I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5417 

To require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, provide 

for expanded uses of the Fund, and prevent cargo diversion, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 9, 2016 

Mr. REICHERT (for himself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. LARSEN

of Washington, Mr. KILMER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, and Mr. HECK

of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 

Committee on Ways and Means, 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 require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust 

Fund, provide for expanded uses of the Fund, and prevent cargo diversion, 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 ‘‘Harbor Maintenance 

5 Trust Fund Reform Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REFORM OF SPENDING FROM THE HARBOR MAIN2 TENANCE TRUST FUND. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9505(c) of the Internal 

4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM HARBOR MAINTENANCE

6 TRUST FUND.— 

7 ‘‘(1) REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any fis9 cal year beginning after September 30, 2016, so 

10 much of the amounts in the Harbor Mainte11 nance Trust Fund as is equal to the applicable 

12 amount shall be available, without appropria13 tion, for making expenditures— 

14 ‘‘(i) to carry out section 210 of the 

15 Water Resources Development Act of 

16 1986, 

17 ‘‘(ii) for payments of rebates of tolls 

18 or charges pursuant to section 13(b) of the 

19 Act of May 13, 1954 (as in effect on April 

20 1, 1987), and 

21 ‘‘(iii) for the payment of all expenses 

22 of administration incurred by the Depart23 ment of the Treasury, the Army Corps of 

24 Engineers, and the Department of Com25 merce related to the administration of subVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:22 Jun 10, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5417.IH H5417

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1 chapter A of chapter 36 (relating to harbor 

2 maintenance tax). 

3 ‘‘(B) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes 

4 of subparagraph (A), the applicable amount for 

5 any fiscal year is an amount equal to the sum 

6 of— 

7 ‘‘(i) the amount of taxes received in 

8 the Treasury under section 4461 for the 

9 immediately preceding fiscal year, plus 

10 ‘‘(ii) any amounts credited to the 

11 Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund under 

12 section 9602(b) which is attributable to the 

13 portion of the amounts described in clause 

14 (i) that are deposited in such Trust Fund. 

15 ‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 

16 amounts available under this paragraph for any 

17 fiscal year— 

18 ‘‘(i) $5,000,000 shall be available for 

19 purposes described in subparagraph 

20 (A)(iii), 

21 ‘‘(ii) $40,000,000 shall be available 

22 for purposes described in subparagraph 

23 (A)(ii), and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) the remainder shall be available 

2 for purposes described in subparagraph 

3 (A)(i). 

4 ‘‘(2) OTHER AMOUNTS.—The amounts in the 

5 Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund after application of 

6 paragraph (1) shall be available, as provided in ap7 propriations Acts, for making expenditures for pur8 poses described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 

9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 this section shall apply to fiscal years beginning after the 

11 date of the enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MEASURES AT DONOR PORTS AND EN13 ERGY TRANSFER PORTS. 

14 Section 2106 of the Water Resources Reform and De15 velopment Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c) is amended— 

16 (1) in subsection (a)(2)— 

17 (A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 

18 through (D) as clauses (i) through (iv), respec19 tively, and indenting appropriately; 

20 (B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 

21 redesignated), by striking ‘‘The term’’ and in22 serting the following: 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term’’; and 

24 (C) by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(B) CALCULATION.—For the purpose of 

2 calculating the percentage described in subpara3 graph (A)(iii), payments described under sub4 section (c)(1) shall not be included.’’; 

5 (2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 

6 following: 

7 ‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 

9 to donor ports and energy transfer ports amounts in 

10 accordance with this section. 

11 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—Amounts provided under 

12 this section for each fiscal year— 

13 ‘‘(A) shall be provided in equal amounts to 

14 donor ports and energy transfer ports; 

15 ‘‘(B) for donor ports— 

16 ‘‘(i) 50 percent of the funds shall be 

17 equally divided between the eligible donor 

18 ports; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) 50 percent of the funds shall be 

20 divided between the eligible donor ports 

21 based on the percentage of the total Har22 bor Maintenance Tax revenues generated 

23 at each eligible donor port; 


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1 ‘‘(C) for energy transfer ports, shall be di2 vided equally among all States with an energy 

3 transfer port; and 

4 ‘‘(D) shall be made available to a port as 

5 either a donor port or an energy transfer port 

6 and no port may receive amounts as both a 

7 donor port and an energy transfer port.’’; and 

8 (3) by striking subsection (f). 

9 SEC. 4. EXPENDITURES FROM THE HARBOR MAINTENANCE 

10 TRUST FUND. 

11 (a) OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF HARBOR

12 PROJECTS.—Section 210(c) of the Water Resources De13 velopment Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(c)) is amended— 

14 (1) by striking paragraph (3); 

15 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para16 graph (5); and 

17 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol18 lowing: 

19 ‘‘(3) CERTAIN DONOR PORTS AND ENERGY

20 TRANSFER PORTS.—The Secretary shall allocate to 

21 carry out activities under section 2106(c) of the 

22 Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 

23 2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c(c)) an amount that is not 

24 less than 20 percent of the funds made available 

25 under this section for each fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(4) EMERGING HARBOR PROJECTS.—Notwith2 standing any other provision of this subsection, in 

3 making expenditures under paragraph (1), the Sec4 retary shall allocate for operation and maintenance 

5 costs of emerging harbor projects for each fiscal 

6 year an amount that is not less than 10 percent of 

7 the funds made available under this section for fiscal 

8 year 2012 to pay the costs described in subsection 

9 (a)(2).’’. 

10 (b) DEFINITION OF EXPANDED USES.—Section 

11 210(f)(3) of the Water Resources Development Act of 

12 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(f)(3)) is amended by adding at the 

13 end the following: 

14 ‘‘(C) An in-water improvement, if— 

15 ‘‘(i) the improvement benefits com16 mercial navigation at the harbor; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) the improvement is located in or 

18 adjacent to a berth that is accessible to a 

19 Federal navigation project. 

20 ‘‘(D) An activity to maintain or improve 

21 slope stability at a berth in a harbor that is ac22 cessible to a Federal navigation project, if the 

23 activity benefits commercial navigation at the 

24 harbor.’’. 

Æ 


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