Title: A bill to require a study and report on Coast Guard interdiction of illicit drugs in the transit zones, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works

Summary:
This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a study to identify gaps in resources that contribute to low interdiction rates for maritime noncommercial smuggling of illicit drugs into the United States from Central America and South America.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2152 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2152

 To require a study and report on Coast Guard interdiction of illicit 
          drugs in the transit zones, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 17, 2019

   Mr. Markey (for himself and Mr. Scott of Florida) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                 Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require a study and report on Coast Guard interdiction of illicit 
          drugs in the transit zones, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. STUDY AND REPORT ON COAST GUARD INTERDICTION OF ILLICIT 
              DRUGS IN THE TRANSIT ZONES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Coast Guard seizes an average of 1,221 pounds of 
        cocaine and 85 pounds of marijuana each day in the transit 
        zones of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Southern 
        maritime border approaches.
            (2) The Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South) 
        estimates that it has a spectrum of actionable intelligence on 
        more than 80 percent of drug movements into the United States 
        from Central America and South America.
            (3) The Coast Guard must balance asset allocation across 11 
        statutory missions. As such, the Coast Guard interdicts less 
        than 10 percent of maritime non-commercial smuggling of illicit 
        drugs into the United States from Central America and South 
        America.
            (4) In 2017, the Government Accountability Office 
        recommended that the Commandant of the Coast Guard--
                    (A) develop new performance goals relating to the 
                interdiction of illicit drugs smuggled into the United 
                States, or describe the manner in which existing goals 
                are sufficient;
                    (B) report such goals to the public;
                    (C) assess the extent to which limitations in 
                performance data with respect to such goals are 
                documented;
                    (D) document measurable corrective actions and 
                implementation time frames with respect to such goals; 
                and
                    (E) document efforts to monitor implementation of 
                such corrective actions.
    (b) Study.--The Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination 
with the Secretary of Defense and the heads of other relevant Federal 
agencies, shall conduct a study in order to identify gaps in resources 
that contribute to low interdiction rates for maritime non-commercial 
smuggling of illicit drugs into the United States from Central America 
and South America despite having actionable intelligence on more than 
80 percent of drug movements in the transit zones of the Eastern 
Pacific Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Southern maritime border approaches.
    (c) Report.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit 
to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
and the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 
Representatives a report on the results of the study under subsection 
(b).
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