I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6819 

To address the growing unreimbursed economic impact costs on communities 

that receive and host Compact migrants from the Freely Associated 

States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 22, 2022 

Mr. SAN NICOLAS (for himself, Mr. CASE, and Mr. KAHELE) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To address the growing unreimbursed economic impact costs 

on communities that receive and host Compact migrants 

from the Freely Associated States, 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Compact of Free Asso5 ciation Host Communities Support Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. WAIVER OF MATCHING FUNDS REQUIREMENT. 

7 A Federal department, agency, independent agency, 

8 office, or instrumentality may waive any requirement for 


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1 local matching funds (including in-kind contributions) oth2 erwise required to be provided by an affected jurisdiction 

3 for any Federal grant requiring matching funds. 

4 SEC. 3. RECONCILIATION OF UNREIMBURSED IMPACT EX5 PENSES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—To address previously accrued 

7 and unreimbursed impact expenses, at the request of the 

8 Governor of an affected jurisdiction, the President may 

9 reduce, release, or waive all or part of amounts owed by 

10 the Government of an affected jurisdiction (or the govern11 ment’s autonomous agencies or instrumentalities) to any 

12 department, agency, independent agency, office, or instru13 mentality of the United States. 

14 (b) TERMS AND CONDITIONS.— 

15 (1) SUBSTANTIATION OF IMPACT COSTS.—Not 

16 later than 120 days after the date of the enactment 

17 of this Act, the Governor of each affected jurisdic18 tion shall submit to the Secretary a report, prepared 

19 in consultation with an independent accounting firm, 

20 substantiating unreimbursed economic impacts to 

21 the affected jurisdiction of receiving compact mi22 grants from 2004 through 2021. Upon request of 

23 the Secretary, the Governor of the affected jurisdic24 tion shall submit to the Secretary copies of all docuVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:00 Mar 01, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6819.IH H6819

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1 ments upon which the report submitted by that Gov2 ernor was based. 

3 (2) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW AND COMMENT.— 

4 Any reduction, release, or waiver under this Act 

5 shall not take effect until 60 days after the Presi6 dent notifies Congress of the President’s intent to 

7 approve a request of the Governor of each affected 

8 jurisdiction. In exercising his authority under this 

9 section and in determining whether to give final ap10 proval to a request, the President shall take into 

11 consideration comments the President may receive 

12 after Congressional review. 

13 (c) ANNUAL LIMIT.—The President may reduce, re14 lease, or waive, under subsection (a), amounts totaling, in 

15 the aggregate, not more than $100,000,000 annually. 

16 SEC. 4. SUNSET. 

17 This authority of the Secretary under sections 2 and 

18 3 shall terminate on that date that the Secretary certifies 

19 that all the unreimbursed economic impact costs to af20 fected jurisdictions have been reconciled and repaid to 

21 those affected jurisdictions. 

22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

23 For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 

24 apply: 


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1 (1) AFFECTED JURISDICTION.—The term ‘‘af2 fected jurisdiction’’ means any State, territory, or 

3 possession of the United States that receives and 

4 hosts a Compact migrant. 

5 (2) COMPACT MIGRANT.—The term ‘‘compact 

6 migrant’’ means a person, or their children under 

7 the age of 18, admitted or resident pursuant to sec8 tion 141 of the U.S.–RMI or U.S.–FSM Compact, 

9 or section 141 of the Palau Compact who, as of a 

10 date referenced in the most recently published enu11 meration is a resident of an affected jurisdiction. As 

12 used in this subsection, the term ‘‘resident’’ shall be 

13 a person who has a ‘residence,’ as that term is de14 fined in section 101(a)(33) of the Immigration and 

15 Nationality Act. 

16 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Interior. 

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