II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1511 

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

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 4, 2015 

Mr. VITTER (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation 

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’’. 

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

7 WORTH PRESERVING. 

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

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT.— 


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

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

3 Recycled in the States Act and annually thereafter, 

4 the Secretary of Transportation, in coordination 

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

6 Committee on Armed Services and the Committee on 

7 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Sen8 ate and the Committees on Armed Services, the 

9 Committee on Natural Resources, and the Com10 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

11 House of Representatives on the vessel disposal pro12 gram carried out under this section and on any 

13 other disposal of obsolete vessels owned by the Gov14 ernment carried out under any other authority. 

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

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

17 ‘‘(A) appropriated funds expended to carry 

18 out the vessel disposal program under this sec19 tion and any other disposal of obsolete vessels 

20 owned by the Government carried out under 

21 any other authority during the previous year; 

22 and 

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

24 such program and disposal.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. AUDIT OF VESSEL DISPOSAL PROGRAM. 

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

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

4 General of the United States shall conduct and submit to 

5 the appropriate committees of Congress a full audit of all 

6 excess Federal Government vessel sales contracts, includ7 ing resulting receivables and expenditures, entered into by 

8 the Maritime Administration in the period beginning Jan9 uary 1, 1994, and ending on the date of the enactment 

10 of this Act. 

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

12 shall review— 

13 (1) receivables, by contract from award to con14 tract close-out; where receivables were held or in15 vested; expenditures and distributions, including re16 cipients of grants under the National Maritime Her17 itage Grants Program since the date of the enact18 ment of the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994 

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

20 waste, fraud, and abuse; and the status of any re21 maining unexpended funds; 

22 (2) agency management of the sales program, 

23 including review of safeguards from fraud, waste, 

24 and abuse from initial offerings, to submission of 

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

26 any resulting protest or litigation; 


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1 (3) contracts for the sale of excess Federal Gov2 ernment vessels that were awarded to bidders that 

3 were not the highest bidders and the financial im4 pact of those awards on recipients of grants under 

5 the National Maritime Heritage Grants Program, in6 cluding the State maritime academies, and the 

7 United States Merchant Marine Academy, and on 

8 the National Maritime Heritage Grant Program; and 

9 (4) agreements the Maritime Administration 

10 has entered into with the Coast Guard, the Depart11 ment of Defense, the General Services Administra12 tion, the Environmental Protection Agency, and 

13 other government agencies to dispose of excess Gov14 ernment vessels, including whether those agreements 

15 and agency policies are consistent with the Duncan 

16 Hunter National Defense Authorization Act for 

17 2009 (Public Law 110–417) and other relevant 

18 State and Federal laws. 

19 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON21 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con22 gress’’ means the following: 

23 (A) The Committee on Armed Services and 

24 the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

25 Transportation of the Senate. 


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1 (B) The Committee on Armed Services, 

2 the Committee on Natural Resources, and the 

3 Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc4 ture of the House of Representatives. 

5 (2) NATIONAL MARITIME HERITAGE GRANTS

6 PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘National Maritime Heritage 

7 Grants Program’’ means the National Maritime 

8 Heritage Grants Program established pursuant to 

9 the National Maritime Heritage Act of 1994 (Public 

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

11 54, United States Code). 

12 (3) STATE MARITIME ACADEMY.—The term 

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

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

15 Code. 

16 (4) VESSEL OPERATIONS REVOLVING FUND.— 

17 The term ‘‘Vessel Operations Revolving Fund’’ 

18 means the Vessel Operations Revolving Fund estab19 lished under section 50301 of title 46, United States 

20 Code. 

21 SEC. 4. OBSOLETE VESSELS. 

22 (a) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFERS TO NONCITI23 ZENS.—Section 57104 of title 46, United States Code, is 

24 amended by striking subsection (d). 


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1 (b) SELECTION OF SCRAPPING FACILITIES.—Section 

2 3502 of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authoriza3 tion Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Pub4 lic Law 106–398; 54 U.S.C. 308704 note) is amended— 

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

6 (2) in subsection (c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘para7 graph)’’ and all that follows through the end and in8 serting ‘‘paragraph);’’; and 

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

10 and all that follows through the end and inserting 

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

12 (c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FROM SALE AND

13 SCRAPPING OF OBSOLETE VESSELS.—Subsection 

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

15 Code, is amended to read as follows: 

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

17 the Secretary to carry out the Program, as pro18 vided in subsection (b).’’. 

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

20 section 308704 of title 54, United States Code, is amend21 ed in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by striking 

22 ‘‘services)’’ and inserting ‘‘services from a pool of pre23 qualified domestic ship recycling companies)’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. DISMANTLEMENT OF VESSELS. 

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

3 U.S.C. 2605(e)) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para5 graph (6); and 

6 (2) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol7 lowing: 

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

9 prohibit the dismantling of a vessel or marine structure 

10 for the purpose of recycling materials recovered from the 

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

12 vessel or marine structure finds polychlorinated biphenyls, 

13 or suspects polychlorinated biphenyls will be found, during 

14 the dismantling, then the person— 

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

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

17 polychlorinated biphenyls in accordance with the rel18 evant provisions of this Act, other Federal law, and 

19 any guidance of the Administrator applicable to 

20 sampling vessels or marine structures for poly21 chlorinated biphenyls.’’. 

22 SEC. 6. REEFS FOR MARINE LIFE CONSERVATION PRO23 GRAM. 

24 (a) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF OBSOLETE VES25 SELS TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES.—Section 3(d) of the Act 

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


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1 year 1973 for certain maritime programs of the Depart2 ment of Commerce, and for related purposes’’, approved 

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

4 1220(d)) is amended by striking ‘‘States, and any foreign 

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

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

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

8 fiscal year 1973 for certain maritime programs of the De9 partment of Commerce, and for related purposes’’, ap10 proved August 22, 1972 (Public Law 92–402; 16 U.S.C. 

11 1220c–1) is amended by striking subsection (d). 

12 SEC. 7. PUBLICATION OF MARITIME ADMINISTRATION 

13 AGREEMENTS. 

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

15 States Code, is amended by adding the following: 

16 ‘‘§ 50114. Publication of Maritime Administration ves17 sel recycling agreements 

18 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION.—The Ad19 ministrator of the Maritime Administration shall make 

20 available to the public on the website of the Maritime Ad21 ministration the full text of each memorandum of agree22 ment, memorandum of understanding, cooperative agree23 ment, and similar agreement between the Maritime Ad24 ministration and any other agency, department, or person. 


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

2 days after the date a document referred to in subsection 

3 (a) is signed by the parties, the Administrator of the Mari4 time Administration shall make such document available 

5 on the website of the Maritime Administration. 

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

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

8 in the States Act, the Administrator of the Maritime Ad9 ministration shall make available on the website of the 

10 Maritime Administration each document referred to in 

11 subsection (a) that was in effect on the date of the enact12 ment of such Act.’’. 

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

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

15 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

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

Æ 


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