Investing In America: Unlocking the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act

To provide for the use of funds in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for the purposes for which the funds were collected and to ensure that funds credited to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund are used to support navigation. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Investing In America: Unlocking the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act 2. Use of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund to support navigation (a) Availability of amounts Section 210 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 ( 33 U.S.C. 2238 (1) in the section heading by striking Authorization of appropriations Funding for navigation (2) in subsection (a) by striking There are authorized to be appropriated Amounts made available from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund in accordance with section 9505(d) (b) Amendment to trust fund code Section 9505(c) (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking , as provided by appropriation Acts, , in accordance with subsection (d), (2) by adding at the end the following: (d) Availability of amounts Beginning on October 1, 2017, there shall be available from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for making expenditures under subsection (c)— (1) without further appropriation, an amount equivalent to the taxes received in the Treasury under section 4461 for the previous fiscal year, as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury; and (2) such additional amounts as provided by appropriations Acts. . (c) Estimate of harbor maintenance needs Section 1537(2) of MAP–21 ( 33 U.S.C. 2238a(2) amount of appropriations expenditures 3. Budgetary treatment of Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the receipts and disbursements of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund— (1) shall not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of— (A) the budget of the United States Government as submitted by the President; (B) the congressional budget (including allocations of budget authority and outlays provided therein); (C) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985; or (D) the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010; (2) shall be exempt from any general budget limitation imposed by statute on expenditures and net lending (budget outlays) of the United States Government; and (3) shall be available only for the purposes specified in section 9505 4. Annual report to Congress Section 330 of the Water Resources Development Act of 1992 ( 26 U.S.C. 9505 (1) in subsection (a)— (A) by striking and annually thereafter, and annually thereafter concurrent with the submission of the President’s annual budget request to Congress, (B) by striking Public Works and Transportation Transportation and Infrastructure (2) in subsection (b)(1) by adding at the end the following: (D) A description of the expected expenditures from the trust fund to meet the needs of navigation for the fiscal year of the budget request. . 5. Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund defined In this Act, the term Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund section 9505 6. Applicability This Act (including the amendments made by this Act) shall apply to fiscal years beginning after September 30, 2017.

Summary: Investing In America: Unlocking the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund Act This bill amends the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 and the Internal Revenue Code to make certain amounts in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund equivalent to port use tax receipts available for its statutorily prescribed purposes without further appropriation, including for expenditures to pay 100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs of specified portions of the Saint Lawrence Seaway and up to 100% of the eligible operations and maintenance costs assigned to commercial navigation of all U.S. harbors and inland harbors.Trust fund receipts and disbursements shall: not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for purposes of the federal budget, the congressional budget, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010; be exempt from any general budget limitation imposed by statute on government expenditures and net lending (budget outlays); and be available only for the statutorily prescribed purposes of such fund.