I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7456 

To establish a grant program for domestic maritime workforce training and 

education, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 1, 2020 

Ms. GARCIA of Texas (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. 

BABIN, and Mr. PALAZZO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program for domestic maritime 

workforce training and education, 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. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DOMESTIC 

4 MARITIME WORKFORCE TRAINING AND EDU5 CATION. 

6 Section 54102 of title 46, United States Code, is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘of Transpor9 tation’’; 


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1 (2) in subsection (b), in the subsection heading, 

2 by striking ‘‘ASSISTANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘COOPERA3 TIVE AGREEMENTS’’; 

4 (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub5 section (d); 

6 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para7 graph (2), by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 

9 the Secretary of Transportation.’’; and 

10 (5) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(c) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

13 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.— 

14 In this subsection, the term ‘eligible institution’ 

15 means an institution of higher education (as defined 

16 in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

17 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) that offers a 2-year program of 

18 study, a 1-year program of training, or is a postsec19 ondary vocational institution. 

20 ‘‘(2) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

22 after the date of enactment of the Maritime Ad23 ministration Authorization and Improvement 

24 Act, the Secretary may award maritime career 

25 training grants to eligible institutions for the 


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1 purpose of developing, offering, or improving 

2 educational or career training programs for 

3 American workers related to the maritime work4 force. 

5 ‘‘(B) GUIDELINES.—Not later than 1 year 

6 after the date of enactment of the Maritime Ad7 ministration Authorization and Improvement 

8 Act, the Secretary shall— 

9 ‘‘(i) promulgate guidelines for the 

10 submission of grant proposals under this 

11 subsection; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) publish and maintain such guide13 lines on the website of the Department of 

14 Transportation. 

15 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may not 

16 award a grant under this subsection in an amount 

17 that is more than $20,000,000. 

18 ‘‘(4) REQUIRED INFORMATION.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution 

20 that desires to receive a grant under this sub21 section shall submit to the Secretary a grant 

22 proposal that includes a detailed description 

23 of— 

24 ‘‘(i) the specific project for which the 

25 grant proposal is submitted, including the 


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1 manner in which the grant will be used to 

2 develop, offer, or improve an educational 

3 or career training program that is suited 

4 to maritime industry workers; 

5 ‘‘(ii) the extent to which the project 

6 for which the grant proposal is submitted 

7 will meet the educational or career training 

8 needs of maritime workers in the commu9 nity served by the eligible institution; 

10 ‘‘(iii) the extent to which the project 

11 for which the grant proposal is submitted 

12 fits within any overall strategic plan devel13 oped by an eligible community; and 

14 ‘‘(iv) any previous experience of the 

15 eligible institution in providing maritime 

16 educational or career training programs. 

17 ‘‘(B) COMMUNITY OUTREACH REQUIRED.— 

18 In order to be considered by the Secretary, a 

19 grant proposal submitted by an eligible institu20 tion under this subsection shall— 

21 ‘‘(i) demonstrate that the eligible in22 stitution— 

23 ‘‘(I) reached out to employers to 

24 identify— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) any shortcomings in 

2 existing maritime educational 

3 and career training opportunities 

4 available to workers in the com5 munity; and 

6 ‘‘(bb) any future employ7 ment opportunities within the 

8 community and the educational 

9 and career training skills re10 quired for workers to meet the 

11 future maritime employment de12 mand; and 

13 ‘‘(II) reached out to other simi14 larly situated institutions in an effort 

15 to benefit from any best practices that 

16 may be shared with respect to pro17 viding maritime educational or career 

18 training programs to workers eligible 

19 for training; and 

20 ‘‘(ii) include a detailed description 

21 of— 

22 ‘‘(I) the extent and outcome of 

23 the outreach conducted under clause 

24 (i); 


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1 ‘‘(II) the extent to which the 

2 project for which the grant proposal is 

3 submitted will contribute to meeting 

4 any shortcomings identified under 

5 clause (i)(I)(aa) or any maritime edu6 cational or career training needs iden7 tified under clause (i)(I)(bb); and 

8 ‘‘(III) the extent to which em9 ployers, including small- and medium10 sized firms within the community, 

11 have demonstrated a commitment to 

12 employing workers who would benefit 

13 from the project for which the grant 

14 proposal is submitted. 

15 ‘‘(5) CRITERIA FOR AWARD OF GRANTS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the appro17 priation of funds, the Secretary shall award a 

18 grant under this subsection based on— 

19 ‘‘(i) a determination of the merits of 

20 the grant proposal submitted by the eligi21 ble institution to develop, offer, or improve 

22 maritime educational or career training 

23 programs to be made available to workers; 

24 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation of the likely em25 ployment opportunities available to workers 


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1 who complete a maritime educational or 

2 career training program that the eligible 

3 institution proposes to develop, offer, or 

4 improve; 

5 ‘‘(iii) an evaluation of prior demand 

6 for training programs by workers in the 

7 community served by the eligible institu8 tion, as well as the availability and capac9 ity of existing maritime training programs 

10 to meet future demand for training pro11 grams; and 

12 ‘‘(iv) any prior designation of an insti13 tution as a Center of Excellence for Do14 mestic Maritime Workforce Training and 

15 Education. 

16 ‘‘(B) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.—A 

17 grant awarded under this subsection may not 

18 be used to satisfy any private matching require19 ment under any other provision of law. 

20 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC REPORT.—Not later than Decem21 ber 15 in each of the calendar years 2021 through 

22 2023, the Secretary shall make available on a pub23 lically available website a report and provide a brief24 ing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

25 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 


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1 Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 

2 Representatives— 

3 ‘‘(A) describing each grant awarded under 

4 this subsection during the preceding fiscal year; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) assessing the impact of each award of 

7 a grant under this subsection in a fiscal year 

8 preceding the fiscal year referred to in subpara9 graph (A) on workers receiving training. 

10 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

11 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

12 this subsection $200,000,000.’’. 

Æ 


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