I 
114TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5417 
To require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, provide 
for expanded uses of the Fund, and prevent cargo diversion, and for 
other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 9, 2016 
Mr. REICHERT (for himself, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. LARSEN 
of Washington, Mr. KILMER, Mr. SMITH of Washington, and Mr. HECK 
of Washington) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require full spending of the Harbor Maintenance Trust 
Fund, provide for expanded uses of the Fund, and pre-
vent cargo diversion, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Harbor Maintenance 
Trust Fund Reform Act of 2016’’. 
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SEC. 2. REFORM OF SPENDING FROM THE HARBOR MAIN-
TENANCE TRUST FUND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9505(c) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM HARBOR MAINTENANCE 
TRUST FUND.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIRED DISTRIBUTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any fis-
cal year beginning after September 30, 2016, so 
much of the amounts in the Harbor Mainte-
nance Trust Fund as is equal to the applicable 
amount shall be available, without appropria-
tion, for making expenditures— 
‘‘(i) to carry out section 210 of the 
Water Resources Development Act of 
1986, 
‘‘(ii) for payments of rebates of tolls 
or charges pursuant to section 13(b) of the 
Act of May 13, 1954 (as in effect on April 
1, 1987), and 
‘‘(iii) for the payment of all expenses 
of administration incurred by the Depart-
ment of the Treasury, the Army Corps of 
Engineers, and the Department of Com-
merce related to the administration of sub-
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chapter A of chapter 36 (relating to harbor 
maintenance tax). 
‘‘(B) APPLICABLE AMOUNT.—For purposes 
of subparagraph (A), the applicable amount for 
any fiscal year is an amount equal to the sum 
of— 
‘‘(i) the amount of taxes received in 
the Treasury under section 4461 for the 
immediately preceding fiscal year, plus 
‘‘(ii) any amounts credited to the 
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund under 
section 9602(b) which is attributable to the 
portion of the amounts described in clause 
(i) that are deposited in such Trust Fund. 
‘‘(C) ALLOCATION OF AMOUNTS.—Of the 
amounts available under this paragraph for any 
fiscal year— 
‘‘(i) $5,000,000 shall be available for 
purposes 
described 
in 
subparagraph 
(A)(iii), 
‘‘(ii) $40,000,000 shall be available 
for purposes described in subparagraph 
(A)(ii), and 
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‘‘(iii) the remainder shall be available 
for purposes described in subparagraph 
(A)(i). 
‘‘(2) OTHER AMOUNTS.—The amounts in the 
Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund after application of 
paragraph (1) shall be available, as provided in ap-
propriations Acts, for making expenditures for pur-
poses described in paragraph (1)(A).’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
this section shall apply to fiscal years beginning after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL MEASURES AT DONOR PORTS AND EN-
ERGY TRANSFER PORTS. 
Section 2106 of the Water Resources Reform and De-
velopment Act of 2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a)(2)— 
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) 
through (D) as clauses (i) through (iv), respec-
tively, and indenting appropriately; 
(B) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as 
redesignated), by striking ‘‘The term’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘(B) CALCULATION.—For the purpose of 
calculating the percentage described in subpara-
graph (A)(iii), payments described under sub-
section (c)(1) shall not be included.’’; 
(2) by striking subsection (b) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(b) AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may provide 
to donor ports and energy transfer ports amounts in 
accordance with this section. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—Amounts provided under 
this section for each fiscal year— 
‘‘(A) shall be provided in equal amounts to 
donor ports and energy transfer ports; 
‘‘(B) for donor ports— 
‘‘(i) 50 percent of the funds shall be 
equally divided between the eligible donor 
ports; and 
‘‘(ii) 50 percent of the funds shall be 
divided between the eligible donor ports 
based on the percentage of the total Har-
bor Maintenance Tax revenues generated 
at each eligible donor port; 
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‘‘(C) for energy transfer ports, shall be di-
vided equally among all States with an energy 
transfer port; and 
‘‘(D) shall be made available to a port as 
either a donor port or an energy transfer port 
and no port may receive amounts as both a 
donor port and an energy transfer port.’’; and 
(3) by striking subsection (f). 
SEC. 4. EXPENDITURES FROM THE HARBOR MAINTENANCE 
TRUST FUND. 
(a) OPERATION
AND MAINTENANCE
OF HARBOR 
PROJECTS.—Section 210(c) of the Water Resources De-
velopment Act of 1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(c)) is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraph (3); 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para-
graph (5); and 
(3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(3) CERTAIN
DONOR
PORTS
AND
ENERGY 
TRANSFER PORTS.—The Secretary shall allocate to 
carry out activities under section 2106(c) of the 
Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 
2014 (33 U.S.C. 2238c(c)) an amount that is not 
less than 20 percent of the funds made available 
under this section for each fiscal year. 
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‘‘(4) EMERGING HARBOR PROJECTS.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of this subsection, in 
making expenditures under paragraph (1), the Sec-
retary shall allocate for operation and maintenance 
costs of emerging harbor projects for each fiscal 
year an amount that is not less than 10 percent of 
the funds made available under this section for fiscal 
year 2012 to pay the costs described in subsection 
(a)(2).’’. 
(b) DEFINITION
OF
EXPANDED
USES.—Section 
210(f)(3) of the Water Resources Development Act of 
1986 (33 U.S.C. 2238(f)(3)) is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘(C) An in-water improvement, if— 
‘‘(i) the improvement benefits com-
mercial navigation at the harbor; and 
‘‘(ii) the improvement is located in or 
adjacent to a berth that is accessible to a 
Federal navigation project. 
‘‘(D) An activity to maintain or improve 
slope stability at a berth in a harbor that is ac-
cessible to a Federal navigation project, if the 
activity benefits commercial navigation at the 
harbor.’’. 
Æ 
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