22 U.S.C. § 290m — North American Development Bank

(a) Acceptance of membership: The President is authorized to accept U.S. membership in the North American Development Bank — called the "Bank" — as set out in Chapter II of the Border Environment Cooperation Agreement, called the "Cooperation Agreement." (b) Subscription of stock: (1) The Secretary of the Treasury may subscribe, on behalf of the United States, to up to 150,000 shares of the Bank's capital stock. Except as described in paragraph (3), this only takes effect to the extent Congress approves the money in advance through appropriations laws. (2) Congress authorizes $1,500,000,000 for these shares, with no fiscal-year deadline — $225,000,000 for "paid-in" capital and $1,275,000,000 for "callable" capital, which the Bank can demand later if it needs it. (3) For fiscal year 1995 specifically: the Secretary must pay the Bank $56,250,000 from Treasury funds not otherwise committed, for the paid-in portion of the U.S. share. The Bank may transfer 10 percent of that to the President, under section 290m–2, to help pay for direct and guaranteed federal loans. Also for fiscal year 1995, the Secretary may not subscribe more than $318,750,000 to the callable capital portion. (4) Any net income the Bank pays back to the United States goes into the Treasury as a miscellaneous receipt. (c) Compensation of Board members: No one gets a salary or other pay, from either the Bank or the United States, for serving as a Board member. (d) Applicability of Bretton Woods Agreements Act: Section 4 of that Act applies to the Bank the same way it applies to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Monetary Fund. (e) Restrictions: Unless Congress passes a law allowing it, neither the President nor any other person or agency may, on behalf of the United States: (1) buy additional shares of the Bank's stock; (2) vote for or agree to any change to the Cooperation Agreement that increases what the U.S. owes, or that changes the Bank's purpose or functions; or (3) give the Bank a loan or any other financing. (f) Federal Reserve banks as depositories: If the Bank asks a Federal Reserve bank to act as its depository or fiscal agent, that Federal Reserve bank must do so, and the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors supervises and directs this work. (g) Jurisdiction of United States courts and enforcement of arbitral awards: For civil lawsuits brought in the United States by or against the Bank under the Cooperation Agreement — including lawsuits to enforce an arbitration award against the Bank — the Bank is treated as living in the federal judicial district that holds its main U.S. office or its agent for legal papers. Such lawsuits count as arising under U.S. law, and federal district courts, including the special courts listed in section 460 of title 28, have original jurisdiction. If the Bank is sued in state court, it can move the case to the right federal district court any time before trial, under the removal procedure in section 1446 of title 28. (h) Exemption from securities laws for certain securities issued by Bank; reports required: Securities the Bank issues — including any guarantee, limited or not — count as exempt securities under section 77c(a)(2) and section 78c(a)(12) of title 15, as long as they raise money for the Bank's capital resources as defined in Section 4 of Article II of Chapter II of the Cooperation Agreement, or as long as they're securities the Bank fully guarantees under the commitment in Section 3(d) of the same Article and Chapter. Even so, the Bank must file annual and other reports about these securities with the SEC, as the SEC decides is appropriate. The SEC, working with the National Advisory Council on International Monetary and Financial Problems, may suspend this exemption at any time, for some or all Bank securities, for as long as the suspension lasts, and must include information about how this is working — including views submitted by registered securities-dealer associations — in its annual reports to Congress. The law notes that paragraph (1) of this subsection was omitted from the published text.