48 U.S.C. § 2144: Review of activities to ensure compliance with Fiscal Plan

Except to the extent that the Oversight Board may provide otherwise in its bylaws, rules, and procedures, not later than 7 business days after a territorial government duly enacts any law during any fiscal year in which the Oversight Board is in operation, the Governor shall submit the law to the Oversight Board. A formal estimate prepared by an appropriate entity of the territorial government with expertise in budgets and financial management of the impact, if any, that the law will have on expenditures and revenues. If the appropriate entity described in subparagraph (A) finds that the law is not significantly inconsistent with the Fiscal Plan for the fiscal year, it shall issue a certification of such finding. If the appropriate entity described in subparagraph (A) finds that the law is significantly inconsistent with the Fiscal Plan for the fiscal year, it shall issue a certification of such finding, together with the entity’s reasons for such finding. the Governor submits a law to the Oversight Board under this subsection that is not accompanied by the estimate required under paragraph (2)(A); the Governor submits a law to the Oversight Board under this subsection that is not accompanied by either a certification described in paragraph (2)(B) or (2)(C); or the Governor submits a law to the Oversight Board under this subsection that is accompanied by a certification described in paragraph (2)(C) that the law is significantly inconsistent with the Fiscal Plan. After sending a notification to the Governor and the Legislature under paragraph (3)(A) or (3)(B) with respect to a law, the Oversight Board may direct the Governor to provide the missing estimate or certification (as the case may be), in accordance with such procedures as the Oversight Board may establish. correct the law to eliminate the inconsistency; or provide an explanation for the inconsistency that the Oversight Board finds reasonable and appropriate. If the territorial government fails to comply with a direction given by the Oversight Board under paragraph (4) with respect to a law, the Oversight Board may take such actions as it considers necessary, consistent with this chapter, to ensure that the enactment or enforcement of the law will not adversely affect the territorial government’s compliance with the Fiscal Plan, including preventing the enforcement or application of the law. At the request of the Legislature, the Oversight Board may conduct a preliminary review of proposed legislation before the Legislature to determine whether the legislation as proposed would be consistent with the applicable Fiscal Plan under this subtitle, 1 except that any such preliminary review shall not be binding on the Oversight Board in reviewing any law subsequently submitted under this subsection. 1 See References in Text note below. The Oversight Board shall work with a covered territory’s office of the comptroller or any functionally equivalent entity to promote compliance with the applicable law of any covered territory that requires agencies and instrumentalities of the territorial government to maintain a registry of all contracts executed, including amendments thereto, and to remit a copy to the office of the comptroller for inclusion in a comprehensive database available to the public. With respect to Puerto Rico, the term “applicable law” refers to 2 L.P.R.A. 97, as amended. The Oversight Board may establish policies to require prior Oversight Board approval of certain contracts, including leases and contracts to a governmental entity or government-owned corporations rather than private enterprises that are proposed to be executed by the territorial government, to ensure such proposed contracts promote market competition and are not inconsistent with the approved Fiscal Plan. It is the sense of Congress that any policies established by the Oversight Board pursuant to paragraph (2) should be designed to make the government contracting process more effective, to increase the public’s faith in this process, to make appropriate use of the Oversight Board’s time and resources, to make the territorial government a facilitator and not a competitor to private enterprise, and to avoid creating any additional bureaucratic obstacles to efficient contracting. The provisions of this paragraph shall apply with respect to a rule, regulation, or executive order proposed to be issued by the Governor (or the head of any department or agency of the territorial government) in the same manner as such provisions apply to a contract. If a contract, rule, regulation, or executive order fails to comply with policies established by the Oversight Board under this subsection, the Oversight Board may take such actions as it considers necessary to ensure that such contract, rule, executive order or regulation will not adversely affect the territorial government’s compliance with the Fiscal Plan, including by preventing the execution or enforcement of the contract, rule, executive order or regulation. If the Governor submits a request to the Legislature for the reprogramming of any amounts provided in a certified Budget, the Governor shall submit such request to the Oversight Board, which shall analyze whether the proposed reprogramming is significantly inconsistent with the Budget, and submit its analysis to the Legislature as soon as practicable after receiving the request. The Legislature shall not adopt a reprogramming, and no officer or employee of the territorial government may carry out any reprogramming, until the Oversight Board has provided the Legislature with an analysis that certifies such reprogramming will not be inconsistent with the Fiscal Plan and Budget. During the period after a territory becomes a covered territory and prior to the appointment of all members and the Chair of the Oversight Board, such covered territory shall not enact new laws that either permit the transfer of any funds or assets outside the ordinary course of business or that are inconsistent with the constitution or laws of the territory as of June 30, 2016 , provided that any executive or legislative action authorizing the movement of funds or assets during this time period may be subject to review and rescission by the Oversight Board upon appointment of the Oversight Board’s full membership. was enacted during the period between, with respect to Puerto Rico, May 4, 2016 ; or with respect to any other territory, 45 days prior to the establishment of the Oversight Board for such territory, and the date of appointment of all members and the Chair of the Oversight Board; and alters pre-existing priorities of creditors in a manner outside the ordinary course of business or inconsistent with the territory’s constitution or the laws of the territory as of, in the case of Puerto Rico, May 4, 2016 , or with respect to any other territory, 45 days prior to the establishment of the Oversight Board for such territory; comply with a court-issued consent decree or injunction, or an administrative order or settlement with a Federal agency, with respect to Federal programs; implement a federally authorized or federally delegated program; implement territorial laws, which are consistent with a certified Fiscal Plan, that execute Federal requirements and standards; or preserve and maintain federally funded mass transportation assets.