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) introduced 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 relating to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 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. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Puerto Rico Data Collection Equality Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 


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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 statistical 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 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Sec. 105. National Agricultural Statistics Service treatment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Sec. 106. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: National Survey on Drug Use and Health. 

Sec. 107. National Center for Health Statistics treatment of the Commonwealth 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. 

1 TITLE I—MATTERS RELATED TO 

2 FEDERAL STATISTICAL PRO3 GRAMS 

4 SEC. 101. PLAN TO INCLUDE THE COMMONWEALTH OF 

5 PUERTO RICO IN FEDERAL STATISTICAL 

6 PROGRAMS. 

7 (a) PLAN.—The head of the Interagency Council on 

8 Statistical Policy shall develop a plan to collect and pub9 lish statistics regarding the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico 

10 in the same manner as statistics are collected and reported 

11 by Federal agencies for the several States. 

12 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The head of the Interagency 

13 Council on Statistical Policy, in coordination with the 


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1 heads of appropriate Federal agencies, shall implement 

2 the plan developed under subsection (a). 

3 (c) REPORT.—Not later than two years after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, and every two years there5 after, the head of the Interagency Council on Statistical 

6 Policy shall submit to Congress a report which shall in7 clude— 

8 (1) a description of the plan developed under 

9 subsection (a); and 

10 (2) information on the implementation of such 

11 plan. 

12 SEC. 102. STATISTICS TO BE COLLECTED AND REPORTED 

13 BY THE CENSUS BUREAU. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of the 

15 Census, in consultation with the heads of appropriate Fed16 eral agencies, shall include statistics regarding the Com17 monwealth of Puerto Rico collected and reported by the 

18 Bureau as part of the statistical programs described in 

19 subsection (b). 

20 (b) STATISTICAL PROGRAMS DESCRIBED.—The sta21 tistical programs described in this subsection include the 

22 following: 

23 (1) Census of Governments. 

24 (2) Survey of Business Owners and Self-Em25 ployed Persons. 


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1 (3) Building Permits Survey. 

2 (4) Quarterly Workforce Indicators. 

3 (5) American Housing Survey. 

4 (6) Construction Progress Reporting Survey. 

5 (7) Housing Vacancy Survey. 

6 (8) Manufactured Housing Survey. 

7 (9) Value of Construction Put in Place Survey. 

8 (10) Current Population Survey. 

9 (c) NATIONAL ECONOMIC CENSUS.—The Director of 

10 the Bureau of the Census shall— 

11 (1) collect and report statistics regarding the 

12 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for the Economic 

13 Census of Island Areas in a manner consistent, in 

14 terms of both substance and timing, with the collec15 tion and reporting of statistics for the National Eco16 nomic Census; and 

17 (2) not later than 1 year after the date of en18 actment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 

19 recommending whether statistics regarding the Com20 monwealth of Puerto Rico should be included in the 

21 National Economic Census rather than in the Eco22 nomic Census of Island Areas. 

23 (d) POPULATION OF TERRITORIES.—With respect to 

24 any calculation or estimate of the total population of the 

25 United States conducted by the Bureau of the Census, inVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:10 Mar 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1405.IH H1405

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1 cluding the decennial census of population under section 

2 141 of title 13, United States Code, the Director of the 

3 Bureau of the Census shall include in any such calculation 

4 or estimate, and any report issued or published in connec5 tion with such calculation or estimate, the total population 

6 of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and any other terri7 tory or possession of the United States. 

8 SEC. 103. BUREAU OF ECONOMIC ANALYSIS TREATMENT OF 

9 U.S. TERRITORIES. 

10 The Bureau of Economic Analysis shall include Puer11 to Rico, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 

12 Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States 

13 Virgin Islands in its quarterly calculation of real gross do14 mestic product by State and include such calculations in 

15 its estimates of the gross domestic product of the Nation 

16 as a whole. 

17 SEC. 104. NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS 

18 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 

19 PUERTO RICO. 

20 The Secretary of Education, acting through the Na21 tional Center for Education Statistics, shall, to the max22 imum extent practicable, collect and publish data for the 

23 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the same manner as 

24 data is collected and published for the several States. 


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1 SEC. 105. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE 

2 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 

3 PUERTO RICO. 

4 (a) SURVEYS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO

5 RICO.—The Administrator of the National Agricultural 

6 Statistics Service shall— 

7 (1) include, to the maximum extent practicable, 

8 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the surveys 

9 conducted by the Service; and 

10 (2) in the case of agricultural data collection 

11 that cannot be carried out under the surveys de12 scribed in paragraph (1), identify an alternative 

13 method of collecting such data from the Common14 wealth of Puerto Rico. 

15 (b) REPORT ON FEASIBILITY OF SURVEYS IN THE

16 COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO.—Not later than 1 

17 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad18 ministrator of the National Agricultural Statistics Service 

19 shall submit a report to Congress that includes rec20 ommendations on the feasibility of conducting surveys in 

21 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

22 SEC. 106. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERV23 ICES ADMINISTRATION: NATIONAL SURVEY 

24 ON DRUG USE AND HEALTH. 

25 Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment 

26 of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Assistant 


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1 Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use shall sub2 mit to each committee of the Congress a report on the 

3 status of efforts to include the populations of the Com4 monwealth of Puerto Rico and the other territories of the 

5 United States in the National Survey on Drug Use and 

6 Health for fiscal year 2022 and subsequent fiscal years. 

7 SEC. 107. NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEALTH STATISTICS 

8 TREATMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF 

9 PUERTO RICO. 

10 Section 306 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 242k) is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (n) as sub13 section (o); and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (m) the fol15 lowing: 

16 ‘‘(n) In carrying out this section, the Secretary, act17 ing through the Center, shall take all reasonable steps to 

18 collect, evaluate, and make available information with re19 spect to the populations of the Commonwealth of Puerto 

20 Rico and the other territories to the same extent as the 

21 Secretary collects, evaluates, and makes available informa22 tion with respect to the populations of the several States.’’. 


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1 SEC. 108. BUREAU OF JUSTICE INCLUSION OF PUERTO 

2 RICO IN JUSTICE STATISTICS. 

3 Section 302(d) of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

4 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10132(d)) is amend5 ed by inserting after paragraph (2) the following: 

6 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION OF PUERTO RICO IN JUSTICE

7 STATISTICS.—To the extent practicable, the Director 

8 shall gather information from Puerto Rico in car9 rying out the statistical collection, analysis, and dis10 semination functions of the Bureau.’’. 

11 SEC. 109. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION TREAT12 MENT OF PUERTO RICO. 

13 The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Admin14 istrator of the Energy Information Administration, shall 

15 annually update the data and information included on the 

16 website of the Energy Information Administration in order 

17 to ensure, to the extent practicable, that the data and in18 formation included on the website with respect to Puerto 

19 Rico is as inclusive and complete as the data and informa20 tion included on the website with respect to any State. 

21 SEC. 110. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS TREATMENT OF 

22 PUERTO RICO. 

23 (a) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.—The Bureau of Labor 

24 Statistics shall calculate the unemployment rate of Puerto 

25 Rico and include such calculation when calculating and re26 porting the Nation’s unemployment rate. 


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1 (b) INFLATION.—The Bureau of Labor Statistics 

2 shall calculate the rate of inflation in Puerto Rico and in3 clude such calculation when calculating and reporting the 

4 rate of inflation of the Nation. 

5 TITLE II—MATTERS RELATED TO 

6 PUERTO RICO’S ECONOMY 

7 SEC. 201. ANNUAL UPDATE OF THE REPORT ON THE COM8 PETITIVENESS OF PUERTO RICO’S ECONOMY. 

9 The Federal Reserve Bank of New York shall annu10 ally update the report titled ‘‘Report on the Competitive11 ness of Puerto Rico’s Economy’’ (published June 29, 

12 2012). 

13 SEC. 202. EFFECT OF ELECTRIC POWER ON THE ECONOMIC 

14 GROWTH OF PUERTO RICO. 

15 The Secretary of Energy, acting through the Admin16 istrator of the Energy Information Administration, shall 

17 annually submit to Congress a report on the cost and 

18 unreliability of electric power in Puerto Rico and how such 

19 cost and unreliability affects the economic growth of Puer20 to Rico. 

Æ 


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