48 U.S.C. § 2142 — Approval of Budgets

(a) Reasonable schedule for developing Budgets. As soon as practicable after all Oversight Board^* members and the Chair have been appointed, in the fiscal year when the Board is established, and in every later fiscal year while the Board operates, the Oversight Board must notify the Governor^* and Legislature^* of a schedule for developing, submitting, approving, and certifying Budgets. The schedule covers the number of fiscal years the Board chooses, but it must cover at least the fiscal year following the year in which the notice is delivered. The notice may also schedule revisions to already certified Budgets. The Board must later approve and certify those revisions. The Board must consult the Governor and Legislature when setting the schedule, but it alone may set the dates. It may change them by sending a later notice if it considers the new dates appropriate and reasonably feasible.

(b) Revenue forecast. By the time stated in the subsection (a) notice, the Oversight Board must give the Governor and Legislature a revenue forecast for the period covered by the Budgets. The Governor uses the forecast to develop the Budget^* under subsection (c).

(c) Budgets developed by Governor.

(1) Governor’s proposed budgets. By the time stated in the notice, the Governor must submit proposed Budgets to the Oversight Board. After consulting with the Governor through the process in the notice, the Board alone decides whether each proposed Budget complies with the applicable Fiscal Plan^*. If it complies, the Board must—

(A) approve it; and

(B) if it is a Territory Budget^*, submit it to the Legislature.

If it does not comply, the Board must give the Governor—

(i) a violation notice describing any needed corrective action; and

(ii) an opportunity to correct the violation under paragraph (2).

(2) Governor’s revisions. The Governor may correct the violations and submit a revised proposed Budget under paragraph (1). The Governor may submit as many revisions as the notice’s schedule allows. If the Governor does not develop a Budget that the Board finds compliant by the deadline, the Board must develop and submit a revised compliant Budget^*: to the Governor if it is an Instrumentality Budget^*, and to the Governor and Legislature if it is a Territory^* Budget.

(d) Budget approval by Legislature.

(1) Legislature-adopted budget. By the notice’s deadline, the Legislature must submit to the Board the Territory Budget it adopted. The Board must decide whether it complies. If it does, the Board must issue a compliance certification under subsection (e). If it does not, the Board must give the Legislature—

(A) a violation notice describing any needed corrective action; and

(B) an opportunity to correct the violation under paragraph (2).

(2) Legislature’s revisions. The Legislature may correct the violations and submit a revised Territory Budget through the process in paragraph (1) and by the notice’s deadline. It may submit as many revised adopted Territory Budgets as the schedule allows. If it does not adopt a Territory Budget that the Board finds compliant by the deadline, the Board must develop a revised compliant Territory Budget and submit it to the Governor and Legislature.

(e) Certification of Budgets.

(1) Certification of developed and approved Territory Budgets. If the Governor and Legislature develop and approve a compliant Territory Budget by the day before the fiscal year begins, following subsections (c) and (d), the Board must issue a compliance certification to both.

(2) Certification of developed Instrumentality Budgets. If the Governor develops a compliant Instrumentality Budget by the day before the fiscal year begins, following subsection (c), the Board must issue a compliance certification to the Governor.

(3) Deemed certification of Territory Budgets. If the Governor and Legislature do not develop and approve a compliant Territory Budget by the day before the fiscal year begins, the Board must submit a Budget to both, including any revision it made under subsection (d)(2). That Budget is—

(A) treated as approved by the Governor and Legislature;

(B) subject to a compliance certification issued by the Board to both; and

(C) fully effective on the first day of the applicable fiscal year.

(4) Deemed certification of Instrumentality Budgets. If the Governor does not develop a compliant Instrumentality Budget by the day before the fiscal year begins, the Board must submit an Instrumentality Budget to the Governor, including any revision it made under subsection (c)(2). That Budget is—

(A) treated as approved by the Governor;

(B) subject to a compliance certification issued by the Board to the Governor; and

(C) fully effective on the first day of the applicable fiscal year.

(f) Joint development of Budgets. Despite the rest of this section, the Governor, Legislature, and Board may jointly develop a Territory Budget, or the Governor and Board may jointly develop an Instrumentality Budget, for a fiscal year. If the Budget meets this section’s requirements and the relevant parties certify that it represents their consensus, it serves as the Budget for the territory or territorial instrumentality^* for that fiscal year. This section does not define “Fiscal Plan,” “Territory Budget,” “Instrumentality Budget,” “Budget,” or “territorial instrumentality.”