I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4813 
To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide for a waiver of navigation 
or vessel-inspection laws in noncontiguous areas upon a declaration of 
a major disaster or emergency, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 29, 2025 
Mr. MOYLAN (for himself, Mr. CASE, Ms. KING-HINDS, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, 
and Mr. TORRES of New York) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide for a 
waiver of navigation or vessel-inspection laws in non-
contiguous areas upon a declaration of a major disaster 
or emergency, 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 ‘‘Noncontiguous Dis-
aster Shipping Act’’. 
SEC. 2. WAIVER IN A NONCONTIGUOUS AREA. 
Section 501 of title 46, United States Code, is 
amended— 
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(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 
subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(c) IN A NONCONTIGUOUS AREA.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon a declaration by the 
President pursuant to section 401 or 501 the Robert 
T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191) that a major dis-
aster or emergency exists in a noncontiguous area of 
the United States, the head of an agency responsible 
for the administration of the navigation or vessel-in-
spection laws shall waive compliance with such laws 
for a vessel transporting cargo to or from the non-
contiguous area affected by such major disaster or 
emergency for the purpose of disaster relief. 
‘‘(2) DURATION OF WAIVER.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graphs (B) and (C), a waiver issued under this 
subsection shall be for a period of not more 
than 10 days. 
‘‘(B) WAIVER EXTENSION.—Upon the ter-
mination of a waiver issued under this sub-
section, the head of the agency referred to in 
paragraph (1), in consultation with the Gov-
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ernor of the noncontiguous area affected by 
such major disaster or emergency, may extend 
the waiver for an additional period of not more 
than 10 days. 
‘‘(C) AGGREGATE DURATION.—The aggre-
gate duration of the period of all waivers and 
extensions of waivers under this subsection with 
respect to any one major disaster or emergency 
shall not exceed 45 days. 
‘‘(3) NOTICE TO CONGRESS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of the agen-
cy referred to in paragraph (1) shall notify the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastruc-
ture, the Committee on Armed Services of the 
House of Representatives and the Committee 
on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and 
the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate 
of the issuance of any waiver of the navigation 
or vessel-inspection laws under this subsection 
not later than 48 hours after such issuance. 
‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION
REQUIRED
FOR
EX-
TENSIONS.—For the purposes of this para-
graph, an extension issued under paragraph 
(2)(B) shall be treated in the same manner as 
a waiver issued under this subsection. 
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‘‘(4) NONCONTIGUOUS AREA OF THE UNITED 
STATES DEFINED.—For the purposes of this sub-
section, the term ‘noncontiguous area of the United 
States’ means Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands, Hawaii, and Alaska.’’. 
Æ 
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