North American Development Bank Improvement Act of 2019

North American Development Bank Improvement Act of 2019

This bill authorizes the Department of the Treasury to provide a capital increase for the North American Development Bank, a financial institution the United States and Mexico created to develop infrastructure that protect the environment along their shared border.

Treasury may subscribe to and purchase 150,000 shares of the bank's capital stock, to the extent that funds are appropriated for such a purpose.

Treasury shall support projects related to water pollution and conservation, waste treatment, natural gas and energy security, expanding land border crossings, and reducing pollution related to such traffic. It shall also support developing various performance measures at the bank and report to Congress about its progress imposing such measures.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 132 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 132

   To provide for a general capital increase for the North American 
               Development Bank, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2019

Mr. Cuellar (for himself, Mr. Hurd of Texas, and Mr. Gonzalez of Texas) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                           Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for a general capital increase for the North American 
               Development Bank, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``North American Development Bank 
Improvement Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. GENERAL CAPITAL INCREASE.

    Part 2 of subtitle D of title V of Public Law 103-182 (22 U.S.C. 
290m et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 547. FIRST CAPITAL INCREASE.

    ``(a) Subscription Authorized.--The Secretary of the Treasury is 
authorized to subscribe on behalf of the United States to, and make 
payment for, 150,000 additional shares of the capital stock of the 
Bank.
    ``(b) Limitation.--Any subscription by the United States to the 
capital stock of the Bank shall be effective only to such extent and in 
such amounts as are provided in advance in appropriations Acts.''.

SEC. 3. POLICY GOALS.

    (a) In General.--In addition to projects within the mission and 
scope of the North American Development Bank on the day before the date 
of the enactment of this Act and pursuant to section 2 of article II of 
the Charter, the Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the 
representatives of the United States to the Board of Directors of the 
Bank to use the voice and vote of the United States to support the 
financing of projects related to--
            (1) environmental infrastructure relating to water 
        pollution, wastewater treatment, water conservation, municipal 
        solid waste, and related matters;
            (2) natural gas, including natural gas pipelines and 
        combined cycle power plants, with major emphasis on cross-
        border energy distribution and consumption and the energy 
        security of the United States and Mexico; and
            (3) the expansion or new construction of international land 
        border crossings to help facilitate the flow of goods and 
        people across the international land border between the United 
        States and Mexico while reducing wait times at border crossings 
        and improving air quality by reducing pollution related to 
        vehicular and commercial traffic.
    (b) Charter Defined.--In this section, the term ``Charter'' means 
the Agreement Concerning the Establishment of a Border Environment 
Cooperation Commission and a North American Development Bank, signed at 
Washington and Mexico November 16 and 18, 1993, and entered into force 
January 1, 1994 (TIAS 12516), between the United States and Mexico.

SEC. 4. EFFICIENCIES AND STREAMLINING.

    The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the representatives of 
the United States to the Board of Directors of the North American 
Development Bank to use the voice and vote of the United States to seek 
to require the Bank to develop and implement efficiency improvements to 
streamline and accelerate the project certification and financing 
process, including through initiatives such as single certifications 
for revolving facilities, programmatic certification of similar groups 
of small projects, expansion of internal authority to approve qualified 
projects below certain monetary thresholds, and expedited certification 
for public sector projects subject to lender bidding processes.

SEC. 5. PERFORMANCE MEASURES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall direct the 
representatives of the United States to the Board of Directors of the 
North American Development Bank to use the voice and vote of the United 
States to seek to require the Bank to develop performance measures 
that--
            (1) demonstrate how projects and financing approved by the 
        Bank are meeting the Bank's mission and providing added value 
        to the region near the international land border between the 
        United States and Mexico; and
            (2) are reviewed and updated not less frequently than 
        annually.
    (b) Report to Congress.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall submit 
to Congress, with the submission to Congress of the budget of the 
President for a fiscal year under section 1105(a) of title 31, United 
States Code, a report on progress in imposing the performance measures 
described in subsection (a).
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