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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4634 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4634

   To limit the authority of the Secretary of Commerce to implement 
certain fishery closures unless the Secretary certifies that closure is 
 the only option available for maintaining a fishery at a sustainable 
                     level, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 22, 2010

 Mr. Brown of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Wilson of 
South Carolina, Mr. Mica, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, Mr. Jones, and 
 Ms. Kosmas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
   To limit the authority of the Secretary of Commerce to implement 
certain fishery closures unless the Secretary certifies that closure is 
 the only option available for maintaining a fishery at a sustainable 
                     level, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Transparency in Job Loss from 
Fishery Closures Act of 2010''.

SEC. 2. SECRETARIAL REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Certification Requirement.--The Secretary may not implement a 
closure of a directed fishery pursuant to the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 
Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.) that would 
have a direct or indirect affect of at least $50,000 on each of more 
than 25 small businesses that do business related to the recreational, 
charter, or commercial fishing industries involved in the fishery being 
closed, unless the Secretary has certified that--
            (1) the fishery closure is the only option available for 
        maintaining the fishery at a sustainable level;
            (2) the stock assessment for the fishery has been updated 
        and peer reviewed within the preceding 3-year period; and
            (3) the stock assessment was developed using at least 2 
        models that were subjected to outside peer review prior to such 
        use.
    (b) Application to Existing Closures.--The Secretary shall--
            (1) review any fishery closure for which notice was 
        published in the Federal Register within the 12-month period 
        preceding the date of enactment of this Act, and--
                    (A) within the 60-day period beginning on such date 
                of enactment, make the certification described in 
                subsection (a)(1) with respect to such closure; or
                    (B) within the 90-day period beginning on such date 
                of enactment, review and implement options other than 
                closure for maintaining the fishery at a sustainable 
                level;
            (2) review the effects of each such closure on coastal 
        communities, including--
                    (A) the direct and indirect impact of the closure 
                on all affected small businesses in such communities;
                    (B) the job losses as a result of the closure that 
                have already occurred in such communities; and
                    (C) the job losses as a result of the closure that 
                are expected to occur in such communities within the 1-
                year period beginning on the date the review is 
                initiated; and
            (3) report to Congress on the actions taken under this 
        subsection for each such closure.

SEC. 3. REPORT TO CONGRESS.

    The Secretary shall report to Congress by not later than 120 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act on--
            (1) the number of fishery closures that were established 
        within the 5-year period preceding such date of enactment;
            (2) the reason for each such closure;
            (3) the duration of each such closure;
            (4) the impact of each such closure on coastal communities; 
        and
            (5) the expected duration of each such closure.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Fishery.--The term ``fishery'' has the meaning that 
        term has in the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
        Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.).
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Commerce, acting through the National Oceanic and 
        Atmospheric Administration.
            (3) Small business.--The term ``small business'' means any 
        business that has had gross revenues of less than $500,000 per 
        year for a minimum of three years.
                                 <all>
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