I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1964

To authorize appropriations for the Maritime Administration for fiscal year

1994, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 4, 1993

Mr. LIPINSKI (for himself, Mr. STUDDS, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. FIELDS of Texas,

and Mr. TAUZIN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries

A BILL

To authorize appropriations for the Maritime Administration

for fiscal year 1994, 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 ‘‘Maritime Administra5 tion Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATIONS FOR MARITIME ADMINISTRA7 TION.

8 (a) AUTHORIZATIONS.—In fiscal year 1994, the fol9 lowing amounts are authorized to be appropriated for the

10 Maritime Administration (Department of Transportation):
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1 (1) Any amounts necessary to liquidate obliga2 tions under operating-differential subsidy contracts

3 for the fiscal year 1994 portion of the total contract

4 authority.

5 (2) $41,013,000 for expenses related to man6 power, education, and training, including—

7 (A) $28,877,000 for maritime training at

8 the United States Merchant Marine Academy at

9 Kings Point, New York;

10 (B) $10,344,000 for assistance to the

11 State maritime academies (including for reim12 bursement of fuel cost associated with the oper13 ation of training vessels), of which $1,200,000

14 may be used for training simulators for the

15 State maritime academies; and

16 (C) $1,792,000 for manpower and addi17 tional training.

18 (3) $30,713,000 for operating programs, in19 cluding—

20 (A) $19,989,000 for general administra21 tion;

22 (B) $8,983,000 for development and use of

23 water transportation systems; and

24 (C) $1,741,000 for research, technology,

25 and analysis.
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1 (4) $254,355,000 for expenses related to na2 tional security support capabilities, including—

3 (A) $6,937,000 for the National Defense

4 Reserve Fleet;

5 (B) $1,418,000 for emergency planning

6 and operations; and

7 (C) $246,000,000 for the Ready Reserve

8 Force, including—

9 (i) $242,000,000 for maintenance and

10 operations programs in support of the

11 Ready Reserve Force; and

12 (ii) $4,000,000 for Ready Reserve

13 Force facilities.

14 (5) $4,000,000 to pay administrative costs re15 lated to new loan guarantee commitments under title

16 XI of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App.

17 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.), relating to Federal ship mort18 gage insurance.

19 (6) $50,000,000 for costs (as that term is de20 fined in section 502 of the Federal Credit Reform

21 Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a)) of new loan guarantee

22 commitments under title XI of the Merchant Marine

23 Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1271 et seq.).

24 (b) USE OF PROCEEDS OF SALES.—Notwithstanding

25 any other provision of law, the Secretary of Transpor-
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1 tation may use proceeds derived from the sale or disposal

2 of National Defense Reserve Fleet vessels that are cur3 rently collected and retained by the Maritime Administra4 tion for facility and ship maintenance, modernization and

5 repair, acquisition of equipment, training simulators, and

6 fuel costs necessary to maintain training at the United

7 States Merchant Marine Academy and the State maritime

8 academies.

9 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SHIPBUILDING ENHANCEMENT INSTI10 TUTES.

11 (a) DESIGNATION BY SECRETARY OF TRANSPOR12 TATION.—The Secretary of Transportation may designate

13 National Shipbuilding Enhancement Institutes.

14 (b) ACTIVITIES.—Activities undertaken by such an

15 Institute may include—

16 (1) vessel construction and repair technology

17 development with an emphasis on improving the pro18 ductivity of United States shipyards through innova19 tive design, engineering, or operations;

20 (2) enhancing the international competitiveness

21 of domestic shipyards in ship construction and re22 pair;

23 (3) documenting and forecasting international

24 and domestic trends in ship construction and repair;
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1 (4) fostering innovations in the domestic ship2 building marketing system; and

3 (5) providing technical support on shipbuilding

4 practices.

5 (c) SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS.—An institution

6 seeking designation as a National Shipbuilding Enhance7 ment Institute shall submit an application under regula8 tions prescribed by the Secretary.

9 (d) DESIGNATION CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall

10 designate an Institute under this section on the basis of

11 the following criteria:

12 (1) The research and extension resources avail13 able to the designee for carrying out the activities

14 specified in subsection (b).

15 (2) The existence of an established program of

16 the designee encompassing research, education, and

17 training directed to enhancing shipbuilding indus18 tries.

19 (3) The ability of the designee to assemble and

20 evaluate pertinent information from national and

21 international sources and to disseminate results of

22 shipbuilding industry research and educational pro23 grams.

24 (4) The qualification of the designee as a non25 profit institution of maritime or higher education.
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1 (e) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make an award, on

2 a matching basis, to any institute designated under sub3 section (a), from amounts appropriated.

4 SEC. 4. REIMBURSEMENT OF CERTAIN FEES BY STATE

5 MARITIME ACADEMIES.

6 (a) CONDITION OF ASSISTANCE.—Section 1304(d) of

7 the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C.

8 1295c(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(3)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), an agreement

10 under this subsection shall require a State maritime acad11 emy to reimburse each qualified individual for any fee or

12 charge for which the individual is liable to the United

13 States for—

14 ‘‘(i) the issuance of an entry level license under

15 chapter 71 of title 46, United States Code;

16 ‘‘(ii) the first issuance of a merchant mariner’s

17 document under chapter 73 of that title;

18 ‘‘(iii) an evaluation or examination for such a li19 cense or merchant mariner’s document conducted

20 before the end of the period described in subpara21 graph (D)(ii); or

22 ‘‘(iv) an application for such a license, mer23 chant mariner’s document, evaluation, or examina24 tion.
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1 ‘‘(B) A State maritime academy shall reimburse

2 qualified individuals under subparagraph (A) to the extent

3 amounts are available under subparagraph (C).

4 ‘‘(C) In addition to annual payments under para5 graph (1)(A) and subject to the availability of appropria6 tions, the Secretary shall annually pay to each State mari7 time academy that enters into an agreement under para8 graph (1) amounts to reimburse qualified individuals

9 under subparagraph (A).

10 ‘‘(D) In this paragraph, the term ‘qualified individ11 ual’ means an individual who—

12 ‘‘(i) is attending or is a graduate of a State

13 maritime academy;

14 ‘‘(ii) fulfills the requirements for a license or

15 merchant mariner’s document described in subpara16 graph (A) not later than three months after the date

17 the individual graduates from a State maritime

18 academy; and

19 ‘‘(iii) is liable for a fee or charge described in

20 subparagraph (A).’’.

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

22 subsection (a) is effective October 1, 1993.

23 (c) AMENDMENT OF EXISTING AGREEMENTS.—As

24 soon as practicable after the date of the enactment of this

25 Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall amend agree-
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1 ments under section 1304(d) of the Merchant Marine Act,

2 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1295c(d)) pursuant to the amend3 ment made by subsection (a).

4 (d) ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS AUTHORIZED.—

5 In addition to amounts authorized to be appropriated for

6 assistance to State maritime academies, there is author7 ized to be appropriated $300,000 for Fiscal Year 1994

8 to reimburse qualified individuals pursuant to the amend9 ment made by subsection (a).

10 SEC. 5. NATIONAL MARITIME ENHANCEMENT INSTITUTES.

11 Section 8(e) of the Act of October 13, 1989 (46 App.

12 U.S.C. 1121–2(e)), is amended to read as follows:

13 ‘‘(e) The Secretary may make awards on an equal

14 or partial matching basis to an Institute designated under

15 subsection (a) from amounts appropriated.’’.

16 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF CONDITION FOR STATE MARITIME

17 ACADEMY ASSISTANCE.

18 Section 1304(f)(1) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936

19 (46 App. 1295c(f)(1)) is amended—

20 (1) in subparagraph (A) by inserting ‘‘and’’

21 after the semicolon at the end;

22 (2) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘; and’’

23 and inserting a period; and

24 (3) by repealing subparagraph (C).
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1 SEC. 7. MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS FOR NATIONAL DE2 FENSE RESERVE FLEET VESSELS.

3 The Secretary of Transportation may enter into a

4 contract for the maintenance of the National Defense Re5 serve Fleet, including the Ready Reserve Force, only for—

6 (1) the repair, activation, operation, berthing,

7 towing, or lay-up of a vessel;

8 (2) a vessel used by a State maritime academy;

9 or

10 (3) obtaining maintenance technical services

11 when—

12 (A) the technical expertise required for

13 that service is beyond the capabilities of the

14 Fleet staff or when the Fleet has insufficient

15 personnel resources to adequately maintain the

16 Fleet; and

17 (B) the contract does not result in reduc18 ing employment at the Fleet site.

19 SEC. 8. MAINTENANCE OF READY RESERVE FORCE VES20 SELS IN REDUCED OPERATING STATUS.

21 The Secretary shall, during fiscal year 1994, main22 tain in a reduced operating status—

23 (1) at least 29 vessels in the Ready Reserve

24 Force component of the National Defense Reserve

25 Fleet, or
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1 (2) a lesser number of those vessels that the

2 Secretary determines to be practicable based on the

3 appropriations available for that fiscal year for

4 maintenance of vessels in that Force.

5 SEC. 9. VESSEL REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE PILOT PRO6 GRAM.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transportation

8 shall conduct a pilot program to evaluate the feasibility

9 of using long-term contracts for the maintenance and re10 pair of outported vessels in the Ready Reserve Force to

11 enhance the readiness of those vessels. Under the pilot

12 program, the Secretary, subject to the availability of ap13 propriations and within 6 months after the date of the

14 enactment of this Act, shall award 9 contracts for this

15 purpose.

16 (b) USE OF VARIOUS CONTRACTING ARRANGE17 MENTS.—In conducting a pilot program under this sec18 tion, the Secretary of Transportation shall use contracting

19 arrangements similar to those used by the Department of

20 Defense for procuring maintenance and repair of its

21 vessels.

22 (c) CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.—Each contract with

23 a shipyard under this section shall—

24 (1) subject to subsection (d), provide for the

25 procurement from the shipyard of all repair and
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1 maintenance (including activation, deactivation, and

2 drydocking) for one vessel in the Ready Reserve

3 Force that is outported in the geographical vicinity

4 of the shipyard; and

5 (2) be effective for 3 years.

6 (d) LIMITATION ON WORK UNDER CONTRACTS.—A

7 contract under this section may not provide for the pro8 curement of operation or manning for a vessel that may

9 be procured under another contract for the vessel to which

10 section 11(d)(2) of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946

11 (50 App. U.S.C. 1744(d)(2)) applies.

12 (e) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—The Secretary

13 shall seek to award contracts under this section to ship14 yards that are distributed throughout the United States.

15 (f) REPORTS.—The Secretary shall submit to the

16 Congress—

17 (1) an interim report on the effectiveness of

18 each contract under this section in providing for eco19 nomic and efficient repair and maintenance of the

20 vessel covered by the contract, by not later than 20

21 months after the date of the enactment of this Act;

22 and

23 (2) a final report on that effectiveness, by not

24 later than 6 months after the termination of all con25 tracts awarded pursuant to this section.
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1 SEC. 10. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF READY RESERVE

2 FORCE VESSELS.

3 (a) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor5 tation shall submit a report to the Congress which de6 scribes where vessels in the Ready Reserve Force will be

7 located in fiscal year 1994.

8 (b) CONSIDERATION OF PORTS IN LOCATING VES9 SELS.—In selecting locations where Ready Reserve Force

10 Vessels will be outported, the Secretary of Transportation

11 shall consider ports that have historically been involved in

12 outporting of those vessels.

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