I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2590 

To provide for an additional requirements payment under the Help America 

Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that Puerto Rico is treated in the same 

manner as other States for purposes of determining the amount of 

the requirements payment made under such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 6, 2007 

Mr. FORTUN ̃O introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To provide for an additional requirements payment under 

the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that Puerto Rico is treated in the same manner as other States 

for purposes of determining the amount of the requirements payment made under such Act, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 Congress finds as follows: 

5 (1) The Help America Vote Act of 2002 

6 (HAVA) established a series of Federal requirements 


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1 for election administration and provided funding for 

2 States and territories to meet those requirements. 

3 (2) The amount of funds provided to a State 

4 was determined under a formula which is based 

5 largely on the State’s voting age population, with a 

6 base minimum amount. However, the base minimum 

7 amount for a State for a fiscal year was one-half of 

8 one percent of the total amount appropriated for the 

9 year, while the base minimum for amount for Puerto 

10 Rico and the other territories was one-tenth of one 

11 percent of the total amount appropriated for the 

12 year. 

13 (3) Of all the States and territories whose pay14 ment under HAVA was the base minimum amount, 

15 only Puerto Rico received less than it would have re16 ceived if the payment had been based on voting age 

17 population. Puerto Rico ranked 27th in voting age 

18 population in 2000 (2,716,509), but received less 

19 than any State and received the same amount as 

20 American Samoa (whose voting age population was 

21 31,753), Guam (99,951), and the United States Vir22 gin Islands (74,323). 

23 (4) 24 states and the District of Columbia had 

24 smaller voting age populations than Puerto Rico but 


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1 received more HAVA funding to meet the new Fed2 eral requirements. 

3 (5) The costs which a State incurs in meeting 

4 HAVA’s requirements are driven largely by the size 

5 of its electorate. 

6 (6) Because the amount provided to Puerto 

7 Rico under HAVA was not based upon the size of 

8 its electorate, HAVA failed to provide Puerto Rico 

9 with an amount which reflected the costs of com10 plying with the Act’s requirements. 

11 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS PAYMENT FOR PUERTO RICO FOR 

12 ELECTION ASSISTANCE. 

13 (a) PAYMENT.—Not later than December 31, 2007, 

14 the Election Assistance Commission shall make a require15 ments payment under subtitle D of title II of the Help 

16 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 et seq.) to 

17 the State Election Commission of Puerto Rico. 

18 (b) USE OF PAYMENT.—The use of the payment 

19 made under subsection (a) shall be subject to the same 

20 terms and conditions as the use of a payment made under 

21 section 251 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

22 (c) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The amount of the pay23 ment made under subsection (a) shall be equal to the dif24 ference between— 


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1 (1) the aggregate amount of requirements pay2 ments made to Puerto Rico under subtitle D of title 

3 II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 prior to 

4 the enactment of this Act; and 

5 (2) the aggregate amount of requirements pay6 ments which would have been made to Puerto Rico 

7 under such subtitle prior to the enactment of this 

8 Act if Puerto Rico had been treated in the same 

9 manner as each of the several States and the Dis10 trict of Columbia. 

11 SEC. 3. REVISION OF FORMULA FOR DETERMINING MIN12 IMUM AMOUNT OF REQUIREMENTS PAY13 MENTS TO PUERTO RICO. 

14 Section 252(c) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

15 (42 U.S.C. 15402(c)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘several 

17 States or the District of Columbia,’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘several States, the District of Columbia, or the 

19 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,’’; and 

20 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘the Common21 wealth of Puerto Rico,’’. 

Æ 


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