II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1119 

To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 for the Federal 

Maritime Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 15, 2017 

Mrs. FISCHER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 

for the Federal Maritime Commission, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 

6 2017’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

8 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Authorization of appropriations. 

Sec. 3. Record of meetings and votes. 


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Sec. 4. Public participation. 

Sec. 5. Preventing deceptive practices. 

Sec. 6. Reports filed with the Commission. 

Sec. 7. International ocean shipping supply chain information portal demonstration project. 

Sec. 8. Transparency. 

Sec. 9. Treatment of tug operators. 

Sec. 10. Prohibitions and penalties. 

1 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 308 of title 46, United 

3 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘$24,700,000 for 

4 each of fiscal years 2016 and 2017’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘$28,490,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 and 2019’’. 

6 (b) INTERNATIONAL OCEAN SHIPPING SUPPLY

7 CHAIN INFORMATION PORTAL DEMONSTRATION

8 PROJECT.—There is authorized to be appropriated to 

9 carry out section 7 of this Act $1,000,000 for each of fis10 cal years 2018 and 2019. 

11 SEC. 3. RECORD OF MEETINGS AND VOTES. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 303 of title 46, United 

13 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

14 ‘‘§ 303. Meetings 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Maritime Commis16 sion shall be deemed to be an agency for purposes of sec17 tion 552b of title 5. 

18 ‘‘(b) RECORD.—The Commission, through its sec19 retary, shall keep a record of its meetings and the votes 

20 taken on any action, order, contract, or financial trans21 action of the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(c) NONPUBLIC COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 

3 552b of title 5, a majority of the Commissioners 

4 may hold a meeting that is not open to public obser5 vation to discuss official agency business if— 

6 ‘‘(A) no formal or informal vote or other 

7 official agency action is taken at the meeting; 

8 ‘‘(B) each individual present at the meet9 ing is a Commissioner or an employee of the 

10 Commission; and 

11 ‘‘(C) the General Counsel of the Commis12 sion is present at the meeting. 

13 ‘‘(2) DISCLOSURE OF NONPUBLIC COLLABO14 RATIVE DISCUSSIONS.—Except as provided under 

15 paragraph (3), not later than 2 business days after 

16 the conclusion of a meeting under paragraph (1), 

17 the Commission shall make available to the public, 

18 in a place easily accessible to the public— 

19 ‘‘(A) a list of the individuals present at the 

20 meeting; and 

21 ‘‘(B) a summary of the matters discussed 

22 at the meeting, except for any matters the 

23 Commission properly determines may be with24 held from the public under section 552b(c) of 

25 title 5. 


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1 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—If the Commission properly 

2 determines matters may be withheld from the public 

3 under section 555b(c) of title 5, the Commission 

4 shall provide a summary with as much general infor5 mation as possible on those matters withheld from 

6 the public. 

7 ‘‘(4) ONGOING PROCEEDINGS.—If a meeting 

8 under paragraph (1) directly relates to an ongoing 

9 proceeding before the Commission, the Commission 

10 shall make the disclosure under paragraph (2) on 

11 the date of the final Commission decision. 

12 ‘‘(5) PRESERVATION OF OPEN MEETINGS RE13 QUIREMENTS FOR AGENCY ACTION.—Nothing in this 

14 subsection may be construed to limit the applica15 bility of section 552b of title 5 with respect to a 

16 meeting of the Commissioners other than that de17 scribed in this subsection. 

18 ‘‘(6) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

19 this subsection may be construed— 

20 ‘‘(A) to limit the applicability of section 

21 552b of title 5 with respect to any information 

22 which is proposed to be withheld from the pub23 lic under paragraph (2)(B) of this subsection; 

24 or 


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1 ‘‘(B) to authorize the Commission to with2 hold from any individual any record that is ac3 cessible to that individual under section 552a of 

4 title 5.’’. 

5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

6 chapter 3 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by 

7 amending the item relating to section 303 to read as fol8 lows: 

‘‘303. Meetings.’’. 

9 SEC. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. 

10 (a) NOTICE OF FILING.—Section 40304(a) of title 

11 46, United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(a) NOTICE OF FILING.—Not later than 7 days 

13 after the date an agreement is filed, the Federal Maritime 

14 Commission shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) transmit a notice of the filing to the Fed16 eral Register for publication; and 

17 ‘‘(2) request interested persons to submit rel18 evant information and documents.’’. 

19 (b) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION AND DOCU20 MENTS.—Section 40304(d) of title 46, United States 

21 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘section’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘part’’. 

23 (c) SAVING CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section, or the 

24 amendments made by this section, may be construed— 


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1 (1) to prevent the Federal Maritime Commis2 sion from requesting from a person, at any time, any 

3 additional information or documents the Commission 

4 considers necessary to carry out chapter 403 of title 

5 46, United States Code; 

6 (2) to prescribe a specific deadline for the sub7 mission of relevant information and documents in re8 sponse to a request under section 40304(a)(2) of 

9 title 46, United States Code; or 

10 (3) to limit the authority of the Commission to 

11 request information under section 40304(d) of title 

12 46, United States Code. 

13 SEC. 5. PREVENTING DECEPTIVE PRACTICES. 

14 (a) LICENSE REQUIREMENT.—Section 40901(a) of 

15 title 46, United States Code, is amended, in the first sen16 tence, by striking ‘‘act’’ and inserting ‘‘act, including hold17 ing itself out by solicitation, advertisement, or otherwise,’’. 

18 (b) FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.—Section 40902(a) 

19 of title 46, United States Code, is amended, in the lan20 guage preceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘act’’ and in21 serting ‘‘act, including holding itself out by solicitation, 

22 advertisement, or otherwise,’’. 

23 SEC. 6. REPORTS FILED WITH THE COMMISSION. 

24 Section 40104(a) of title 46, United States Code, is 

25 amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(a) REPORTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Maritime 

3 Commission may require a common carrier or ma4 rine terminal operator, or an officer, receiver, trust5 ee, lessee, agent, or employee of the common carrier 

6 or marine terminal operator to file with the Commis7 sion a periodical or special report, an account, 

8 record, rate, or charge, or a memorandum of facts 

9 and transactions related to the business of the com10 mon carrier or marine terminal operator, as applica11 ble. 

12 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The report, account, 

13 record, rate, charge, or memorandum shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) be made under oath if the Commis15 sion requires; and 

16 ‘‘(B) be filed in the form and within the 

17 time prescribed by the Commission.’’. 

18 SEC. 7. INTERNATIONAL OCEAN SHIPPING SUPPLY CHAIN 

19 INFORMATION PORTAL DEMONSTRATION 

20 PROJECT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Maritime Commis22 sion may enter into a cooperative agreement (as that term 

23 is used in section 6305 of title 31, United States Code) 

24 with one or more private, academic, or other non-Federal 

25 persons to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of an 


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1 Internet-based national seaport information portal for the 

2 collection and dissemination of information to increase 

3 overall supply chain visibility, reliability, and resilience 

4 with respect to international ocean shipping. 

5 (b) INFORMATION.—Information referred to in sub6 section (a) includes the information needs of key elements 

7 of the import-shipping and export-shipping supply chains, 

8 including those regarding container availability, chassis 

9 availability, trucking operations, and other ocean carrier, 

10 seaport, and marine terminal operations. 

11 SEC. 8. TRANSPARENCY. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning not later than 60 days 

13 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal 

14 Maritime Commission shall submit to the Committee on 

15 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

16 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of 

17 the House of Representatives biannual reports that de18 scribe the Commission’s progress toward addressing the 

19 issues raised in each unfinished regulatory proceeding, re20 gardless of whether the proceeding is subject to a statu21 tory or regulatory deadline. 

22 (b) FORMAT OF REPORTS.—Each report under sub23 section (a) shall, among other things, clearly identify for 

24 each unfinished regulatory proceeding— 

25 (1) the popular title; 


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1 (2) the current stage of the proceeding; 

2 (3) an abstract of the proceeding; 

3 (4) what prompted the action in question; 

4 (5) any applicable statutory, regulatory, or judi5 cial deadline; 

6 (6) the associated docket number; 

7 (7) the date the rulemaking was initiated; 

8 (8) a date for the next action; and 

9 (9) if a date for next action identified in the 

10 previous report is not met, the reason for the delay. 

11 SEC. 9. TREATMENT OF TUG OPERATORS. 

12 (a) EXCEPTIONS.—Section 40307(b)(1) of title 46, 

13 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘tug opera14 tors,’’ after ‘‘motor carriers,’’. 

15 (b) CONCERTED ACTION.—Section 41105(4) of title 

16 46, United States Code, is amended— 

17 (1) by striking ‘‘non-ocean carrier’’ and insert18 ing ‘‘tug operator, non-ocean carrier,’’; and 

19 (2) by inserting ‘‘tug operators or’’ after 

20 ‘‘States by those’’. 

21 SEC. 10. PROHIBITIONS AND PENALTIES. 

22 Section 41104(11) of title 46, United States Code, 

23 is amended by striking ‘‘a tariff as required by section 

24 40501 of this title and’’. 

Æ 


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