIONAL SURVEY 23 ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH. 24 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 25 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Assistant 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1405 IH Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use shall sub- 1 mit to each committee of the Congress a report on the 2 status of efforts to include the populations of the Com- 3 monwealth of Puerto Rico and the other territories of the 4 United States in the National Survey on Drug Use and 5 Health for fiscal year 2022 and subsequent fiscal years. 6 SEC. 107. NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS 7 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 8 PUERTO RICO. 9 Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (42 10 U.S.C. 242k) is amended— 11 (1) by redesignating subsection (n) as sub- 12 section (o); and 13 (2) by inserting after subsection (m) the fol- 14 lowing: 15 ‘‘(n) In carrying out this section, the Secretary, act- 16 ing through the Center, shall take all reasonable steps to 17 collect, evaluate, and make available information with re- 18 spect to the populations of the Commonwealth of Puerto 19 Rico and the other territories to the same extent as the 20 Secretary collects, evaluates, and makes available informa- 21 tion with respect to the populations of the several States.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1405 IH SEC. 108. BUREAU OF JUSTICE INCLUSION OF PUERTO 1 RICO IN JUSTICE STATISTICS. 2 Section 302(d) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 3 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10132(d)) is amend- 4 ed by inserting after paragraph (2) the following: 5 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION OF PUERTO RICO IN JUSTICE 6 STATISTICS.—To the extent practicable, the Director 7 shall gather information from Puerto Rico in car- 8 rying out the statistical collection, analysis, and dis- 9 semination functions of the Bureau.’’. 10 SEC. 109. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION TREAT- 11 MENT OF PUERTO RICO. 12 The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Admin- 13 istrator of the Energy Information Administration, shall 14 annually update the data and information included on the 15 website of the Energy Information Administration in order 16 to ensure, to the extent practicable, that the data and in- 17 formation included on the website with respect to Puerto 18 Rico is as inclusive and complete as the data and informa- 19 tion included on the website with respect to any State. 20 SEC. 110. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TREATMENT OF 21 PUERTO RICO. 22 (a) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.—The Bureau of Labor 23 Statistics shall calculate the unemployment rate of Puerto 24 Rico and include such calculation when calculating and re- 25 porting the Nation’s unemployment rate. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1405 IH (b) INFLATION.—The Bureau of Labor Statistics 1 shall calculate the rate of inflation in Puerto Rico and in- 2 clude such calculation when calculating and reporting the 3 rate of inflation of the Nation. 4 TITLE II—MATTERS RELATED TO 5 PUERTO RICO’S ECONOMY 6 SEC. 201. ANNUAL UPDATE OF THE REPORT ON THE COM- 7 PETITIVENESS OF PUERTO RICO’S ECONOMY. 8 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shall annu- 9 ally update the report titled ‘‘Report on the Competitive- 10 ness of Puerto Rico’s Economy’’ (published June 29, 11 2012). 12 SEC. 202. EFFECT OF ELECTRIC POWER ON THE ECONOMIC 13 GROWTH OF PUERTO RICO. 14 The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Admin- 15 istrator of the Energy Information Administration, shall 16 annually submit to Congress a report on the cost and 17 unreliability of electric power in Puerto Rico and how such 18 cost and unreliability affects the economic growth of Puer- 19 to Rico. 20 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS