II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 865 

To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to establish an oil spill response 

and prevention grant program and provide for advances from the Oil 

Spill Liability Trust Fund, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 

1986 to extend and modify the application of the Oil Spill Liability 

Trust Fund financing rate, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 25, 2019 

Mr. SULLIVAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to establish an 

oil spill response and prevention grant program and provide for advances from the Oil Spill Liability Trust 

Fund, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

to extend and modify the application of the Oil Spill 

Liability Trust Fund financing rate, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Spill Response and 

5 Prevention Surety Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION. 

2 (a) OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION GRANT

3 PROGRAM.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title IV of the 

5 Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (Public Law 101–380; 104 

6 Stat. 509) is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 4119. OIL SPILL RESPONSE AND PREVENTION GRANT 

9 PROGRAMS. 

10 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

11 ‘‘(1) COMMITTEE.—The term ‘Committee’ 

12 means the Interagency Coordinating Committee on 

13 Oil Pollution Research established by section 

14 7001(a)(1). 

15 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en16 tity’ means an institution of higher education that— 

17 ‘‘(A) is located in an eligible State in which 

18 oil spills present a real and constant threat; 

19 ‘‘(B) has a broad base of competence in 

20 fields relating to— 

21 ‘‘(i) ocean, coastal, river, or Great 

22 Lakes resources; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) the modeling of, efficacy of re24 sponses to, and fates and effects of oil 

25 spills; 

26 ‘‘(C) is located in an area in which— 


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1 ‘‘(i) academic, engineering, and infra2 structure resources exist to adequately ad3 dress ongoing and future threats of oil 

4 spills; 

5 ‘‘(ii) Federal, State, industry, and 

6 academic resources are being directed to 

7 address threats of oil spills; 

8 ‘‘(iii) planned future developments 

9 would intensify or exacerbate threats of oil 

10 spills; and 

11 ‘‘(iv) research and development efforts 

12 would have the greatest impact on oil spill 

13 response and prevention; 

14 ‘‘(D) if proposing to conduct research on 

15 oil spill response and prevention in an ice-im16 pacted environment, has significant demon17 strable experience in the conduct of research in 

18 ice-impacted environments; and 

19 ‘‘(E) if proposing to conduct research in 

20 partnership with, or to subcontract work to, a 

21 foreign or private entity, is partnering with, or 

22 subcontracting to, a foreign or private entity 

23 that is uniquely equipped to support the re24 search being proposed. 


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1 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘eligible 

2 State’ means a State— 

3 ‘‘(A)(i) in which a marine oil terminal or 

4 transportation facility is located; or 

5 ‘‘(ii) that the Secretary determines has a 

6 substantial risk of oil spills through any other 

7 means of transportation; and 

8 ‘‘(B) with respect to which the Secretary 

9 has approved a proposal for the conduct of oil 

10 spill response or prevention activities or pro11 grams. 

12 ‘‘(4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

13 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

14 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAMS.—To enable a 

15 better understanding of oil spills and oil spill response, 

16 and to prevent oil spills, there are established— 

17 ‘‘(1) a program under which the Secretary shall 

18 biennially award grants to eligible entities for the 

19 conduct of oil spill response research and technology 

20 development activities and programs and oil spill 

21 prevention activities and programs that the Sec22 retary determines to be of substantial merit, includ23 ing the conduct of research on oil spill response and 

24 prevention in ice-impacted environments; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) a program under which the Secretary shall 

2 annually award grants to eligible States for the con3 duct of oil spill prevention activities and programs in 

4 the eligible States, including— 

5 ‘‘(A) equipment and technology upgrades; 

6 ‘‘(B) upgrades to, and promotion of opti7 mal use of, spill prevention and response train8 ing facilities; 

9 ‘‘(C) support of strategic plans to address 

10 aging bulk oil storage and transportation infra11 structure; 

12 ‘‘(D) risk assessments and studies; and 

13 ‘‘(E) abandoned and derelict vessel identi14 fication, remediation, and removal. 

15 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

16 under the program established by paragraph (1) or (2) 

17 of subsection (b), an eligible entity or eligible State, as 

18 applicable, shall submit to the Secretary an application at 

19 such time, in such manner, and containing such informa20 tion as the Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

21 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY GRANT PROGRAM.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In coordinating, 

24 prioritizing, and awarding grants under the 

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1 sure alignment with the principal objectives es2 tablished in the Oil Pollution Research and 

3 Technology Plan of the Committee under sec4 tion 7001(b), the Secretary shall coordinate 

5 with, and solicit recommendations from, the 

6 Committee. 

7 ‘‘(B) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The rec8 ommendations provided by the Committee 

9 under subparagraph (A) shall incorporate feed10 back from— 

11 ‘‘(i) oil and gas industry representa12 tives with expertise in relevant oil spill re13 sponse research; and 

14 ‘‘(ii) members of academia with the 

15 expertise described in clause (i). 

16 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE STATE GRANT PROGRAM.—In 

17 evaluating applications under the grant program es18 tablished by subsection (b)(2), the Secretary may so19 licit recommendations from— 

20 ‘‘(A) other relevant Federal departments 

21 and agencies; and 

22 ‘‘(B) the Committee, with respect to any 

23 research activity or program relating to oil spill 

24 prevention proposed in such an application. 

25 ‘‘(e) FUNDING.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Of the amount of interest 

2 produced by investments in the Fund— 

3 ‘‘(A) $10,000,000, as indexed for United 

4 States dollar inflation from the date of enact5 ment of this section (as measured by the Con6 sumer Price Index), shall be available bienni7 ally, without further appropriation, to carry out 

8 the grant program established by subsection 

9 (b)(1); and 

10 ‘‘(B) $25,000,000, as indexed for United 

11 States dollar inflation from the date of enact12 ment of this section (as measured by the Con13 sumer Price Index), shall be available annually, 

14 without further appropriation, to carry out the 

15 grant program established by subsection (b)(2). 

16 ‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

17 amounts made available under subparagraphs (A) 

18 and (B) of paragraph (1) that are not otherwise ap19 propriated, the Secretary may use not more than 2 

20 percent for the administrative expenses of the Sec21 retary in carrying out the grant programs estab22 lished by paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively, of 

23 subsection (b) for each fiscal year.’’. 

24 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con25 tents of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 


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1 prec. 2701) is amended by inserting after the item 

2 relating to section 4118 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 4119. Oil spill response and prevention grant programs.’’. 

3 (3) EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY.—Section 

4 9509(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

5 amended— 

6 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

7 (A), by striking ‘‘section 6002(b)’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘section 4119 or 6002(b)’’; 

9 (B) in subparagraph (E), by striking 

10 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

11 (C) in subparagraph (F), by striking the 

12 period at the end and inserting ‘‘, and’’; and 

13 (D) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(G) for carrying out the grant programs 

15 under section 4119 of the Oil Pollution Act of 

16 1990.’’. 

17 (b) ADVANCES OF AMOUNTS FROM OIL SPILL LI18 ABILITY TRUST FUND.—Section 6002(b) of the Oil Pollu19 tion Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2752(b)) is amended— 

20 (1) in the fourth sentence, by striking ‘‘Sums’’ 

21 and inserting the following: 

22 ‘‘(4) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS.—The 

23 amounts’’; 

24 (2) in the third sentence— 

25 (A) by striking ‘‘by the Coast Guard’’; and 


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1 (B) by striking ‘‘Amounts advanced’’ and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(3) REPAYMENT OF ADVANCED AMOUNTS.— 

4 Any amounts advanced under paragraph (2)’’; 

5 (3) by striking the second sentence and insert6 ing the following: 

7 ‘‘(2) ADVANCE OF FUNDS.—To the extent that 

8 the amount under paragraph (1) is not adequate, 

9 the Coast Guard— 

10 ‘‘(A) may obtain from the Fund one or 

11 more advances of such sums as may be nec12 essary, up to a maximum of $100,000,000, with 

13 the total amount of all advances not to exceed 

14 the amounts available under section 9509(c)(2) 

15 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; and 

16 ‘‘(B) not later than 30 days after the date 

17 on which each advance is obtained under sub18 paragraph (A), and annually thereafter until all 

19 advances are repaid, shall submit to the Com20 mittees on Commerce, Science, and Transpor21 tation and Finance of the Senate and the Com22 mittees on Transportation and Infrastructure 

23 and Ways and Means of the House of Rep24 resentatives a report that describes— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the amount advanced under that 

2 subparagraph; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) the facts and circumstances ne4 cessitating, supporting, and justifying the 

5 advance.’’; and 

6 (4) in the first sentence— 

7 (A) by striking ‘‘, as amended by this Act’’ 

8 and inserting ‘‘(33 U.S.C. 1321(c))’’; and 

9 (B) by striking ‘‘Subsection (a) shall not 

10 apply to sections’’ and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) shall not 

12 apply to section’’. 

13 (c) APPLICABILITY OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST

14 FUND FINANCING RATE.— 

15 (1) PERMANENT EXTENSION AND PERIODIC

16 SUSPENSION.—Subsection (f) of section 4611 of the 

17 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 

18 as follows: 

19 ‘‘(f) APPLICATION OF OIL SPILL LIABILITY TRUST

20 FUND FINANCING RATE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Oil Spill Liability 

22 Trust Fund financing rate under subsection (c) shall 

23 not apply during any period— 

24 ‘‘(A) beginning on the day after the last 

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1 retary estimates that, as of the close of that 

2 quarter, the unobligated balance in the Oil Spill 

3 Liability Trust Fund is more than 

4 $7,000,000,000, and 

5 ‘‘(B) ending 30 days after the last day of 

6 any subsequent calendar quarter for which the 

7 Secretary estimates that, as of the close of that 

8 quarter, such unobligated balance is $5,000,000 

9 or less. 

10 ‘‘(2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—In the case of 

11 any calendar year beginning after December 31, 

12 2019, the $7,000,000,000 amount in paragraph 

13 (1)(A) and the $5,000,000,000 amount in paragraph 

14 (1)(B) shall each be increased by an amount equal 

15 to— 

16 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

17 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter18 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

19 year, by substituting ‘2018’ for ‘2016’ in sub20 paragraph (A)(ii) thereof. 

21 Any increase determined under the preceding sen22 tence shall be rounded to the nearest multiple of 

23 $100,000,000.’’. 

24 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

25 by this subsection shall apply to crude oil received 


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1 or petroleum products entered after the date that is 

2 7 days after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

3 (d) MODIFICATION OF LIMITATION ON OIL SPILL LI4 ABILITY TRUST FUND EXPENDITURES.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

6 9509(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

7 amended— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’ in clause 

9 (i) and inserting ‘‘$2,000,000,000’’; 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘$500,000,000’’ in clause 

11 (ii) and inserting ‘‘$1,000,000,000’’; and 

12 (C) by striking ‘‘1,000,000,000 PER INCI13 DENT, ETC’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘PER

14 INCIDENT LIMITATIONS’’. 

15 (2) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Section 

16 9509(c)(2) of such Code is amended by adding at 

17 the end the following new subparagraph: 

18 ‘‘(C) INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS.—In the 

19 case of any calendar year beginning after De20 cember 31, 2019, the $2,000,000,000 amount 

21 in subparagraph (A)(i) and the $1,000,000,000 

22 amount in subparagraph (A)(ii) shall each be 

23 increased by an amount equal to— 

24 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 


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1 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de2 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal3 endar year, by substituting ‘2018’ for 

4 ‘2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) thereof. 

5 Any increase determined under the preceding 

6 sentence shall be rounded to the nearest mul7 tiple of $100,000,000.’’. 

8 (e) CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF CRUDE OIL

9 FOR EXCISE TAX PURPOSES.— 

10 (1) DEFINITION OF CRUDE OIL.—Paragraph 

11 (1) of section 4612(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 

12 of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(1) CRUDE OIL.—The term ‘crude oil’ includes 

14 crude oil condensates, natural gasoline, any bitumen 

15 or bituminous mixture, any oil derived from a bitu16 men or bituminous mixture.’’. 

17 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

18 by this subsection shall apply to oil and petroleum 

19 products received or entered during calendar quar20 ters beginning more than 60 days after the date of 

21 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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