II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1287 

To ensure small shipyard grant projects are carried out using materials 

produced in the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 2, 2019 

Ms. BALDWIN (for herself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; 

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

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To ensure small shipyard grant projects are carried out 

using materials produced in the United States. 

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 ‘‘Strengthening Buy 

5 America for Small Shipyard Grants Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR SMALL SHIPYARD GRANTEES. 

7 Section 54101(d) of title 46, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘Grants awarded’’ and inserting 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded’’; and 

2 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

3 ‘‘(2) BUY AMERICA.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara5 graph (B), no funds may be obligated by the 

6 Administrator of the Maritime Administration 

7 under this section, unless each product and ma8 terial purchased with those funds (including 

9 products and materials purchased by a grant10 ee), and including any commercially available 

11 off-the-shelf item, is— 

12 ‘‘(i) an unmanufactured article, mate13 rial, or supply that has been mined or pro14 duced in the United States; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) a manufactured article, material, 

16 or supply that has been manufactured in 

17 the United States substantially all from ar18 ticles, materials, or supplies mined, pro19 duced, or manufactured in the United 

20 States. 

21 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 

22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 

23 subparagraph (A), the requirements of 

24 that subparagraph shall not apply with reVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:33 May 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1287.IS S1287

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1 spect to a particular product or material if 

2 the Administrator determines— 

3 ‘‘(I) that the application of those 

4 requirements would be inconsistent 

5 with the public interest; 

6 ‘‘(II) that such product or mate7 rial is not produced in the United 

8 States in sufficient and reasonably 

9 available quantities and of a satisfac10 tory quality; or 

11 ‘‘(III) that inclusion of a domes12 tic product or material will increase 

13 the cost of that product or material by 

14 more than 25 percent, with respect to 

15 a certain contract between a grantee 

16 and that grantee’s supplier. 

17 ‘‘(ii) FEDERAL REGISTER.—A deter18 mination made by the Administrator under 

19 this subparagraph shall be published in the 

20 Federal Register. 

21 ‘‘(C) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(i) The term ‘commercially available 

23 off-the-shelf item’ means— 

24 ‘‘(I) any item of supply (includ25 ing construction material) that is— 


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1 ‘‘(aa) a commercial item, as 

2 defined by section 2.101 of title 

3 48, Code of Federal Regulations; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(bb) sold in substantial 

6 quantities in the commercial 

7 marketplace; and 

8 ‘‘(II) does not include bulk cargo, 

9 as defined in section 40102(4) of title 

10 46, United States Code, such as agri11 cultural products and petroleum prod12 ucts. 

13 ‘‘(ii) The term ‘product or material’ 

14 means an article, material, or supply 

15 brought to the site by the recipient for in16 corporation into the building, work, or 

17 project. The term also includes an item 

18 brought to the site preassembled from arti19 cles, materials, or supplies. However, emer20 gency life safety systems, such as emer21 gency lighting, fire alarm, and audio evac22 uation systems, that are discrete systems 

23 incorporated into a public building or work 

24 and that are produced as complete sys25 tems, are evaluated as a single and distinct 


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1 construction material regardless of when or 

2 how the individual parts or components of 

3 those systems are delivered to the con4 struction site. 

5 ‘‘(iii) The term ‘United States’ in6 cludes the District of Columbia, the Com7 monwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern 

8 Mariana Islands, Guam, American Samoa, 

9 and the Virgin Islands.’’. 

Æ 


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