II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1488 

To require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, to provide 

for expanded uses of the Fund, and to prevent cargo diversion, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2017 

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself and Ms. CANTWELL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust 

Fund, to provide for expanded uses of the Fund, and 

to prevent cargo diversion, 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 ‘‘Harbor Maintenance 

5 Trust Fund Reform Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REFORM OF SPENDING FROM THE HARBOR MAIN7 TENANCE TRUST FUND. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9505(c) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1488 IS

1 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM HARBOR MAINTENANCE

2 TRUST FUND.— 

3 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any fis5 cal year beginning after September 30, 2017, so 

6 much of the amounts in the Harbor Mainte7 nance Trust Fund as is equal to the applicable 

8 amount shall be available, without appropria9 tion, for making expenditures— 

10 ‘‘(i) to carry out section 210 of the 

11 Water Resources Development Act of 

12 1986, 

13 ‘‘(ii) for payments of rebates of tolls 

14 or charges pursuant to section 13(b) of the 

15 Act of May 13, 1954 (as in effect on April 

16 1, 1987), and 

17 ‘‘(iii) for the payment of all expenses 

18 of administration incurred by the Depart19 ment of the Treasury, the Army Corps of 

20 Engineers, and the Department of Com21 merce related to the administration of sub22 chapter A of chapter 36 (relating to harbor 

23 maintenance tax). 

24 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes 

25 of subparagraph (A), the applicable amount for 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1488 IS

1 any fiscal year is an amount equal to the sum 

2 of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the amount of taxes received in 

4 the Treasury under section 4461 for the 

5 immediately preceding fiscal year, plus 

6 ‘‘(ii) any amounts credited to the 

7 Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund under 

8 section 9602(b) which is attributable to the 

9 portion of the amounts described in clause 

10 (i) that are deposited in such Trust Fund. 

11 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 

12 amounts available under this paragraph for any 

13 fiscal year— 

14 ‘‘(i) $5,000,000 shall be available for 

15 purposes described in subparagraph 

16 (A)(iii), 

17 ‘‘(ii) $40,000,000 shall be available 

18 for purposes described in subparagraph 

19 (A)(ii), and 

20 ‘‘(iii) the remainder shall be available 

21 for purposes described in subparagraph 

22 (A)(i). 

23 ‘‘(2) OTHER AMOUNTS.—The amounts in the 

24 Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund after application of 

25 paragraph (1) shall be available, as provided in apVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:26 Jul 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1488.IS S1488

sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1488 IS

1 propriations Acts, for making expenditures for pur2 poses described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 this section shall apply to fiscal years beginning after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MEASURES AT DONOR PORTS AND EN7 ERGY TRANSFER PORTS. 

8 Section 2106 of the Water Resources Reform and De9 velopment Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (b)— 

11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘Subject 

12 to the availability of appropriations, the Sec13 retary may’’ and inserting ‘‘The Secretary 

14 shall’’; and 

15 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (i) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; 

17 and’’ and inserting a semicolon; 

18 (ii) in subparagraph (C)(ii), by strik19 ing the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

20 and’’; and 

21 (iii) by adding at the end the fol22 lowing: 

23 ‘‘(D) shall be provided in equal amounts 

24 for each fiscal year to— 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1488 IS

1 ‘‘(i) donor ports and medium-sized 

2 donor ports; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) energy transfer ports.’’; 

4 (2) by striking subsection (f); and 

5 (3) by redesignating subsection (g) as sub6 section (f). 

7 SEC. 4. EXPENDITURES FROM THE HARBOR MAINTENANCE 

8 TRUST FUND. 

9 (a) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF HARBOR

10 PROJECTS.—Section 210(c) of the Water Resources De11 velopment Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(c)) is amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 

13 2012’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal year 2016’’; 

14 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para15 graph (5); and 

16 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN DONOR PORTS AND ENERGY

19 TRANSFER PORTS.—The Secretary shall allocate to 

20 carry out activities under section 2106(c) of the 

21 Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 

22 2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c(c)) an amount that is not 

23 less than 20 percent of the funds made available 

24 under this section for each fiscal year.’’. 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1488 IS

1 (b) DEFINITION OF EXPANDED USES.—Section 

2 210(f)(3) of the Water Resources Development Act of 

3 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(f)(3)) is amended by adding at the 

4 end the following: 

5 ‘‘(C) An in-water improvement, if— 

6 ‘‘(i) the improvement benefits com7 mercial navigation at the harbor; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the improvement is located in or 

9 adjacent to a berth that is accessible to a 

10 Federal navigation project. 

11 ‘‘(D) An activity to maintain or improve 

12 slope stability at a berth in a harbor that is ac13 cessible to a Federal navigation project, if the 

14 activity benefits commercial navigation at the 

15 harbor.’’. 

Æ 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with BILLS