Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015”.
Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015
AN ACT
Making consolidated appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2015, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Table of contents
Sec. 3 References
Sec. 4 Explanatory Statement
The explanatory statement regarding this Act, printed in the House of Representatives section of the Congressional Record on or about December 11, 2014 by the Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations of the House, shall have the same effect with respect to the allocation of funds and implementation of divisions A through K of this Act as if it were a joint explanatory statement of a committee of conference.
Sec. 5 Statement of appropriations
Sec. 6 Availability of funds
Each amount designated in this Act by the Congress as an emergency requirement pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 shall be available only if the President subsequently so designates all such amounts and transmits such designations to the Congress.
Each amount designated in this Act by the Congress for Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 shall be available (or rescinded, if applicable) only if the President subsequently so designates all such amounts and transmits such designations to the Congress.
Sec. 7 Technical allowance for estimating differences
If, for fiscal year 2015, new budget authority provided in appropriations Acts exceeds the discretionary spending limit for any category set forth in section 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 due to estimating differences with the Congressional Budget Office, an adjustment to the discretionary spending limit in such category for fiscal year 2015 shall be made by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the amount of the excess but the total of all such adjustments shall not exceed 0.2 percent of the sum of the adjusted discretionary spending limits for all categories for that fiscal year.
Sec. 8 Adjustments to compensation
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no adjustment shall be made under section 610(a) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 31) (relating to cost of living adjustments for Members of Congress) during fiscal year 2015.
Sec. 9 Study of electric rates in the insular areas
Definitions— In this section:
Comprehensive energy plan— The term comprehensive energy plan means a comprehensive energy plan prepared and updated under subsections (c) and (e) of section 604 of the Act entitled “An Act to authorize appropriations for certain insular areas of the United States, and for other purposes”, approved December 24, 1980 (48 U.S.C. 1492).
Energy action plan— The term energy action plan means the plan required by subsection (d).
Freely associated states— The term Freely Associated States means the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
Insular areas— The term insular areas means American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.
Team— The term team means the team established by the Secretary under subsection (b).
Establishment— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall, within the Empowering Insular Communities activity, establish a team of technical, policy, and financial experts—
to develop an energy action plan addressing the energy needs of each of the insular areas and Freely Associated States; and
to assist each of the insular areas and Freely Associated States in implementing such plan.
Participation of regional utility organizations— In establishing the team, the Secretary shall consider including regional utility organizations.
Energy action plan— In accordance with subsection (b), the energy action plan shall include—
recommendations, based on the comprehensive energy plan where applicable, to—
reduce reliance and expenditures on fuel shipped to the insular areas and Freely Associated States from ports outside the United States;
develop and utilize domestic fuel energy sources; and
improve performance of energy infrastructure and overall energy efficiency;
a schedule for implementation of such recommendations and identification and prioritization of specific projects;
a financial and engineering plan for implementing and sustaining projects; and
benchmarks for measuring progress toward implementation.
Reports to secretary— Not later than 1 year after the date on which the Secretary establishes the team and annually thereafter, the team shall submit to the Secretary a report detailing progress made in fulfilling its charge and in implementing the energy action plan.
Annual reports to congress— Not later than 30 days after the date on which the Secretary receives a report submitted by the team under subsection (e), the Secretary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a summary of the report of the team.
Approval of secretary required— The energy action plan shall not be implemented until the Secretary approves the energy action plan.
Sec. 10 Amendments to the consolidated natural resources act
Section 6 of Public Law 94–241 (90 Stat. 263; 122 Stat. 854) is amended—
in subsection (a)(2), by striking “December 31, 2014, except as provided in subsections (b) and (d)” and inserting “December 31, 2019”; and
in subsection (d)—
in the third sentence of paragraph (2), by striking “not to extend beyond December 31, 2014, unless extended pursuant to paragraph 5 of this subsection” and inserting ““ending on December 31, 2019””;
by striking paragraph (5); and
by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (5).
Sec. 11 Payments in lieu of taxes
For payments in lieu of taxes under chapter 69 of title 31, United States Code, for fiscal year 2015, $372,000,000 shall be available to the Secretary of the Interior.
The amount made available in subsection (a) shall be in addition to amounts made available for payments in lieu of taxes by the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.