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IIB 106TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2841 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources AN ACT To amend the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands to provide for greater fiscal autonomy consistent with other United States jurisdictions, 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 2 HR 2841 RFS SECTION 1. GREATER FISCAL AUTONOMY. 1 (a) ISSUANCE.—Section 8(b)(ii)(A) of the Revised 2 Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 3 1574(b)(ii)(A)) is amended— 4 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting after 5 ‘‘other evidence of indebtedness’’ the following: ‘‘, in- 6 cluding but not limited to notes in anticipation of 7 the collection of taxes or revenues, ’’; 8 (2) by striking ‘‘to construct, improve, extend’’ 9 and all that follows through ‘‘Provided, That no pub- 10 lic’’ and inserting ‘‘for any public purpose authorized 11 by the legislature: Provided, That no such’’; and 12 (3) by striking ‘‘and payable semiannually. All 13 such bonds shall be sold for not less than the prin- 14 cipal amount thereof plus accrued interest’’. 15 (b) TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS AND CONFORMING 16 AMENDMENTS.— 17 (1) REPEAL.—Section 8(b)(ii)(B) of the Re- 18 vised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 U.S.C. 19 1574(b)(ii)(B)) is repealed. 20 (2) REDESIGNATION.—Section 8(b)(ii)(C) of 21 the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands (48 22 U.S.C. 1574(b)(ii)(C)) is redesignated as section 23 8(b)(ii)(B). 24 3 HR 2841 RFS (3) REDUNDANT PROVISION.—Section 1 of 1 Public Law 94–392 (90 Stat. 1193) is amended by 2 striking subsection (d). 3 SEC. 2. AGREEMENT. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior is 5 authorized to enter into an agreement with the Governor 6 of the Virgin Islands establishing mutually agreed finan- 7 cial accountability and performance standards for the fis- 8 cal operations of the Government of the Virgin Islands. 9 (b) TRANSMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Upon ratification 10 of the agreement authorized in subsection (a) by both par- 11 ties, the Secretary shall forward a copy of the agreement 12 to the Committee on Resources in the House of Represent- 13 atives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Re- 14 sources in the Senate. 15 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATES. 16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided by subsection 17 (b), the amendments made by section 1 shall apply to 18 those instruments of indebtedness issued by the Govern- 19 ment of the Virgin Islands after the date of the enactment 20 of this Act. 21 (b) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO REACH AGREEMENT.— 22 If the agreement authorized in section 2(a) is not ratified 23 by both parties on or before December 31, 1999, the 24 amendments made by section 1— 25 4 HR 2841 RFS (A) shall not apply to instruments of indebted- 1 ness issued by the Government of the Virgin Islands 2 on or after December 31, 1999; and 3 (B) shall continue to apply to those instruments 4 of indebtedness issued by the Government of the 5 Virgin Islands after the date of the enactment of 6 this Act and before December 31, 1999. 7 SEC. 4. CONSTRUCTION. 8 These amendments to the Revised Organic Act of the 9 Virgin Islands are not intended to modify the internal rev- 10 enue laws. Thus, the bonds authorized by this bill must 11 comply with subsection (c) of section 149 of the Internal 12 Revenue Code of 1986 (which requires the new bonds com- 13 ply with the appropriate requirements of the Internal Rev- 14 enue Code). 15 Passed the House of Representatives September 27, 1999. Attest: JEFF TRANDAHL, Clerk.