I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2876 

To promote the recycling of vessels in the United States and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2015 

Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. HUNTER, and Mr. VELA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed 

Services, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To promote the recycling of vessels in the United States 

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 TITLES. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ships to be Recycled 

5 in the States Act’’ or the ‘‘STORIS Act’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 2876 IH

1 SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON DISPOSITION OF VESSELS NOT 

2 WORTH PRESERVING. 

3 Section 57102 of title 46, United States Code, is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

6 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 1 year 

7 after the date of the enactment of the Ships to be 

8 Recycled in the States Act and annually thereafter, 

9 the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination 

10 with the Secretary of the Navy, shall report to the 

11 Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 

12 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen13 ate and the Committees on Armed Services, the 

14 Committee on Natural Resources, and the Com15 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

16 House of Representatives on the vessel disposal pro17 gram carried out under this section and on any 

18 other disposal of obsolete vessels owned by the Gov19 ernment carried out under any other authority. 

20 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—Each annual report required 

21 by paragraph (1) shall include the total amount of— 

22 ‘‘(A) appropriated funds expended to carry 

23 out the vessel disposal program under this sec24 tion and any other disposal of obsolete vessels 

25 owned by the Government carried out under 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 2876 IH

1 any other authority during the previous year; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(B) the sales accrued and disbursed for 

4 such program and disposal.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. AUDIT OF VESSEL DISPOSAL PROGRAM. 

6 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 270 days after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller 

8 General of the United States shall conduct and submit to 

9 the appropriate committees of Congress a full audit of all 

10 excess Federal Government vessel sales contracts, includ11 ing resulting receivables and expenditures, entered into by 

12 the Maritime Administration in the period beginning Jan13 uary 1, 1994, and ending on the date of the enactment 

14 of this Act. 

15 (b) CONTENT.—The audit required by subsection (a) 

16 shall review— 

17 (1) receivables, by contract from award to con18 tract close-out; where receivables were held or in19 vested; expenditures and distributions, including re20 cipients of grants under the National Maritime Her21 itage Grants Program since the date of the enact22 ment of the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994 

23 (Public Law 103–451); internal safeguards from 

24 waste, fraud, and abuse; and the status of any re25 maining unexpended funds; 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 2876 IH

1 (2) agency management of the sales program, 

2 including review of safeguards from fraud, waste, 

3 and abuse from initial offerings, to submission of 

4 bids, and through award to contract close-out and 

5 any resulting protest or litigation; 

6 (3) contracts for the sale of excess Federal Gov7 ernment vessels that were awarded to bidders that 

8 were not the highest bidders and the financial im9 pact of those awards on recipients of grants under 

10 the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program, in11 cluding the State maritime academies, and the 

12 United States Merchant Marine Academy, and on 

13 the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program; and 

14 (4) agreements the Maritime Administration 

15 has entered into with the Coast Guard, the Depart16 ment of Defense, the General Services Administra17 tion, the Environmental Protection Agency, and 

18 other Government agencies to dispose of excess Gov19 ernment vessels, including whether those agreements 

20 and agency policies are consistent with the Duncan 

21 Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for 

22 2009 (Public Law 110–417) and other relevant 

23 State and Federal laws. 

24 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 2876 IH

1 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON2 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con3 gress’’ means the following: 

4 (A) The Committee on Armed Services and 

5 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

6 Transportation of the Senate. 

7 (B) The Committee on Armed Services, 

8 the Committee on Natural Resources, and the 

9 Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc10 ture of the House of Representatives. 

11 (2) NATIONAL MARITIME HERITAGE GRANTS

12 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘National Maritime Heritage 

13 Grants Program’’ means the National Maritime 

14 Heritage Grants Program established pursuant to 

15 the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994 (Public 

16 Law 103–451; superseded by chapter 3087 of title 

17 54, United States Code). 

18 (3) STATE MARITIME ACADEMY.—The term 

19 ‘‘State maritime academy’’ has the meaning given 

20 that term in section 51102 of title 46, United States 

21 Code. 

22 (4) VESSEL OPERATIONS REVOLVING FUND.— 

23 The term ‘‘Vessel Operations Revolving Fund’’ 

24 means the Vessel Operations Revolving Fund estabVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 Jun 29, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2876.IH H2876

SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 2876 IH

1 lished under section 50301 of title 46, United States 

2 Code. 

3 SEC. 4. OBSOLETE VESSELS. 

4 (a) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFERS TO NONCITI5 ZENS.—Section 57104 of title 46, United States Code, is 

6 amended by striking subsection (d). 

7 (b) SELECTION OF SCRAPPING FACILITIES.—Section 

8 3502 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authoriza9 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Pub10 lic Law 106–398; 54 U.S.C. 308704 note) is amended— 

11 (1) by striking subsections (b), (e), and (f); 

12 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘para13 graph)’’ and all that follows through the end and in14 serting ‘‘paragraph);’’; and 

15 (3) in subsection (d)(2), by striking ‘‘shall—’’ 

16 and all that follows through the end and inserting 

17 ‘‘shall use full and open competition.’’. 

18 (c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FROM SALE AND

19 SCRAPPING OF OBSOLETE VESSELS.—Subsection 

20 (a)(1)(C) of section 308704 of title 54, United States 

21 Code, is amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(C) The remainder shall be available to 

23 the Secretary to carry out the Program, as pro24 vided in subsection (b).’’. 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 2876 IH

1 (d) BEST VALUE CRITERIA.—Subsection (c)(1) of 

2 section 308704 of title 54, United States Code, is amend3 ed in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 

4 ‘‘services)’’ and inserting ‘‘services from a pool of pre5 qualified domestic ship recycling companies)’’. 

6 SEC. 5. DISMANTLEMENT OF VESSELS. 

7 Section 6(e) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 

8 U.S.C. 2605(e)) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para10 graph (6); and 

11 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 

14 prohibit the dismantling of a vessel or marine structure 

15 for the purpose of recycling materials recovered from the 

16 vessel or marine structure. If a person so dismantling a 

17 vessel or marine structure finds polychlorinated biphenyls, 

18 or suspects polychlorinated biphenyls will be found, during 

19 the dismantling, then the person— 

20 ‘‘(A) shall notify the Administrator; and 

21 ‘‘(B) shall sample, remove, and dispose of any 

22 polychlorinated biphenyls in accordance with the rel23 evant provisions of this Act, other Federal law, and 

24 any guidance of the Administrator applicable to 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 2876 IH

1 sampling vessels or marine structures for poly2 chlorinated biphenyls.’’. 

3 SEC. 6. REEFS FOR MARINE LIFE CONSERVATION PRO4 GRAM. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF OBSOLETE VES6 SELS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—Section 3(d) of the Act 

7 entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize appropriations for the fiscal 

8 year 1973 for certain maritime programs of the Depart9 ment of Commerce, and for related purposes’’, approved 

10 August 22, 1972 (Public Law 92–402; 16 U.S.C. 

11 1220(d)), is amended by striking ‘‘States, and any foreign 

12 country,’’ and inserting ‘‘States’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 7 of the 

14 Act entitled ‘‘An Act to authorize appropriations for the 

15 fiscal year 1973 for certain maritime programs of the De16 partment of Commerce, and for related purposes’’, ap17 proved August 22, 1972 (Public Law 92–402; 16 U.S.C. 

18 1220c–1), is amended by striking subsection (d). 

19 SEC. 7. PUBLICATION OF MARITIME ADMINISTRATION 

20 AGREEMENTS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 501 of title 46, United 

22 States Code, is amended by adding the following: 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 2876 IH

1 ‘‘§ 50114. Publication of Maritime Administration ves2 sel recycling agreements 

3 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION.—The Ad4 ministrator of the Maritime Administration shall make 

5 available to the public on the website of the Maritime Ad6 ministration the full text of each memorandum of agree7 ment, memorandum of understanding, cooperative agree8 ment, and similar agreement between the Maritime Ad9 ministration and any other agency, department, or person. 

10 ‘‘(b) TIMING OF PUBLICATION.—Not later than 30 

11 days after the date a document referred to in subsection 

12 (a) is signed by the parties, the Administrator of the Mari13 time Administration shall make such document available 

14 on the website of the Maritime Administration. 

15 ‘‘(c) INITIAL PUBLICATION.—Not later than 30 days 

16 after the date of the enactment of the Ships to be Recycled 

17 in the States Act, the Administrator of the Maritime Ad18 ministration shall make available on the website of the 

19 Maritime Administration each document referred to in 

20 subsection (a) that was in effect on the date of the enact21 ment of such Act.’’. 

22 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS AMENDMENT.—The table of 

23 sections for chapter 501 of title 46, United States Code, 

24 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘50114. Publication of Maritime Administration agreements.’’. 

Æ 


SSpencer on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with BILLS