II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2784 

To amend title 46 to establish a grant program for developing, offering, 

or improving educational or career training programs for American workers related to the maritime workforce. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2021 

Mr. WICKER (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; which 

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

Transportation 

A BILL 

To amend title 46 to establish a grant program for developing, offering, or improving educational or career training programs for American workers related to the maritime workforce. 

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 ‘‘Maritime Techno5 logical Advancement Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DOMESTIC MARI2 TIME WORKFORCE. 

3 Section 51706 of title 46, United States Code, is 

4 amended— 

5 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘of Transpor6 tation’’; 

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

8 by striking ‘‘ASSISTANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘COOPERA9 TIVE AGREEMENTS’’; 

10 (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub11 section (d); 

12 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para13 graph (2), by adding at the end the following: 

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

15 the Secretary of Transportation.’’; and 

16 (5) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(c) GRANT PROGRAM.— 

19 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

20 ‘‘(A) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘Admin21 istrator’ means the Administrator of the Mari22 time Administration. 

23 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term 

24 ‘eligible institution’ means a postsecondary edu25 cational institution (as such term is defined in 

26 section 3 of the Carl D. Perkins Career and 


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1 Technical Education Act of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 

2 2302)) that offers a 2-year program of study, 

3 a 1-year program of training, or is a postsec4 ondary vocational institution, and that offers 

5 educational or career training programs for 

6 American workers in the United States mari7 time industry. 

8 ‘‘(C) UNITED STATES MARITIME INDUS9 TRY.—The term ‘United States maritime indus10 try’ means all segments of the maritime-related 

11 transportation system of the United States, 

12 both in domestic and foreign trade, and in 

13 coastal, offshore, and inland waters, as well as 

14 non-commercial maritime activities, such as 

15 pleasure boating and marine sciences (including 

16 all scientific research vessels), and all of the in17 dustries that support such uses, including vessel 

18 construction and repair, vessel operations, ship 

19 logistics supply, berthing, port operations, port 

20 intermodal operations, marine terminal oper21 ations, vessel design, marine brokerage, marine 

22 insurance, marine financing, chartering, mari23 time-oriented supply chain operations, offshore 

24 industry, and maritime-oriented research and 

25 development. 


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1 ‘‘(2) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.— 

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

3 after the date of enactment of the Maritime 

4 Technological Advancement Act of 2021, the 

5 Administrator may award maritime career 

6 training grants to eligible institutions for the 

7 purpose of developing, offering, or improving 

8 educational or career training programs for 

9 American workers related to the maritime work10 force. 

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

12 after the date of enactment of the Maritime 

13 Technological Advancement Act of 2021, the 

14 Administrator shall— 

15 ‘‘(i) promulgate guidelines for the 

16 submission of grant proposals under this 

17 subsection; and 

18 ‘‘(ii) publish and maintain such guide19 lines on the website of the Maritime Ad20 ministration. 

21 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The Administrator may 

22 not award a grant under this subsection in an 

23 amount that is more than $20,000,000. 

24 ‘‘(4) REQUIRED INFORMATION.— 


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

2 that desires to receive a grant under this sub3 section shall submit to the Administrator a 

4 grant proposal that includes a detailed descrip5 tion of— 

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

7 grant proposal is submitted, including the 

8 manner in which the grant will be used to 

9 develop, offer, or improve an educational 

10 or career training program that is suited 

11 to maritime industry workers; 

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

13 for which the grant proposal is submitted 

14 will meet the educational or career training 

15 needs of maritime workers in the commu16 nity served by the eligible institution; 

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

18 for which the grant proposal is submitted 

19 fits within any overall strategic plan devel20 oped by an eligible community; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) any previous experience of the 

22 eligible institution in providing maritime 

23 educational or career training programs. 

24 ‘‘(B) COMMUNITY OUTREACH REQUIRED.— 

25 In order to be considered by the Administrator, 


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1 a grant proposal submitted by an eligible insti2 tution under this subsection shall— 

3 ‘‘(i) demonstrate that the eligible in4 stitution— 

5 ‘‘(I) reached out to employers to 

6 identify— 

7 ‘‘(aa) any shortcomings in 

8 existing maritime educational 

9 and career training opportunities 

10 available to workers in the com11 munity; and 

12 ‘‘(bb) any future employ13 ment opportunities within the 

14 community and the educational 

15 and career training skills re16 quired for workers to meet the 

17 future maritime employment de18 mand; and 

19 ‘‘(II) reached out to other simi20 larly situated institutions in an effort 

21 to benefit from any best practices that 

22 may be shared with respect to pro23 viding maritime educational or career 

24 training programs to workers eligible 

25 for training; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) include a detailed description 

2 of— 

3 ‘‘(I) the extent and outcome of 

4 the outreach conducted under clause 

5 (i); 

6 ‘‘(II) the extent to which the 

7 project for which the grant proposal is 

8 submitted will contribute to meeting 

9 any shortcomings identified under 

10 clause (i)(I)(aa) or any maritime edu11 cational or career training needs iden12 tified under clause (i)(I)(bb); and 

13 ‘‘(III) the extent to which em14 ployers, including small- and medium15 sized firms within the community, 

16 have demonstrated a commitment to 

17 employing workers who would benefit 

18 from the project for which the grant 

19 proposal is submitted. 

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

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the appro22 priation of funds, the Administrator shall award 

23 a grant under this subsection based on— 

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

25 the grant proposal submitted by the eligiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:22 Sep 22, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2784.IS S2784

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1 ble institution to develop, offer, or improve 

2 maritime educational or career training 

3 programs to be made available to workers; 

4 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation of the likely em5 ployment opportunities available to workers 

6 who complete a maritime educational or 

7 career training program that the eligible 

8 institution proposes to develop, offer, or 

9 improve; 

10 ‘‘(iii) an evaluation of prior demand 

11 for training programs by workers in the 

12 community served by the eligible institu13 tion, as well as the availability and capac14 ity of existing maritime training programs 

15 to meet future demand for training pro16 grams; 

17 ‘‘(iv) any prior designation of an insti18 tution as a Center of Excellence for Do19 mestic Maritime Workforce Training and 

20 Education; and 

21 ‘‘(v) an evaluation of the previous ex22 perience of the eligible institution in pro23 viding maritime educational or career 

24 training programs. 


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1 ‘‘(B) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.—A 

2 grant awarded under this subsection may not 

3 be used to satisfy any private matching require4 ment under any other provision of law. 

5 ‘‘(6) COMPETITIVE AWARDS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator 

7 shall award grants under this subsection to eli8 gible institutions on a competitive basis in ac9 cordance with guidelines and requirements es10 tablished by the Administrator under paragraph 

11 (2)(B). 

12 ‘‘(B) TIMING OF GRANT NOTICE.—The Ad13 ministrator shall post a Notice of Funding Op14 portunity regarding grants awarded under this 

15 subsection not more than 90 days after the date 

16 of enactment of the appropriations Act for the 

17 fiscal year concerned. 

18 ‘‘(C) TIMING OF GRANTS.—The Adminis19 trator shall award grants under this subsection 

20 not later than 270 days after the date of the 

21 enactment of the appropriations Act for the fis22 cal year concerned. 

23 ‘‘(D) APPLICATION OF REQUIREMENTS.— 

24 The requirements under subparagraphs (B) and 

25 (C) shall not apply until the guidelines required 


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1 under paragraph (2)(B) have been promul2 gated. 

3 ‘‘(E) REUSE OF UNEXPENDED GRANT

4 FUNDS.—Notwithstanding subparagraph (C), 

5 amounts awarded as a grant under this sub6 section that are not expended by the grantee 

7 shall remain available to the Administrator for 

8 use for grants under this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(F) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more 

10 than 3 percent of amounts made available to 

11 carry out this subsection may be used for the 

12 necessary costs of grant administration. 

13 ‘‘(7) ELIGIBLE USES OF GRANT FUNDS.—An el14 igible institution receiving a grant under this sub15 section— 

16 ‘‘(A) shall carry out activities that are 

17 identified as priorities for the purpose of devel18 oping, offering, or improving educational or ca19 reer training programs for the United States 

20 maritime industry workforce; 

21 ‘‘(B) shall provide training to upgrade the 

22 skills of the United States maritime industry 

23 workforce, including training to acquire covered 

24 requirements as well as technical skills training 


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1 for jobs in the United States maritime industry; 

2 and 

3 ‘‘(C) may use the grant funds to— 

4 ‘‘(i) admit additional students to mar5 itime training programs; 

6 ‘‘(ii) expand existing or create new 

7 maritime training programs, including 

8 through partnerships with 4-year institu9 tions of higher education or apprentice10 ships with the United States maritime in11 dustry; 

12 ‘‘(iii) create new maritime career 

13 pathways; 

14 ‘‘(iv) expand existing or create new 

15 training programs for transitioning mili16 tary veterans to careers in the United 

17 States maritime industry; 

18 ‘‘(v) purchase, construct, develop, ex19 pand, or improve training facilities, build20 ings, and equipment to deliver maritime 

21 training programs; 

22 ‘‘(vi) recruit and train additional fac23 ulty to expand the maritime training pro24 grams offered by the institution; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) provide financial assistance 

2 through scholarships or tuition waivers, 

3 not to exceed the applicable tuition ex4 penses associated with the covered pro5 grams; 

6 ‘‘(viii) promote the use of distance 

7 learning that enables students to take 

8 courses through the use of teleconfer9 encing, the Internet, and other media tech10 nology; 

11 ‘‘(ix) assist in providing services to 

12 address maritime workforce recruitment 

13 and training of youth residing in targeted 

14 high-poverty areas within empowerment 

15 zones and enterprise communities; 

16 ‘‘(x) implement partnerships with na17 tional and regional organizations with spe18 cial expertise in developing, organizing, 

19 and administering maritime workforce re20 cruitment and training services; 

21 ‘‘(xi) design, develop, and test an 

22 array of approaches to providing recruit23 ment, training, or retention services, to en24 hance diversity, equity, and inclusion in 


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1 the United States maritime industry work2 force; 

3 ‘‘(xii) in conjunction with employers, 

4 organized labor, other groups (such as 

5 community coalitions), and Federal, State, 

6 or local agencies, design, develop, and test 

7 various training approaches in order to de8 termine effective practices; or 

9 ‘‘(xiii) assist in the development and 

10 replication of effective service delivery 

11 strategies for the United States maritime 

12 industry as a whole. 

13 ‘‘(8) PUBLIC REPORT.—Not later than Decem14 ber 15 in each of the calendar years 2023 through 

15 2025, the Administrator shall make available on a 

16 publicly available website a report and provide a 

17 briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, 

18 and Transportation of the Senate and the Com19 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the 

20 House of Representatives— 

21 ‘‘(A) describing each grant awarded under 

22 this subsection during the preceding fiscal year; 

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

24 a grant under this subsection in a fiscal year 


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1 preceding the fiscal year referred to in subpara2 graph (A) on workers receiving training; and 

3 ‘‘(C) the performance of the grant awarded 

4 with respect to the indicators of performance 

5 under section 116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce 

6 Innovation and Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 

7 3141(b)(2)(A)(i)). 

8 ‘‘(9) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

9 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

10 this subsection $40,000,000 for each of the fiscal 

11 years 2022 through 2026.’’. 

Æ 


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