48 U.S.C. § 2102: Severability

Summary

If a court finds part of the chapter invalid, the rest stays in effect. Subchapters I, II, and III cannot be split apart — they stand or fall together. If the court says a part is invalid because it did not treat similar territories the same, the court must extend that part to those other territories. That extension only applies if the territory’s legislature passes a resolution, signed by the governor, asking for a Financial Oversight and Management Board under section 2121.

Title 48, §2102

Territories and Insular Possessions, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In general

Except as provided in subsection (b), if any provision of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of this chapter, or the application of that provision to persons or circumstances other than those as to which it is held invalid, is not affected thereby, provided that subchapter III is not severable from subchapters I and II, and subchapters I and II are not severable from subchapter III.

(b)Uniformity

If a court holds invalid any provision of this chapter or the application thereof on the ground that the provision fails to treat similarly situated territories uniformly, then the court shall, in granting a remedy, order that the provision of this chapter or the application thereof be extended to any other similarly situated territory, provided that the legislature of that territory adopts a resolution signed by the territory’s governor requesting the establishment and organization of a Financial Oversight and Management Board pursuant to section 2121 of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 114–187, June 30, 2016, 130 Stat. 549, known as the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act and also as PROMESA, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2101 of this title and Tables.

§2102 Severability