Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on December 19, 2013
S. 1237 would amend laws concerning the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (collectively known as insular areas). The legislation would authorize federal agencies to waive the requirement to provide local matching funds to receive certain federal grants in the insular areas; the amount of the waiver could not exceed $500,000. The legislation also would create a fund that would pay compensation to people and their family members who were victims of the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II. Finally, S. 1237 would require reports to the Congress by the Department of the Interior, the Government Accountability Office, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy concerning issues faced by the insular areas.
CBO estimates that enacting S. 1237 would increase net direct spending by about $20 million over the 2015-2024 period. Because the bill would affect direct spending, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
Implementing the bill would increase spending subject to appropriation by about $1 million over the 2015-2019 period, assuming availability of appropriated funds.
S. 1237 would impose no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
