II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1344 

To promote research, monitoring, and observation of the Arctic and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2013 

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

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To promote research, monitoring, and observation of the 

Arctic 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 ‘‘Arctic Research, Moni5 toring, and Observing Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ARCTIC RESEARCH COMMISSION. 

7 (a) DUTIES OF THE ARCTIC RESEARCH COMMIS8 SION.—Section 104(a) of the Arctic Research and Policy 

9 Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4103(a)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘assist in es2 tablishing’’ and inserting ‘‘establish’’; 

3 (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through 

4 (10) as paragraphs (4) through (11), respectively; 

5 and 

6 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(3) award— 

9 ‘‘(A) grants to Federal, State, local, or 

10 tribal governments and academic and private 

11 organizations to conduct research on or related 

12 to the Arctic, including to the marine environ13 ment of the Arctic Ocean, its adjacent seas or 

14 associated lesser bodies of water; and 

15 ‘‘(B) such grants on the basis of merit in 

16 accordance with the national Arctic research 

17 program plan;’’. 

18 (b) ADMINISTRATION OF THE COMMISSION.—Section 

19 106 of the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (15 

20 U.S.C. 4105) is amended— 

21 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

22 end; 

23 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

24 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

25 (3) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(6) enter into agreements with appropriate 

2 agencies or organizations to administer grants made 

3 pursuant to this title for Arctic research including 

4 reimbursement from funds of the Commission to ad5 minister such grants.’’. 

6 (c) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; ARCTIC RESEARCH

7 COMMISSION.—Section 103 of the Arctic Research and 

8 Policy Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4102) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(e) CONFLICT OF INTEREST.—The Commission 

11 shall adopt conflict of interest and recusal provisions that 

12 apply to any decision by the Commission and to all mem13 bers of the Commission as if each member of the Commis14 sion is an ‘affected individual’ within the meaning of sec15 tion 302(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation 

16 and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1852(j)), except that in 

17 addition to the disclosure requirements of paragraph (2) 

18 of such section 302(j), each member of the Commission 

19 shall disclose any financial interest or relationship in an 

20 organization or with an individual that is applying for 

21 funding from the Commission held by the member of the 

22 Commission, including an interest as an officer, director, 

23 trustee, partner, employee, contractor, agent, or other rep24 resentative.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. NORTH PACIFIC RESEARCH BOARD. 

2 Subsection (e) of section 401 of the Department of 

3 the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 

4 1998 (43 U.S.C. 1474d(e)) is amended by striking para5 graph (5) and inserting the following: 

6 ‘‘(5) The Board may adopt such rules of proce7 dure and establish such committees as it deems nec8 essary to carry out the purposes of this title, includ9 ing the conduct of administrative duties between 

10 meetings. 

11 ‘‘(6) All decisions of the Board shall be by ma12 jority vote of the full board in regular session. 

13 ‘‘(7) The Board shall adopt conflict of interest 

14 and recusal provisions that apply to any decision by 

15 the Board and to all members of the Board as if 

16 each member of the Board is an ‘affected individual’ 

17 within the meaning of section 302(j) of the Magnu18 son-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management 

19 Act (16 U.S.C. 1852(j)), except that in addition to 

20 the disclosure requirements of paragraph (2) of such 

21 section 302(j), each member of the Board shall dis22 close any financial interest or relationship in an or23 ganization or with an individual that is applying for 

24 funding from the Board, including an interest as an 

25 officer, director, trustee, partner, employee, con26 tractor, agent, or other representative. 


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1 ‘‘(8) The Secretary of Commerce may accept 

2 funds from a source other than the Government of 

3 the United States to be used by the Board to carry 

4 out the Board’s functions.’’. 

Æ 


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