I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1947

To provide for the development, operation, and maintenance of the Nation’s

harbors, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 26, 1999

Mr. SHUSTER (for himself and Mr. OBERSTAR) (both by request) introduced

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation

and Infrastructure

A BILL

To provide for the development, operation, and maintenance

of the Nation’s harbors, 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 title may be cited as the ‘‘Harbor Services Fund

5 Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. HARBOR SERVICES FEE.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby imposed a fee on

8 services provided to commercial vessels for port use.

9 (b) AMOUNT OF FEE.—The amount of the fee im10 posed by subsection (a) shall be based on vessel category
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1 and vessel capacity unit in accordance with the following

2 table:

Vessel Category: Rate of Fee:

Bulker ............................................ $0.12 per vessel capacity unit

Tanker ........................................... $0.28 per vessel capacity unit

General .......................................... $2.74 per vessel capacity unit

Cruise ............................................ $0.12 per vessel capacity unit.

3 The aggregate amount of fees imposed under the authority

4 of this section in a fiscal year shall be sufficient to pay

5 the projected total expenditures of the Department of the

6 Army, subject to appropriations, for harbor development,

7 operation, and maintenance for a fiscal year. If amounts

8 appropriated in any fiscal year are less than the amount

9 collected in fees for the prior fiscal year, then the rate

10 of the fee for each vessel category shall be reduced in the

11 year of the appropriation so as to result in collections not

12 exceeding the total amount appropriated from the Harbor

13 Services Fund for that fiscal year.

14 (c) IMPOSITION OF FEES.—The fee imposed by sub15 section (a) shall be imposed on a voyage basis for commer16 cial vessels and shall be payable by the operator of a com17 mercial vessel upon the first port use by a vessel entering

18 a United States port from a foreign port or at the origi19 nating port for domestic voyages.

20 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF COLLECTION AND APPRO21 PRIATION OF FEES.—Fees imposed pursuant to this sec22 tion may be collected only to the extent provided in ad23 vance in appropriations Acts. Amounts so collected in any
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1 fiscal year shall be available for obligation in the following

2 fiscal year only to the extent and in the amount provided

3 in advance in the appropriations Act for such fiscal year.

4 Such fees are authorized to be appropriated to remain

5 available until expended.

6 (e) EXEMPTIONS.—No fee shall be imposed under

7 this section for port use—

8 (1) by the United States or any agency or in9 strumentality thereof;

10 (2) in connection with intraport movements;

11 (3) in connection with transporting commercial

12 cargo from the United States mainland to Alaska,

13 Hawaii, or any possession of the United States for

14 ultimate use or consumption in Alaska, Hawaii, or

15 any possession of the United States;

16 (4) in connection with transporting commercial

17 cargo from Alaska, Hawaii, or any possession of the

18 United States to the United States mainland, Alas19 ka, Hawaii, or such possession for ultimate use or

20 consumption in the United States mainland, Alaska,

21 Hawaii, or such a possession;

22 (5) in connection with transporting commercial

23 cargo within Alaska, Hawaii, or a possession of the

24 United States; or
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1 (6) in connection with transporting passengers

2 on United States flag vessels operating solely within

3 the State waters of Alaska or Hawaii and adjacent

4 international waters.

5 (f) COLLECTION OF FEE.—The Secretary of the

6 Treasury shall be responsible for prescribing regulations—

7 (1) providing for the manner and method of

8 payment and collection of the fee imposed by this

9 section;

10 (2) providing for the posting of bonds to secure

11 payment of such fee; and

12 (3) exempting any transaction or class of trans13 actions from such fee where the collection of such

14 fee is not administratively practical.

15 (g) AUDIT OF FEES.—The Secretary of the Army

16 shall be responsible for prescribing regulations—

17 (1) providing for the remittance or mitigation

18 of penalties and the settlement or compromise of

19 claims;

20 (2) providing for a periodic review of amounts

21 collected under this section to ensure that the fees

22 charged fairly approximate the cost of services pro23 vided to commercial vessels for port use;

24 (3) providing for the prospective adjustment of

25 the rate of the fee for any one or more of the bulker,
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1 tanker, or cruise vessel categories by up to $0.05,

2 or, in the case of the general vessel category, by up

3 to $0.25, as necessary to fairly approximate the cost

4 of services provided to commercial vessels in each

5 vessel category; and

6 (4) such other regulations as may be necessary

7 to carry out the purposes of this Act.

8 SEC. 3. HARBOR SERVICES FUND.

9 (a) CREATION OF FUND.—There is hereby estab10 lished in the Treasury of the United States a Harbor Serv11 ices Fund (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Fund’’) into

12 which shall be deposited as offsetting receipts all fees col13 lected under section 2 of this Act and to which shall be

14 transferred balances in the Harbor Maintenance Trust

15 Fund established pursuant to 26 U.S.C. 9505.

16 (b) PURPOSES.—(1) Subject to subsection (c),

17 amounts in the Fund may be made available for each fis18 cal year to pay—

19 (A) 100 percent of the eligible harbor develop20 ment costs;

21 (B) 100 percent of the eligible operations and

22 maintenance costs assigned to commercial navigation

23 of all ports within the United States; and
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1 (C) 100 percent of the eligible costs of main2 taining the Federal dredging capability for the Na3 tion.

4 (2) In addition to the purposes set forth in paragraph

5 (1) of this subsection, an amount of up to $100,000,000

6 per fiscal year is authorized to be appropriated from the

7 Fund for dredging of berthing areas and construction and

8 maintenance of bulkheads associated with a Federally au9 thorized project and for all or a portion of the non-Federal

10 share of project costs of an eligible non-Federal interest

11 participating in the construction, operation, or mainte12 nance of a Federally authorized project.

13 (c) EXPENDITURES FROM HARBOR SERVICES

14 FUND.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2),

15 amounts in the Fund shall be available, as provided in ad16 vance in appropriation Acts, to carry out subsection (b)

17 of this section and for the payment of expenses incurred

18 in administering the fee imposed by section 2(a) of this

19 Act. Such amounts are authorized to be appropriated to

20 remain available until expended.

21 (2) From the balances transferred to the Harbor

22 Services Fund pursuant to section 3(a) of this Act, such

23 sums as may be necessary are hereby reserved to imple24 ment legislation to be enacted to establish the Saint Law-
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1 rence Seaway Development Corporation as a performance

2 based organization.

3 SEC. 4. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

4 (a) Section 210 of the Water Resources Development

5 Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238) is permanently repealed

6 upon enactment of an appropriation Act for fiscal year

7 2000 authorizing the collection of fees pursuant to section

8 2(d) of this Act.

9 (b) Sections 4461 and 4462 of title 26, United States

10 Code, are permanently repealed upon enactment of an ap11 propriation Act for fiscal year 2000 authorizing the collec12 tion of fees pursuant to section 2(d) of this Act.

13 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

14 For purposes of this Act—

15 (1) The term ‘‘port’’ means any channel or har16 bor (or component thereof) in the United States

17 which is not an inland waterway and which is open

18 to public navigation. The term ‘‘port’’ does not in19 clude any channel or harbor with respect to which

20 no Federal funds have been used since 1989 for con21 struction, operation, or maintenance, or which was

22 deauthorized by Federal law before 1997 or to any

23 channel or harbor where commercial vessels cannot

24 load or unload cargo or passengers.
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1 (2) The term ‘‘port use’’ means the use of a

2 channel by a commercial vessel for entering and

3 exiting a port for commercial purposes.

4 (3) The term ‘‘commercial cargo’’ means any

5 cargo transported on a commercial vessel. The term

6 does not include bunker fuel, ship’s stores, sea

7 stores, or equipment necessary to the operation of a

8 vessel, or fish or other aquatic animal life caught

9 and not previously landed on shore.

10 (4) The term ‘‘commercial vessel’’ means any

11 vessel in excess of 3,000 gross registered tons used

12 in transporting cargo or passengers by water for

13 compensation or hire, or in transporting cargo by

14 water in the business of the owner, lessee, or oper15 ator of the vessel. The term does not include any

16 ferry engaged primarily in the ferrying of passengers

17 (including their vehicles) between points within the

18 United States, or between the United States and

19 contiguous countries.

20 (5) The term ‘‘ferry’’ means any vessel which

21 arrives in the United States on a regular schedule

22 during its operating season at intervals of at least

23 once each business day.

24 (6) The term ‘‘vessel capacity unit’’ means the

25 unit measure of vessel capacity represented by net
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1 tonnage, or, in the case of containerships or cruise

2 ships, gross tonnage.

3 (7) The term ‘‘United States mainland’’ means

4 the contiguous 48 States.

5 (8) The term ‘‘eligible harbor development

6 costs’’ means the Federal share of the costs associ7 ated with construction of the general navigation fea8 tures at a harbor or inland harbor within the United

9 States.

10 (9) The term ‘‘bulker’’ as a vessel category

11 means a waterborne vessel designed to transport dry

12 bulk cargo, including self-propelled vessels and non

13 self-propelled vessels.

14 (10) The term ‘‘tanker’’ as a vessel category

15 means a waterborne vessel designed to transport liq16 uid bulk cargo, including self-propelled vessels and

17 non self-propelled vessels.

18 (11) The term ‘‘general’’ as a vessel category

19 means a waterborne vessel designed to transport

20 general cargo.

21 (12) The term ‘‘cruise ship’’ as a vessel cat22 egory means a waterborne vessel designed to trans23 port fare paying, berthed passengers.

24 (13) The term ‘‘eligible non-Federal interest’’

25 means a non-Federal interest for a Federally author-
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1 ized navigation project at a port where the average

2 amount of the harbor services fee collected over

3 three consecutive fiscal years exceeds the average

4 Federal expenditures from the Harbor Services

5 Fund at that port during the same consecutive fiscal

6 years by $10,000,000.

7 (14) For purposes of paragraphs (2), (3), and

8 (4) of section 2(d), the term ‘‘commercial cargo’’

9 does not include crude oil with respect to Alaska.

10 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

11 The fees prescribed pursuant to section 2(a) of this

12 Act shall be imposed on the owners or operators of com13 mercial vessels beginning on October 1, 1999.

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