Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012

Bill: 112-hr-2838
Sponsor: Rep. LoBiondo, Frank A. [R-NJ-2]
Introduced: 2011-09-02 in the House
Policy area: Transportation and Public Works
Subjects: Accidents
Administrative law and regulatory procedures
Administrative remedies
Advisory bodies
Africa
Alaska
Alternative and renewable resources
American Samoa
Aquatic ecology
Arctic Ocean
Arctic and polar regions
Assault and harassment offenses
Aviation and airports
Broadcasting, cable, digital technologies
Canada
Caribbean area
Civil actions and liability
Coast guard
Congressional oversight
Crime prevention
Crime victims
Crimes against property
Crimes against women
Criminal investigation, prosecution, interrogation
Criminal justice information and records
Defense spending
Department of Defense
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Transportation
Drug trafficking and controlled substances
Emergency communications systems
Employee hiring
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Environmental technology
Evidence and witnesses
Executive agency funding and structure
Federal Maritime Commission
Florida
Foreign labor
Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
Government information and archives
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Great Lakes
Guam
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Higher education
Historic sites and heritage areas
Homeland security
Housing supply and affordability
International law and treaties
Lakes and rivers
Licensing and registrations
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Marine and inland water transportation
Marine pollution
Medical tests and diagnostic methods
Military education and training
Military law
Military personnel and dependents
Military procurement, research, weapons development
Military readiness
Motor fuels
Museums, exhibitions, cultural centers
Natural disasters
Navigation, waterways, harbors
New Jersey
New York City
Oil and gas
Pollution liability
Public contracts and procurement
Puerto Rico
Roads and highways
Saint Lawrence Seaway
Sex offenses
Solid waste and recycling
Somalia
Student aid and college costs
Technology assessment
Telephone and wireless communication
Terrorism
Transportation employees
Transportation programs funding
Transportation safety and security
Unemployment
Violent crime
Wages and earnings
Washington State
Water quality
Watersheds
Worker safety and health

Summary:
action_date: 2011-09-02
text: 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011 - Authorizes FY2012-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard's: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of navigation aids, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) Reserve program; (4) environmental compliance and restoration of vessels, aircraft, and facilities; and (4) Commandant for research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness. 
 
Authorizes, for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 47,000 and specified average military training student loads.
 
Requires that a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence be prescribed for cadets and other Academy personnel.
 
Prohibits the Secretary of the respective department in which the Coast Guard is operating from, subject to congressional reporting requirements, expending more than $1.5 million from amounts available for operating expenses for minor construction and improvement projects at any one location.
 
Sets forth guidelines for public disclosure of aircraft accident investigation reports. Prohibits using accident investigators' opinions in civil and criminal proceedings or such reports as an admission of liability.
 
Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015.
 
Repeals provisions concerning: (1) District Ombudsmen, (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aids to air navigation, (3) floating ocean stations, (4) detail of Coast Guard members to assist foreign governments, (5) the Advisory Committee to the Academy, (6) history fellowships, and (7) acquisition awards for Coast Guard personnel.
 
Establishes a class E felony and a civil penalty for knowingly and willingly operating a device that interferes with the broadcast or reception of a radio, microwave, or other signal (including a global positioning system) transmitted, retransmitted, or augmented by the Coast Guard for the purpose of maritime safety.
 
Establishes the Committee on the Marine Transportation System to assess the adequacy of, and develop and coordinate policies among federal agencies for, the marine transportation system. 
 
Sets forth provisions concerning: (1) dockside examinations; (2) investigation of marine casualties; (3) claims for damages or expenses relating to personal injury, illness, or death of a seaman who is a citizen of a foreign nation; (4) maritime liens on fishing permits; (5) short sea transportation; and (6) the mission of the Maritime Administration.
 
Authorizes FY2012-FY2015 appropriations for the Federal Maritime Commission.

action_date: 2011-10-03
text: 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011 - 
Title I: Authorization - 
(Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2012-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of navigation aids, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) the Coast Guard Reserve program; (4) environmental compliance and restoration of vessels, aircraft, and facilities; and (4) the Commandant of the Coast Guard for research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness. 
 
Designates amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
 
(Sec. 102) Authorizes, for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 47,000 and specified average military training student loads.
 

Title II: Coast Guard and Servicemember Parity
 - (Sec. 201) Entitles foreign nationals permitted to receive instruction at the Coast Guard Academy to the same emoluments (in addition to pay and allowances) as other appointed cadets. 
 
(Sec. 202) Requires the Commandant to direct the Superintendent of the Academy to: (1) prescribe a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence for cadets and other Academy personnel; (2) conduct an annual assessment to determine the effectiveness of such policies, training, and procedures; and (3) report annually, along with a prevention and response plan, on the number of such incidents. 
 
Directs the Commandant to transmit such reports, together with comments by the Commandant, to Congress and the Board of Visitors of the Academy.
 
(Sec. 203) Specifies that an original appointment of a permanent commissioned officer refers to that member's most recent appointment that is neither a promotion nor a demotion.
 
(Sec. 204) Prohibits the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) from, subject to congressional reporting requirements, expending more than $1.5 million from amounts available for operating expenses for minor construction and improvement projects at any one location.
 
Directs the Secretary to report annually to Congress on each such project expending over $500,000.
 
(Sec. 205) Sets forth guidelines for publicly disclosing records and investigation reports concerning aircraft accidents under the Commandant's jurisdiction. Prohibits: (1) an official responsible for or conducting a safety investigation from making such disclosures, and (2) accident investigators' opinions set forth in such reports from being considered in civil and criminal proceedings or as an admission of liability.
 
(Sec. 206) Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015.
 
(Sec. 207) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress a report on the status of Coast Guard servicemember housing including: (1) housing needs requirements; (2) an assessment of the condition of current housing inventory (leased and owned) and the housing available from surrounding communities and other government agencies for all duty stations; (3) a list of capacity shortfalls and excess; and (4) a revised, prioritized list of maintenance and recapitalization projects.
 

Title III: Coast Guard Reform
 - (Sec. 301) Repeals provisions concerning: (1) District Ombudsmen, (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aids to air navigation, (3) floating ocean stations, (4) detail of Coast Guard members to assist foreign governments, (5) the Advisory Committee to the Academy, (6) history fellowships, and (7) acquisition awards for Coast Guard personnel.
 
(Sec. 302) Establishes a class E felony and a civil penalty for knowingly and willingly operating a device that interferes with the broadcast or reception of a radio, microwave, or other signal (including a global positioning system) transmitted, retransmitted, or augmented by the Coast Guard for the purpose of maritime safety.
 
(Sec. 303) Sets forth conditions that must be satisfied before the Commandant may begin production of a sixth or seventh national security cutter.
 
(Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to report biennially to Congress on the status of all major acquisition programs with a life-cycle cost estimate of at least $300 million. Requires such report to include: (1) any mission hour gaps and program changes, (2) an integration plan for each new asset including shore-based infrastructure and human resource needs, (3) the operational lifespan and lifecycle cost of each legacy asset including anticipated resource gaps, (4) the accounting for legacy asset costs, (5) an annual performance comparison of new assets to legacy assets, (6) the next fiscal year's anticipated acquisitions workload, acquisition workforce assignments, and understaffed positions, (7) an identification of certified cutters that have not been maintained in class, and (8) other specified information.
 
(Sec. 305) Directs the Commandant to submit annually to Congress the prioritized list of projects eligible for environmental compliance and restoration funding for each fiscal year.
 
(Sec. 306) Requires that the Coast Guard Auxiliary be composed of U.S. nationals and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence (currently, citizens of the United States and its territories and possessions) who are owners of motorboats, yachts, aircraft, or radio stations or who the Commandant deems qualified for such duty.
 
(Sec. 307) Requires the Commandant to decommission the Polar Sea and Polar Star. 
 
(Sec. 308) Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress a report assessing the need for additional prevention and response capability for all mission areas (including search and rescue, marine pollution response and prevention, fisheries enforcement, and maritime commerce) in high latitude regions.
 
(Sec. 309) Limits to $100,000 per fiscal year the amount the Commandant is authorized to use for the activities of traveling contract teams, maritime authority liaison teams of foreign governments making reciprocal visits to Coast Guard units, and related seminars, conferences, publication distributions, and personnel expenses. 
 
(Sec. 310) Prohibits the Secretary and Commandant from traveling aboard any Coast Guard-owned or -operated fixed-wing aircraft unless the Secretary has provided to Congress: (1) a cost-constrained fleet mix analysis, and (2) notification under the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 with respect to whether the Global Positioning System requires a single, domestic back-up navigation system. Sets forth exceptions for certain major disasters, emergencies, spills of national significance, and evacuations.
 

Title IV: Shipping and Navigation - 
(Sec. 401) Establishes the Committee on the Marine Transportation System to assess the adequacy of the marine transportation system (including ports, waterways, channels, and their intermodal connections) and develop and coordinate policies among federal agencies to promote the efficient use of such system. 
 
Requires: (1) the Chair of such Committee to rotate annually among the Secretary of Transportation (DOT), Secretary of Defense (DOD), Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and Secretary of Commerce; and (2) the DOT Secretary to select an executive director.
 
Directs the Committee to report to Congress every five years on: (1) the implementation of actions recommended in the July 2008 National Strategy for the Marine Transportation System: A Framework for Action, (2) an assessment of marine transportation system conditions and the challenges to meeting user demand, and (3) a plan for improving the system and the implementation of actions previously recommended.
 
(Sec. 402) Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on: (1) the loss of U.S. shipyard jobs and industrial base expertise resulting from rebuild, conversion, and double-hull work on U.S.-flag vessels eligible for the coastwise trading performed in foreign shipyards; (2) enforcement of the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination regulations; and (3) recommendations for improving the transparency of that determination process.
 
(Sec. 403) Directs the Secretary to examine at dockside certain uninspected fishing industry vessels at least once every five years (currently, every two years).
 
(Sec. 404) Prohibits a claim for damages or expenses relating to personal injury, illness, or death of a seaman who is a citizen of a foreign nation, arising during or from the engagement of the seaman by or for a passenger vessel duly registered under the laws of a foreign nation, from being brought under U.S. laws if: (1) such seaman was not a permanent resident alien of the United States when the claim arose; (2) the injury, illness, or death arose outside U.S territorial waters; and (3) the seaman, at the time the claim arose, had a right to seek compensation under the laws of either the nation in which the vessel was registered or in which the seaman maintained citizenship or residency.
 
(Sec. 405) Bars maritime liability laws from: (1) establishing maritime liens on state or federal fishing permits (authorizing a person or use of a vessel to engage in fishing), and (2) authorizing civil actions to enforce maritime liens on such permits.
 
Specifies that a "fishing permit" is governed solely by the state or federal law under which it was issued and is not included in the whole or as an appurtenance or intangible of a vessel. 
 
(Sec. 406) Expands the DOT's short sea transportation program (currently, a program to mitigate landside congestion) to include: (1) increasing the use of U.S. navigable waters for transportation of passengers or freight, and (2) promoting waterborne transportation between U.S. ports. 
 
Redefines "short sea transportation" as the carriage of passengers or freight (or both) by a vessel documented under U.S. laws that, by crane or wheeled technology, is loaded and unloaded in the United States or a Canadian port in the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System. (Current law refers only to the carriage of cargo without specifying whether such vessels are documented.) 
 
Removes a provision that requires short sea transportation of passengers and cargo to be encouraged through regional planning with state and local governments. 
 
Terminates authority for the short sea transportation program on September 30, 2017. 
 
(Sec. 407) Specifies that the mission of the Maritime Administration is to foster, promote, and develop the domestic merchant maritime industry of the United States. 
 

Title V: Federal Maritime Commission 
- (Sec. 501) Amends the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 to authorize FY2012-FY2015 appropriations for the Federal Maritime Commission. 
 

Title VI: Miscellaneous 
- (Sec. 603) Prohibits notice of arrival regulations for foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf from applying to certain U.S.-owned vessels that are not documented under foreign laws unless such vessels arrive from a foreign port or place. 
 
(Sec. 605) Permits a U.S. purse seine fishing vessel operating in and out of American Samoa that is fishing exclusively for highly migratory species in the treaty area under a fishing license issued pursuant to the 1987 Treaty on Fisheries Between the Governments of Certain Pacific Islands States and the Government of the United States of America, or transiting to or from the treaty area exclusively for such purpose, to engage duly licensed foreign citizens to meet the manning requirement (except for the master) through the date such treaty ceases to have effect under specified articles of such treaty (thus replacing the current termination date of December 31, 2012), if no U.S. citizen personnel are readily available to fill such vacancy. 
 
(Sec. 606) Authorizes the Secretary to issue a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement for specified vessels and liquefied natural gas tankers. 
 
(Sec. 607) Directs the Commandant to report to Congress on integrating Great Lakes icebreaking operational information of the U.S and Canadian Coast Guards. 
 
 (Sec. 608) Requires that a standby vessel be located within a specified nautical mile range when a manned facility, installation unit, or vessel is performing drilling, plugging, abandoning, workover, or other operations. Allows the Commandant to reduce such distances when weather conditions or other factors prolong response time or lessen the time survivors of an accident can remain in the water. 
 
(Sec. 609) Applies the existing cap of 10 times unpaid wages as the maximum penalty payable to each seaman claiming delayed payment of wages on certain foreign, intercoastal, and coastwise passenger vessels. (Current law applies the cap to all claims in a class action suit by seamen.)

action_date: 2011-11-15
text: 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2011 - 
Title I: Authorization - 
(Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2012-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of navigation aids, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) the Coast Guard Reserve program; (4) environmental compliance and restoration of vessels, aircraft, and facilities; and (4) the Commandant of the Coast Guard for research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness. 
 
Designates amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
 
(Sec. 102) Authorizes, for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 47,000 and specified average military training student loads.
 

Title II: Coast Guard and Servicemember Parity
 - (Sec. 201) Entitles foreign nationals permitted to receive instruction at the Coast Guard Academy to the same emoluments (in addition to pay and allowances) as other appointed cadets. 
 
(Sec. 202) Requires the Commandant to direct the Superintendent of the Academy to: (1) prescribe a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence for cadets and other Academy personnel; (2) conduct an annual assessment to determine the effectiveness of such policies, training, and procedures; and (3) report annually, along with a prevention and response plan, on the number of such incidents. 
 
Directs the Commandant to transmit such reports, together with comments by the Commandant, to Congress and the Board of Visitors of the Academy.
 
(Sec. 203) Specifies that an original appointment of a permanent commissioned officer refers to that member's most recent appointment that is neither a promotion nor a demotion.
 
(Sec. 204) Prohibits the Secretary of the respective department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) from, subject to congressional reporting requirements, expending more than $1.5 million from amounts available for operating expenses for minor construction and improvement projects at any location.
 
Directs the Secretary to report annually to Congress on each such project expending over $500,000.
 
(Sec. 205) Sets forth guidelines for publicly disclosing records and investigation reports concerning aircraft accidents under the Commandant's jurisdiction. Prohibits: (1) an official responsible for or conducting a safety investigation from making such disclosures, and (2) accident investigators' opinions set forth in such reports from being considered in civil and criminal proceedings or as an admission of liability.
 
(Sec. 206) Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015.
 
(Sec. 207) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress a report on the status of Coast Guard servicemember housing including: (1) housing needs requirements; (2) an assessment of the condition of current housing inventory (leased and owned) and the housing available from surrounding communities and other government agencies for all duty stations; (3) a list of capacity shortfalls and excess; and (4) a revised, prioritized list of maintenance and recapitalization projects.
 
(Sec. 208) Authorizes the Commandant, subject to the conditions set forth in this Act concerning the sixth and seventh national security cutters, to enter contracts or orders for materials, storage, and planning in advance of a contract or order for construction of a Coast Guard vessel for which amounts are appropriated or otherwise made available. 
 

Title III: Coast Guard Reform
 - (Sec. 301) Repeals provisions concerning: (1) District Ombudsmen, (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aids to air navigation, (3) floating ocean stations, (4) the detailing of Coast Guard members to assist foreign governments, (5) the Advisory Committee to the Academy, (6) history fellowships, and (7) acquisition awards for Coast Guard personnel.
 
(Sec. 302) Establishes a class E felony and a civil penalty for knowingly and willingly operating a device that interferes with the broadcast or reception of a radio, microwave, or other signal (including a global positioning system) transmitted, retransmitted, or augmented by the Coast Guard for the purpose of maritime safety.
 
(Sec. 303) Sets forth conditions that must be satisfied before the Commandant may begin production of a sixth or seventh national security cutter.
 
(Sec. 304) Directs the Secretary to report biennially to Congress on the status of all major acquisition programs with a life-cycle cost estimate of at least $300 million. Requires such report to include: (1) any mission hour gaps and program changes; (2) an integration plan for each new asset including shore-based infrastructure and human resource needs; (3) the operational lifespan and lifecycle cost of each legacy asset including anticipated resource gaps; (4) the accounting for legacy asset costs; (5) an annual performance comparison of new assets to legacy assets; (6) the next fiscal year's anticipated acquisitions workload, acquisition workforce assignments, and understaffed positions; (7) an identification of certified cutters that have not been maintained in class; and (8) other specified information.
 
(Sec. 305) Directs the Commandant to submit annually to Congress the prioritized list of projects eligible for environmental compliance and restoration funding for each fiscal year.
 
(Sec. 306) Requires that the Coast Guard Auxiliary be composed of U.S. nationals and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence (currently, citizens of the United States and its territories and possessions) who are owners of motorboats, yachts, aircraft, or radio stations or who the Commandant deems qualified for such duty.
 
(Sec. 307) Requires the Commandant to decommission the Polar Sea and Polar Star. 
 
(Sec. 308) Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress a report assessing the need for additional prevention and response capability for all mission areas (including search and rescue, marine pollution response and prevention, fisheries enforcement, and maritime commerce) in high latitude regions.
 
(Sec. 309) Limits to $100,000 per fiscal year the amount the Commandant is authorized to use for the activities of traveling contract teams, maritime authority liaison teams of foreign governments making reciprocal visits to Coast Guard units, and related seminars, conferences, publication distributions, and personnel expenses. 
(Sec. 310) Prohibits the Secretary and Commandant from traveling aboard any Coast Guard-owned or -operated fixed-wing aircraft unless the Secretary has provided to Congress: (1) a cost-constrained fleet mix analysis, and (2) the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) study of current and planned cutters requested by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Sets forth exceptions for certain major disasters, emergencies, spills of national significance, and evacuations.
 

Title IV: Shipping and Navigation - 
(Sec. 401) Establishes the Committee on the Marine Transportation System to assess the adequacy of the marine transportation system (including ports, waterways, channels, and their intermodal connections) and develop and coordinate policies among federal agencies and local businesses to promote the efficient use of such system. 
 
Requires: (1) the Chair of such Committee to rotate annually among the Secretary of Transportation (DOT), Secretary of Defense (DOD), DHS Secretary, and Secretary of Commerce; and (2) the DOT Secretary to select an executive director.
 
Directs the Committee to report to Congress every five years on: (1) the implementation of actions recommended in the July 2008 National Strategy for the Marine Transportation System: A Framework for Action, (2) an assessment of marine transportation system conditions and the challenges to meeting user demand, (3) a plan for improving the system and the implementation of actions previously recommended.
 
(Sec. 402) Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on: (1) the loss of U.S. shipyard jobs and industrial base expertise resulting from rebuild, conversion, and double-hull work on U.S.-flag vessels eligible for the coastwise trading performed in foreign shipyards; (2) enforcement of the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination regulations; and (3) recommendations for improving the transparency of that determination process.
 
(Sec. 403) Directs the Secretary to examine at dockside certain uninspected fishing industry vessels at least once every five years (currently, every two years).
 
(Sec. 404) Prohibits a claim for damages or expenses relating to personal injury, illness, or death of a seaman who is a citizen of a foreign nation, arising during or from the engagement of the seaman by or for a passenger vessel duly registered under the laws of a foreign nation, from being brought under U.S. laws if: (1) such seaman was not a permanent resident alien of the United States when the claim arose; (2) the injury, illness, or death arose outside U.S territorial waters; and (3) the seaman, at the time the claim arose, had a right to seek compensation under the laws of either the nation in which the vessel was registered or in which the seaman maintained citizenship or residency.
 
(Sec. 405) Bars maritime liability laws from: (1) establishing maritime liens on state or federal fishing permits (authorizing a person, or use of a vessel, to engage in fishing), and (2) authorizing civil actions to enforce maritime liens on such permits.
 
Specifies that a &quot;fishing permit&quot; is governed solely by the state or federal law under which it was issued and is not included in the whole or as an appurtenance or intangible of a vessel. 
(Sec. 406) Expands the DOT's short sea transportation program (currently, a program to mitigate landside congestion) to include: (1) increasing the use of U.S. navigable waters for transportation of passengers or freight, and (2) promoting waterborne transportation between U.S. ports. 
Redefines &quot;short sea transportation&quot; as the carriage of passengers or freight (or both) by a vessel documented under U.S. laws that, by crane or wheeled technology, is loaded and unloaded in the United States or a Canadian port in the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System. (Current law refers only to the carriage of cargo without specifying whether such vessels are documented.) 
Removes a provision that requires short sea transportation of passengers and cargo to be encouraged through regional planning with state and local governments. 
Terminates authority for the short sea transportation program on September 30, 2017. 
(Sec. 407) Specifies that the mission of the Maritime Administration (MA) is to foster, promote, and develop the domestic merchant maritime industry of the United States. 
(Sec. 408) Shields an entity operating a non-federal vessel traffic information or advisory service pursuant to a written agreement with the Coast Guard, and any person acting in accordance with operational procedures approved by the Coast Guard at such a service, from liability for damages caused by or related to information, advice, or communication assistance unless the acts or omissions constitute gross negligence or willful misconduct. 
(Sec. 409) Authorizes the Secretary to extend for up to one year a medical certificate issued to an individual holding a license, merchant mariner's document, or certificate of registry if the extension is required to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for medical certificates or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster. 
(Sec. 410) Amends federal shipping laws that require a determination by the MA Administrator regarding the non-availability of qualified U.S. flag capacity to meet national defense requirements before the head of an agency responsible for the administration of navigation or vessel-inspection laws is authorized on its own initiative to waive compliance with such laws when it considers it necessary in the interest of national defense. Requires the Administrator, in making such determinations, to: (1) identify any actions that could be taken to enable such flag capacity to meet the national defense requirements, (2) provide each such determination to the DOT Secretary and the head of the agency for which the determination is made, and (3) publish each such determination on the DOT Internet site within 48 hours after it is provided to the DOT Secretary. 
Directs the Administrator to notify Congress of any waiver requests or issuances. Requires the notification of the issuance of a waiver to include the reasons why: (1) the waiver is necessary, and (2) specified actions are not feasible. 
(Sec. 411) Requires, before the Secretary may delegate to a foreign classification society the authority to conduct examinations and approve plans for issuing certificates of inspection, compliance, and other documents regarding certain vessels, a determination by the Secretary of State that such a society does not provide comparable services in or for a state sponsor of terrorism. Requires the revocation of an existing delegation if the Secretary of State makes such a determination. 

Title V: Federal Maritime Commission 
- (Sec. 501) Amends the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 to authorize FY2012-FY2015 appropriations for the Federal Maritime Commission. 

Title VI: Miscellaneous 
- (Sec. 603) Prohibits notice of arrival regulations for foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf from applying to certain U.S.-owned vessels that are not documented under foreign laws unless such vessels arrive from a foreign port or place. 
(Sec. 605) Permits certain U.S. purse seine fishing vessels fishing exclusively for highly migratory species in the treaty area under a fishing license issued pursuant to the 1987 Treaty on Fisheries Between the Governments of Certain Pacific Islands States and the Government of the United States of America, or transiting to or from the treaty area exclusively for such purpose, to engage duly licensed foreign citizens to meet the manning requirement (except for the master) through the date such treaty ceases to have effect under specified articles of such treaty (thus replacing the current termination date of December 31, 2012), if no U.S. citizen personnel are readily available to fill such vacancy. 
Expands such authority to vessels operating in and out of Guam (currently, only American Samoa). 
Modifies related license and credential requirements. 
(Sec. 606) Authorizes the Secretary to issue a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement for specified vessels and liquefied natural gas tankers. 
(Sec. 607) Directs the Commandant to report to Congress on integrating Great Lakes icebreaking operational information of the U.S and Canadian Coast Guards. 
 (Sec. 608) Requires that a standby vessel be located within a specified nautical mile range when a manned facility, installation unit, or vessel is performing drilling, plugging, abandoning, workover, or other operations. Allows the Commandant to reduce such distances when weather conditions or other factors prolong response time or lessen the time survivors of an accident can remain in the water. 
(Sec. 609) Applies the existing cap of 10 times unpaid wages as the maximum penalty payable to each seaman claiming delayed payment of wages on certain foreign, intercoastal, and coastwise passenger vessels. (Current law applies the cap to all claims in a class action suit by seamen.) 
(Sec. 610) Directs the Commandant to report to Congress on: (1) the ability of U.S. documented vessels to compete in international transportation markets, (2) drug interdiction in the Caribbean basin, and (3) the carriage of survival craft that ensures no part of an individual is immersed in water. 
(Sec. 613) Directs the Secretary, in issuing a solicitation for competitive proposals for a Coast Guard contracting opportunity, to state in the solicitation that the Secretary may consider a jobs impact statement relating to the effect of the contract on employment in the United States. Requires the Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress describing the use of such jobs impact statements in evaluating offers for such contracts. 
(Sec. 614) Requires the Chief of the Corps of Engineers to continue studying the Jacksonville Port Authority project in Jacksonville, Florida without applying any additional peer reviews under specified provisions of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. 
(Sec. 615) Directs the Commandant to convey, without consideration, the decommissioned Coast Guard Cutter STORIS to the Storis Museum, a nonprofit entity in Juneau, Alaska, provided that the Museum agrees to specified conditions including making the vessel available to the public as a museum and working cooperatively with other museums to provide education on and memorialize maritime activities in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, the Arctic Ocean, and adjacent oceans and seas. 
(Sec. 616) Permits a vessel of at least 100 gross tons that is not qualified to engage in coastwise trade to transport passengers between ports in Puerto Rico. 

Title VII: Commercial Vessel Discharges Reform
 - Commercial Vessel Discharges Reform Act of 2011 - (Sec. 702) Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act) to allow a person owning, operating, or chartering by demise a commercial vessel to discharge ballast water into navigable waters only if the discharge: (1) meets the ballast water performance standard, qualifies as a safety exemption, meets the requirements of an alternative method of compliance and the vessel operates exclusively within a geographically limited area or operates pursuant to a geographic restriction; and (2) is in accordance with an approved ballast water management plan. Defines &quot;commercial vessel&quot; to mean a watercraft or other artificial contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water that is: (1) engaged in commercial service; or (2) owned or operated by the United States, other than a vessel of the Armed Forces. 
Applies such restrictions to the owner or operator of a commercial vessel that is designed, constructed, or adapted to carry ballast water if the commercial vessel is: (1) documented under the laws of the United States; or (2) operating in navigable waters on a voyage to or from a port or place in the United States. Exempts from such requirement owners or operators of: (1) a commercial vessel that carries all of its ballast water in sealed tanks that are not subject to discharge; (2) a commercial vessel that continuously takes on and discharges ballast water in a flow-through system, if such system does not introduce aquatic nuisance species into navigable waters; (3) any vessel in the National Defense Reserve Fleet that is scheduled to be disposed of through scrapping or sinking; (4) a commercial vessel that discharges ballast water consisting solely of water taken aboard from a municipal or commercial source that meets the applicable regulations or permit requirements for such source under the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES); or (5) a commercial vessel that is three years or fewer from the end of its useful life when such restrictions become effective for the vessel.
 
Establishes deadlines for compliance with performance standards.
 
Requires owners or operators to: (1) conduct ballast water treatment using a treatment technology certified for the vessel before discharging the ballast water; and (2) ensure that any discharge meets the numerical ballast water performance standard set forth in the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments or a revised standard.
 
Authorizes an owner or operator to discharge ballast water without regard to a performance standard if the discharge is: (1) done solely to ensure the safety of life at sea; (2) accidental and the result of damage to the commercial vessel or its equipment not willfully or recklessly caused by the owner or operator and all reasonable precautions to prevent or minimize the discharge have been taken; or (3) solely for the purpose of avoiding or minimizing discharge from the vessel of pollution that would otherwise violate federal or state law. 
 
Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: (1) complete, by January 1, 2016, and every 10 years thereafter, a review to determine whether revising the ballast water performance standard would result in a reduction in the risk of the introduction and establishment of aquatic nuisance species; and (2) undertake a rulemaking to revise such standard if such review finds that revising the standard would result in a scientifically demonstrable and substantial reduction in such risk. Prohibits the Administrator from issuing a revised performance standard that applies to a commercial vessel constructed prior to the date the standard is issued unless the revised standard is at least two orders of magnitude more stringent than the standard in effect on the date the review is completed. Authorizes the governor of a state to petition the Administrator to review such standards if there is significant new information that could reasonably indicate that such standards could be revised to result in a reduction of such risk.
 
Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to evaluate a ballast water treatment technology, upon application of a manufacturer, with respect to: (1) whether the treatment technology meets the ballast water performance standard when installed on a commercial vessel (or a class, type, or size of commercial vessel); and (2) the effect of the treatment technology on commercial vessel safety. Authorizes the Secretary to certify such technology for use on a commercial vessel if the technology meets such criteria and does not use a biocide or generate a biocide: (1) that is a pesticide, as defined in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), unless the biocide is registered under such Act or the Administrator has approved the use of such biocide in such treatment technology; or (2) the discharge of which causes or contributes to a violation of water quality standards under the Clean Water Act.
 
Prohibits an owner or operator from using uncertified technology to comply with the requirements of this Act, unless the technology: (1) is being evaluated under the Coast Guard Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program; or (2) has been certified by a foreign entity as meeting performance and safety requirements of this Act. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary, in certifying such technology, to impose conditions on the installation, use, or maintenance of the technology onboard a commercial vessel as are necessary for: (1) the safety of the vessel, the crew, and passengers; (2) the protection of the environment; and (3) the effective operation of the treatment technology. 
 
Authorizes an owner or operator who installs certified technology to use it notwithstanding any revisions to a ballast water performance standard occurring after its installation so long as the owner or operator: (1) maintains such technology in proper working condition; and (2) maintains and uses such technology in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications and any conditions imposed by the Secretary. Terminates such authorization with respect to a commercial vessel after: (1) the expiration of the service life of such technology or of the vessel; or (2) the completion of a major conversion of the vessel. 
 
Directs the Administrator to issue requirements for land-based and shipboard testing protocols or criteria for certifying: (1) the performance of ballast water treatment technologies; and (2) laboratories to evaluate such technologies.
 
Prohibits manufacturers from selling, introducing into interstate commerce, or importing for sale uncertified ballast water treatment technology for commercial vessels after ballast water discharge requirements for commercial vessels are in effect.
 
Requires the Secretary to establish an alternative method of compliance with this Act for: (1) a commercial vessel having a maximum ballast water capacity of less than eight cubic meters; and (2) a commercial vessel that is three years or fewer from the end of its useful life. Authorizes the Secretary to establish as an alternative method of compliance appropriate ballast water best management practices to minimize the introduction or establishment of aquatic nuisance species.
 
Requires an owner or operator to discharge ballast water in compliance with performance standards or alternative means of compliance unless discharging ballast water into: (1) an onshore facility for the reception of ballast water that meets standards issued by the Administrator; or (2) an offshore facility for the reception of ballast water that meets standards issued by the Secretary. Requires such standards to be issued within two years.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to issue a certificate stating that a commercial vessel is in compliance with ballast water discharge requirements if discharging ballast water into a facility meeting such standards is the sole method by which ballast water is discharged. Requires an owner or operator discharging ballast water into such reception facilities to discharge such water in accordance with an approved ballast water management plan.
 
Authorizes the Secretary to approve a ballast water management plan for a foreign commercial vessel on the basis of a certificate of compliance issued by the country of registrationif the requirements of that country for a ballast water management plan are substantially equivalent to regulations issued by the Secretary. 
 
Requires an owner or operator to maintain a ballast water record book in which each operation of the commercial vessel involving a ballast water discharge is recorded in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary. Authorizes the Secretary to provide for alternative methods of recordkeeping.
 
Authorizes state governors to apply to the Secretary to administer their own inspection and enforcement authority for ballast water discharges. Prohibits a state from adopting or enforcing any state law with respect to such a discharge except for regulations established under a program approved by the Secretary.
 
Requires the Administrator, within three years, to evaluate discharges incidental to the normal operation of a commercial vessel. Defines such a discharge to mean a discharge of a pollutant into navigable waters in connection with the testing, maintenance, and repair of a system, equipment, or engine whenever the commercial vessel is waterborne, or a discharge into navigable waters from a commercial vessel of: (1) graywater (except body wastes and the wastes from toilets), bilge water, cooling water, oil water separator effluent, anti-fouling hull coating leachate, boiler or economizer blowdown, byproducts from cathodic protection, controllable pitch propeller and thruster hydraulic fluid, distillation and reverse osmosis brine, elevator pit effluent, firemain system effluent, freshwater layup effluent, gas turbine wash water, motor gasoline and compensating effluent, refrigeration and air condensate effluent, seawater pumping biofouling prevention substances, boat engine wet exhaust, sonar dome effluent, exhaust gas scrubber washwater, or stern tube packing gland effluent; (2) any other pollutant associated with the operation of a marine propulsion system, shipboard maneuvering system, habitability system, or installed major equipment, or from a protective, preservative, or absorptive application to the hull of a commercial vessel; (3) weather deck runoff, deck wash, aqueous film forming foam effluent, chain locker effluent, non-oily machinery wastewater, underwater ship husbandry effluent, welldeck effluent, or fish hold and fish hold cleaning effluent; or (4) any effluent from a properly functioning marine engine. Excludes as such a discharge: (1) a discharge into navigable waters from a commercial vessel of ballast water, rubbish, trash, garbage, incinerator ash, other such material discharged overboard, oil or a hazardous substance, or sewage; (2) an emission of an air pollutant resulting from the operation onboardof a vessel propulsion system, motor driven equipment, or incinerator; or (3) a discharge into navigable waters when the commercial vessel is operating in a capacity other than as a means of transportation on water.
 
Revises provisions concerning the expiration of the Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Vessels issued under NPDES as in effect on February 6, 2009. 
 
(Sec. 703) Directs the Administrator to determine, within one year, the discharges incidental to the normal operation of a covered vessel for which it is reasonable and practicable to develop best management practices to mitigate adverse impacts on the waters of the United States and to review such determination every five years. Defines a &quot;covered vessel&quot; to mean every description of watercraft, or other artificial contrivance used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water, that is engaged in commercial service and that is: (1) less than 79 feet in length; or (2) a fishing vessel, regardless of length.
 
Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations on the use of best management practices for discharges incidental to the normal operation of a covered vessel that the Administrator determines are reasonable and practicable.
 
(Sec. 705) Prohibits the regulation in any manner other than specified in this Act of a discharge incidental to the normal operation of a commercial vessel or a discharge of ballast water from a commercial vessel.
 
(Sec. 706) Repeals provisions of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 directing the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to issue voluntary guidelines to prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic nuisance species into the Great Lakes through the exchange of ballast water of vessels prior to entering those waters.
 
(Sec. 707) Directs a qualified large ferry to operate for the life of the ferry under the terms and conditions of the Vessel General Permit, as in effect on November 1, 2011, without regard to any expiration dates in such permit if, as of November 1, 2011, the vessel is on or nominated for inclusion on the list of National Historic Landmarks.
 

Title VIII: Piracy
 - Piracy Suppression Act of 2011 - (Sec. 802) Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to report to Congress on DOD actions taken to protect foreign-flagged vessels from acts of piracy on the high seas, including: (1) the total number of piracy incidents for FY2008-FY2011 in which a U.S. armed forces member or DOD asset was used to interdict or defend against an act of piracy directed against such vessels, and (2) the total cost for each of those fiscal years for such incidents.
 
(Sec. 803) Directs the Secretary of Transportation (DOT) to establish a training program for U.S. mariners on the use of force against pirates.
 
(Sec. 804) Directs the DOT Secretary to require each federal agency (except DOD) responsible for the transport of equipment, materials, or commodities (government-impelled cargo) by U.S. vessels to provide armed personnel aboard such vessels while transiting high-risk waters. Requires each agency to reimburse vessel owners or operators for the cost of providing armed personnel.
 
(Sec. 805) Directs the Comptroller General to report to Congress on efforts to track ransom payments made to pirates operating in the waters off Somalia and improve their prosecution. 
Requires such report to include: (1) the status of Working Group 5 of the Contact Group on Piracy Off the Somali Coast, any efforts it has undertaken, and recommendations for improving its effectiveness; (2) U.S. efforts to implement and enforce Executive Order 13536 (sanctions against persons contributing to the conflict in Somalia), including recommendations on how to better implement the order to suppress piracy; (3) U.S. efforts to track ransom payments made to pirates operating off the coast of Somalia, the effectiveness of those efforts, any operational actions taken based on them, and recommendations on how to improve such tracking; (4) U.S. actions taken to improve the international prosecution of pirates captured off the coast of Somalia; and (5) an update on U.S. efforts to implement the recommendation in the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (GAO-10-856), &quot;Maritime Security: Actions Needed to Assess and Update Plan and Enhance Collaboration among Partners Involved in Countering Piracy off the Horn of Africa,&quot; that metrics should be established for measuring the effectiveness of counter piracy efforts.
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: 
Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2012 - 
Title I: Authorization -
 (Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2013-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, renovation, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) research, development, testing, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness; (4) retired pay, payments under the Retired Serviceman's Family Protection and Survivor Benefit Plans, and medical and dental care of retired personnel and dependents; (5) alteration or removal of bridges over U.S. navigable waters including Alteration of Bridges Program personnel and administrative costs; (6) environmental compliance and restoration functions; and (7) the Coast Guard Reserve program.
 
Designates amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. 
 
(Sec. 102) Authorizes, at specified levels for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel and average military training student loads.
 

Title II: Organization
 - (Sec. 201) Allocates and vests in the Coast Guard and the department in which the Coast Guard is operating all authority (including programmatic budget authority) for the operation and maintenance of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, systems, aides to navigation, infrastructure, and any other Coast Guard assets or facilities. 
 
(Sec. 202) Requires the Coast Guard, subject to exceptions, to be the sole supplier of icebreaking services, on an advancement or reimbursable basis, to each federal agency requiring such services. 
 

Title III: Personnel 
- (Sec. 301) Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant of the Coast Guard to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015.
 
(Sec. 302) Revises the standards applicable to the selection of officers recommended for promotion. 
 
(Sec. 303) Specifies that an original appointment of a permanent commissioned officer refers to the member's most recent appointment in the Coast Guard that is neither a promotion nor a demotion.
 
(Sec. 304) Entitles foreign nationals permitted to receive instruction at the Coast Guard Academy to the same emoluments (in addition to pay and allowances) as other appointed cadets. 
 
(Sec. 305) Requires the Commandant to direct the Superintendent of the Academy to: (1) prescribe a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence for cadets and other Academy personnel; (2) conduct an annual assessment to determine the effectiveness of such policies, training, and procedures; and (3) report annually, along with a prevention and response plan, on the number of such incidents. 
 
Directs the Commandant to transmit such reports to Congress, together with comments by the Commandant.
 
(Sec. 306) Extends eligibility for enrollment in the Coast Guard Auxiliary to U.S. nationals and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence.
 

Title IV: Administration 
- (Sec. 401) Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) to enter into contracts or orders for materials, storage, and planning in advance of a contract or order for construction of a vessel. 
 
(Sec. 402) Authorizes the Secretary to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of National Security Cutters and associated government-furnished equipment, provided that the Secretary certifies to Congress that such a contract will result in substantial savings.
 
(Sec. 403) Prohibits the Commandant, until new heavy icebreakers are acquired, from: (1) transferring, relinquishing ownership, dismantling, or recycling the POLAR SEA or POLAR STAR; (2) expending funds to place either such vessel in inactive status or taking other specified decommissioning measures; or (3) changing the homeport of any icebreaker.
 
(Sec. 404) Eliminates the National Response Unit under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Transfers the Unit's national response functions (currently, carried out by the Secretary acting through such Unit) directly to the Secretary. 
 
(Sec. 405) Deems the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission a government agency for purposes of specified notification requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. Requires the National Response Center to notify and report to the Commission regarding the Ohio River Basin.
 

Title V: Shipping and Navigation
 - (Sec. 501) Directs the Commandant to determine if any improvements are necessary to designate existing ice-free facilities or infrastructure in the Central Bering Sea as a fully functional, year-round Potential Place of Refuge for vessels of specified drafts and lengths. 
 
(Sec. 502) Establishes a Support of Seafarers Fund from which the Secretary is authorized to pay the necessary support of seafarers that are: (1) entering, remaining, or paroling into the United States while involved in an investigation, reporting, documentation, or adjudication of any matter related to the administration or enforcement of any treaty, law, or regulation by the Coast Guard; and (2) abandoned in the United States. Authorizes further, if necessary to avoid serious injustice, the reimbursement of certain shipowners or operators who have provided necessary support of a seafarer paroled into the United States to facilitate such an investigation, reporting, documentation, or adjudication of any matter related to the administration or enforcement of any treaty, law, or regulation by the Coast Guard.
 
Defines a "seafarer" as an alien crewman employed or engaged on board a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, excluding vessels owned (and bareboats chartered and operated) by the United States, a U.S. state or political subdivision, or a foreign nation that are not engaged in commerce. (A seafarer is a claimant for purposes of maritime liability laws limiting liability for personal injury or death.)
 
Requires the Secretary to report annually to Congress on the amounts credited to the Fund, activities for which amounts are charged, and projected expenditures.
 
(Sec 503) Requires, before the Secretary may delegate to a foreign classification society the authority to conduct examinations and approve plans for issuing certificates of inspection, compliance, and other documents regarding certain vessels, a determination by the Secretary of State that such a society does not provide comparable services in or for the government of a country designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. Requires the revocation of an existing delegation if the Secretary of State makes such a determination. 
 
(Sec. 504) Directs the Commandant to study and report to Congress on the feasibility and potential of establishing a deep water sea port in the Arctic to protect and advance strategic U.S. interests within the Arctic region.
 
(Sec. 505) Directs the Commandant to assess and report to Congress on the increased vessel traffic in the Salish Sea (including the Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait, Rosario Strait, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca) that may occur from the transport of Canadian oil sands oil.
 
(Sec. 506) Expands eligibility to receive surplus training equipment to training institutions that are instrumentalities of a state, territory, or commonwealth of the United States or District of Columbia or units of local government offering training courses that meet federal maritime training regulations.
 

Title VI: Maritime Administration Authorization 
- Maritime Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 - (Sec. 602) Requires the Secretary of Transportation (DOT), with the concurrence of the Secretary, to report to Congress on the status of the nation's coastal and inland waterways infrastructure. 
 
Authorizes the DOT Secretary to investigate, make determinations concerning, and develop a repository of statistical information relating to marine transportation (i.e., intercoastal and intracoastal transportation, inland waterway transportation, ports, and marine facilities.) 
 
Authorizes appropriations. 
 
Requires the Maritime Administration to assess, and report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations to Congress on, the potential for using container-on-barge transportation on the inland waterways system. 
 
(Sec. 603) Revises the purposes of the short sea transportation program to include promoting more efficient use of the U.S. navigable waters. 
 
(Sec. 604) Authorizes the DOT Secretary to establish a maritime environmental and technical assistance program to identify, evaluate, test, demonstrate, or improve emerging marine technologies and practices likely to achieve environmental improvements by reducing air or water emissions or other ship discharges, increasing fuel economy or use of alternative fuels and alternative energy, or controlling aquatic invasive species. 
 
Authorizes the DOT Secretary to promulgate regulations establishing fees to recover reasonable costs for services rendered by the DOT Secretary and academic, public, and non-governmental entities. Requires such fees to be deposited in a special fund to carry out the activities for which the fees were collected. 
 
Directs the DOT Secretary to report to Congress on such program. 
 
(Sec. 605) Requires the agency head responsible for the administration of U.S. navigation or vessel-inspection laws and the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to certify to Congress the non-availability of qualified U.S. flag vessels to meet national defense requirements in the event that the agency head considers it in the national interest to waive such laws. 
 
(Sec. 606) Extends through FY2025 the Maritime Security Fleet Program and the Maintenance and Repair Reimbursement Pilot Program. 
 
(Sec. 607) Directs the Comptroller General to study the training needs of the maritime workforce. 
 
(Sec. 608) Directs the DOT Inspector General to assess: (1) the source selection procedures and practices used to award Maritime Administration's National Defense Reserve Fleet vessel recycling contracts; and (2) the process, procedures, and practices used for the Maritime Administration's qualification of recycling facilities.
 
(Sec. 609) Requires the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to complete the design for a containerized articulated barge identified in the Dual Use Vessel Study carried out by the Administrator and the Secretary of Defense (DOD) that is able to utilize roll-on, roll-off or load-on, load-off technology for use in marine highway maritime commerce.
 

Title VII: Miscellaneous
 - (Sec. 701) Prohibits funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or otherwise made available during FY2013-FY2014 for the Coast Guard from being obligated or expended for the production or purchase of any alternative fuel if the cost exceeds the cost of producing or purchasing a traditional fossil fuel.
 
(Sec. 702) Revises passenger vessel design, equipment, retrofitting, ship rail, entry door, and technology requirements.
 
Directs the owners of certain passenger vessels to: (1) submit to the Commandant a criminal and passenger safety risk assessment to determine the appropriate placement of video surveillance equipment on such vessels; (2) retain all video images of a voyage for a specified period; and (3) provide to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and preserve for a specified period all relevant images of a voyage when an allegation and report to law enforcement has been made regarding an on-board homicide, suspicious death, missing U.S. national, kidnapping, assault with serious bodily injury, sexual abuse, firing or tampering with the vessel, or theft of money or property exceeding a specified amount.
 
Requires an annual review, and update if necessary, of procedures and restrictions on crew access to passenger staterooms. 
 
Modifies log book and crime complaint reporting requirements.
 
Requires passenger vessel owners to contact the FBI by telephone within 24 hours (currently, as soon as possible) after the vessel is notified of certain crimes and incidents occuring on board the vessel. 
 
Revises the passenger vessel and cruise line crime statistics that the Secretary is required to compile on an Internet website. Directs the FBI to furnish to the Secretary and Congress a numerical accounting of various reported incidents. Requires cruise lines to include a link to the Secretary's statistical compilation website on any Internet site the cruise line maintains to purchase or book cruises. 
 
(Sec. 703) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to increase the amount invested in income producing securities under specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 by a specified amount. 
 
(Sec. 704) Deems two numbered vessels to be new vessels if no encumbrances are on record with the Coast Guard at the time of the issuance of the new vessel certificate of documentation for each such vessel. Subjects each vessel to the vessel safety and inspection requirements applicable to any such vessel as of the day before enactment of this Act. 
 
(Sec. 705) Directs the Secretary to certify to Congress that the Coast Guard has commenced the required interagency administrative review of the pending proposal to alter the bridge that obstructs navigation and spans the Kill Van Kull tidal strait, connecting Bayonne, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York. Requires the review to be completed by November 30, 2012. 
 
(Sec. 706) Specifies that certain notice of arrival regulations promulgated pursuant to the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 for foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf shall apply only to vessels arriving from a foreign port or place. 
 
(Sec. 707) Permits the Secretary to issue a fishery endorsement and license for the fishing vessel TEXAS STAR CASINO.
 
Exempts the passenger vessel RANGER III from specified tank vessel construction standards, so long as it is owned and operated by the National Park Service. 

action_date: 2012-12-05
text: 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 - 
Title I: Authorization
 - (Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2013-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of navigation aids, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) the Coast Guard Reserve program; (4) environmental compliance and restoration of vessels, aircraft, and facilities; (5) the Commandant of the Coast Guard for research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness; and (6) alteration or removal of bridges over U.S. navigable waters, including for personnel and administrative costs of the Alteration of Bridges Program. 
 
Designates amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. 
 
(Sec. 102) Authorizes, for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 47,000 and specified average military training student loads. 
 

Title II: Coast Guard
 - (Sec. 201) Establishes a class E felony and a civil penalty for knowingly and willingly operating a device with the intention of interfering with the broadcast or reception of a radio, microwave, or other signal (including a global positioning system) transmitted, retransmitted, or augmented by the Coast Guard for the purpose of maritime safety. 
 
(Sec. 202) Allocates and vests in the Coast Guard and the department in which the Coast Guard is operating all authority (including programmatic budget authority) for the operation and maintenance of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, systems, aides to navigation, infrastructure, and other assets or facilities. 
 
(Sec. 203) Limits to $100,000 per fiscal year the amount the Commandant is authorized to use for the activities of traveling contract teams, maritime authority liaison teams of foreign governments making reciprocal visits to Coast Guard units, and related seminars, conferences, publication distributions, and personnel expenses. 
 
(Sec. 204) Entitles foreign nationals permitted to receive instruction at the Coast Guard Academy to the same emoluments (in addition to pay and allowances) as other appointed cadets.
 
(Sec. 205) Requires the Commandant to direct the Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy to: (1) prescribe a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence for cadets and other Academy personnel; (2) conduct an annual assessment to determine the effectiveness of such policies, training, and procedures; and (3) report annually, along with a prevention and response plan, on the number of such incidents. 
 
Directs the Commandant to transmit such reports to Congress, together with comments by the Commandant. 
 
(Sec. 206) Specifies that an original appointment of a permanent commissioned officer refers to that member's most recent appointment that is neither a promotion nor a demotion. 
 
(Sec. 207) Modifies the oath for members of a selection board. 
 
(Sec. 208) Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (the Secretary) to convene a special selection board if an administrative error results in an officer or former officer: (1) not being considered for selection for promotion by a selection board, or (2) not being placed on an all-fully-qualified-officers list. Authorizes the Secretary to also convene such a special selection board for an officer or former officer considered but not selected for promotion if the selection board: (1) acted contrary to law in a matter material to the decision or with the involvement of material factual or administrative error, or (2) did not have material information before it for consideration. 
 
Authorizes judicial review of: (1) a decision of the Secretary not to convene a special selection board, and (2) an action of a special selection board. 
 
(Sec. 209) Prohibits the Secretary from authorizing certain involuntary administrative separations for Coast Guard members based on medical conditions considered by the Physical Evaluation Board during an evaluation resulting in the individual being determined fit for duty. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to require reevaluations if the Secretary determines there is reason to believe a medical condition renders the individual unsuitable for continued duty. 
 
Permits the retirement or separation for physical disability of an individual determined to be unfit based on such a reevaluation.
 
(Sec. 210) Directs the Secretary to report biennially to Congress on the status of all major acquisition programs with a life-cycle cost estimate of at least $300 million. Requires such report to include: (1) any mission hour gaps and program changes; (2) an integration plan for each new asset, including shore-based infrastructure and human resource needs; (3) the operational lifespan and life-cycle cost of each legacy asset including anticipated resource gaps; (4) the accounting for legacy asset costs; (5) an annual performance comparison of new assets to legacy assets; (6) the next fiscal year's anticipated acquisitions workload, acquisition workforce assignments, and understaffed positions; (7) an identification of certified cutters not maintained in class; and (8) other specified information. 
 
(Sec. 211) Authorizes the Commandant to enter into contracts or orders for materials, storage, and planning in advance of a contract or order for construction of a vessel. Permits the Commandant to give priority to persons who manufacture materials, parts, and components in the United States.
 
(Sec. 212) Prohibits the Secretary from, subject to congressional reporting requirements, expending more than $1.5 million each fiscal year from amounts available for operating expenses for minor construction and improvement projects at any location.
 
 Directs the Secretary to report annually to Congress on each such project expending over $500,000. 
 
(Sec. 213) Directs the Commandant, concurrent with the President's budget submission to Congress each year, to submit to Congress a list of unfunded priorities, a capital investment plan including estimated completion costs and projected funding levels for each capital asset for which appropriations are proposed, and a prioritized list of projects eligible for environmental compliance and restoration funding.
 
(Sec. 214) Sets forth guidelines for publicly disclosing records and investigation reports concerning aircraft accidents under the Commandant's jurisdiction. Prohibits: (1) an official responsible for, or conducting, a safety investigation from making such disclosures; and (2) accident investigators' opinions set forth in such reports from being considered in civil and criminal proceedings or as an admission of liability. 
 
(Sec. 215) Extends eligibility for enrollment in the Coast Guard Auxiliary to U.S. nationals and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 
 
(Sec. 216) Repeals provisions concerning: (1) District Ombudsmen, (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aids to air navigation, (3) floating ocean stations, (4) detail of Coast Guard members to assist foreign governments, (5) the Advisory Committee to the Academy, and (6) history fellowships. 
 
(Sec. 217) Makes technical revisions to various Coast Guard duties. Revises authorities relating to a prohibition on the use of lead system integrators and a Comptroller General report on former Coast Guard officials employed by Coast Guard contractors.
 
(Sec. 218) Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015. 
 
(Sec. 219) Renews temporary early retirement authority for certain Coast Guard personnel for FY2013-FY2018. Sets limits on the total number of commissioned officers and enlisted members who may retire pursuant to such authority.
 
(Sec. 220) Directs the Commandant to maintain the schedule and requirements for the total acquisition of 180 boats specified in the approved program of record for the Response Boat-Medium acquisition program in effect on June 1, 2012, until the Commandant submits to Congress the documentation required to justify the acquisition of less than 180 boats. 
 
(Sec. 221) Authorizes the Secretary, in each fiscal year and after submitting specified certifications to Congress, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of National Security Cutters and associated government-furnished equipment.
 
Requires the Secretary consider specified criteria to determine whether such a contract results in substantial savings.
 
Prohibits the Commandant from certifying a sixth National Security Cutter as Ready for Operations before the Commandant has: (1) submitted a program execution plan to Congress specifying how the first three National Security Cutters will achieve certain goals following the completion of the Structural Enhancement Drydock Availability of the first two National Security Cutters and detailing increased aerial support coverage, and (2) awarded a design and construction contract for the Offshore Patrol Cutter. 
 
(Sec. 222) Directs the Secretary to conduct a business-case analysis for reactivating and extending the service life of the Polar Sea until at least September 30, 2022, to maintain U.S. polar icebreaking capabilities and fulfill the Coast Guard's high-latitude mission needs during the recapitalization of the polar class icebreaker fleet. Prohibits the removal of any part of the Polar Sea until the Secretary submits such analysis to Congress.
 
Requires the Secretary, if it is cost-effective to reactive the Polar Sea compared with other options for providing icebreaking services, to submit to Congress a service life extension plan including a timetable for such reactivation.
 
Authorizes the Commandant, if the Secretary determines that reactivation is not cost-effective, to decommission the Polar Sea. Directs the Commandant, after the Secretary makes such determination, to submit to Congress a bridging strategy for maintaining polar icebreaking services until at least September 30, 2022. 
 
Prohibits the Commandant, until September 30, 2022, except with respect to an authorized decommissioning of the Polar Sea, from: (1) transferring, relinquishing ownership, dismantling, or recycling the Polar Sea or Polar Star; (2) changing the current homeport of such vessels; or (3) expending funds to place either vessel in inactive status or taking other specified decommissioning measures.
 

Title III: Shipping and Navigation
 - (Sec. 301) Amends federal shipping laws that require a determination by the Administrator of the Maritime Administration regarding the non-availability of qualified U.S. flag capacity to meet national defense requirements before the head of an agency responsible for the administration of navigation or vessel-inspection laws is authorized on its own initiative to waive compliance with such laws when it considers it necessary in the interest of national defense. Requires the Administrator, in making such determinations, to: (1) identify any actions that could be taken to enable such flag capacity to meet the national defense requirements, (2) provide notice of each determination to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the agency for which the determination is made, and (3) publish each determination on DOT's Internet website. 
 
Directs the head of each such agency to notify Congress of any waiver requests or issuances. Requires the notification of the issuance of a waiver to include the reasons why: (1) the waiver is necessary, and (2) specified actions are not feasible. 
 
(Sec. 302) Shields an entity operating a nonfederal vessel traffic information or advisory service pursuant to a written agreement with the Coast Guard, and any pilot acting on behalf of such entity, from liability for damages caused by or related to information, advice, or communication assistance unless the acts or omissions constitute gross negligence or willful misconduct. 
 
(Sec. 303) Directs the Commandant to report to Congress on the carriage of survival craft that ensures no part of an individual is immersed in water.
 
(Sec. 304) Requires, before the Secretary may delegate to a foreign classification society the authority to conduct examinations and approve plans for issuing certificates of inspection, compliance, and other documents regarding certain vessels, a determination by the Secretary of State that such society does not provide comparable services in or for a state sponsor of terrorism. Requires the revocation of a delegation if the Secretary of State makes such a determination. 
 
(Sec. 305) Directs the Secretary to examine at dockside certain uninspected fishing industry vessels at least once every five years (currently, every two years). 
 
Revises certification and compliance requirements based on whether certain vessels were built before or after July 1, 2013 (currently, the applicable date is July 1, 2012).
 
(Sec. 306) Authorizes the Secretary to extend for up to one year a medical certificate issued to an individual holding a license, merchant mariner's document, or certificate of registry if the extension is required to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for medical certificates or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster. 
 
(Sec. 307) Modifies fishery endorsement eligibility requirements for certain vessels under the American Fisheries Act.
 
(Sec. 308) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct investigations and inspections regarding the documentation of vessels.
 
(Sec. 309) Increases the civil penalty for certain documentation violations from $10,000 to $15,000. Establishes a civil penalty of the greater of $25,000 or twice the vessel's charter rate for certain violations involving mobile offshore drilling units. 
 
(Sec. 310) Establishes a U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System as a federal interagency coordinating committee to assess the adequacy of the marine transportation system, promote integration with other modes of transportation and uses of the marine environment, and coordinate federal policy recommendations.
 
Requires the Chair of the Coordinating Board of the Committee to rotate annually among the DOT Secretary, the Secretary of Defense (DOD), the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Secretary of Commerce. Directs the DOT Secretary to appoint an Executive Director.
 
Directs the Committee to report to Congress every five years on: (1) the implementation of actions recommended in the July 2008 National Strategy for the Marine Transportation System, (2) an assessment of marine transportation system conditions and challenges to meeting user demand, and (3) a plan for improving the system and the implementation of actions previously recommended. 
 (Sec. 311) Makes technical revisions with respect to the Secretary's authority to extend the duration of certain licenses, certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents. 
(Sec. 312) Expands the definition of &quot;deepwater port&quot; to include certain structures handling oil or natural gas for transportation to or from any state (currently, only to any state).
 

Title IV: Maritime Administration Authorization
 - Maritime Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 - (Sec. 402) Authorizes FY2013 appropriations to the DOT for Maritime Administration programs associated with maintaining national security aspects of the merchant marine. Enumerates specific amounts for: (1) operations of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, (2) state maritime academies, (3) disposal of vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), (4) maintenance and preservation of a U.S.-flag merchant marine for national security needs, and (5) the cost of certain loan guarantees under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.
 
(Sec. 403) Authorizes the DOT Secretary to engage in the environmental study and deployment of emerging marine technologies and practices related to the marine transportation system through the use of public vessels under the control of the Maritime Administration or private vessels under U.S. registry and through partnerships and cooperative efforts with academic, public, private, and nongovernmental entities and facilities. Permits such research to include the reduction of air or water emissions or other ship discharges, increases in fuel economy or use of alternative fuels and energy, or controlling aquatic invasive species. 
 
(Sec. 404) Expands an authorization to make excess or surplus marine equipment available to maritime academies and nonprofit training institutions to include training institutions that are an instrumentality of a state, the District of Columbia, a territory or possession of the United States, or a unit of local government. Permits fuel to be included in such arrangements.
 
 Requires the consent of the Secretary of the Navy to be obtained with respect to any property from NDRF vessels, if such vessels are either Ready Reserve Force vessels or other NDRF vessels determined to be of sufficient value to the Navy to warrant further preservation and retention.
 
(Sec. 405) Expands the DOT's short sea transportation program (currently, a program to mitigate landside congestion) to include the promotion of such transportation.
 
Permits (currently, requires) the development of multistate, state, and regional strategies to encourage the use of short sea transportation for passengers and cargo. 
 
(Sec. 406) Limits the placement of vessels acquired by the Maritime Administration in the NDRF to vessels of at least 1,500 gross tons or other vessels the DOT determines appropriate. 
 
(Sec. 407) Authorizes all federal entities to transfer vessels to the NDRF without reimbursement subject to the approval of the DOT Secretary and the Secretary of the Navy with respect to Ready Reserve Force vessels and the DOT Secretary with respect to all other vessels.
 
(Sec. 409) Specifies that the mission of the Maritime Administration is to foster, promote, and develop the domestic merchant maritime industry of the United States. 
 
(Sec. 410) Amends the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946 to require the DOT Secretary to conduct sea trials on NDRF vessels at a frequency considered by the DOT Secretary to be necessary (currently, at least once every 30 months). 
 
(Sec. 411) Directs the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to complete the design for a containerized articulated barge identified in the dual-use vessel study carried out by the Administrator and the DOD Secretary that is able to utilize roll-on/roll-off or load-on/load-off technology in marine highway maritime commerce. 
 
(Sec. 412) Directs the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to report to Congress on the potential for using container-on-barge transportation in short sea transportation.
 
(Sec. 413) Expresses the sense of Congress that the DOD Secretary should expedite completion of the study of U.S. strategic ports called for in the conference report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 so that it can be submitted to Congress before July 1, 2013. Directs the Comptroller General to assess such report and conduct a subsequent study of DOD programs and efforts related to the state of strategic ports with respect to DOD's operational and readiness requirements.
 
Defines &quot;strategic port&quot; as a U.S. port designated by the DOD Secretary as a significant transportation hub important to the readiness and cargo throughput capacity of DOD.
 
(Sec. 414) Directs the Comptroller General to report on the training needs of the maritime workforce including an analysis of maritime training requirements imposed by domestic and international regulations and conventions, companies, and government agencies chartering or operating vessels.
 
(Sec. 415) Directs the Comptroller General to assess the source selection procedures and practices used to award the Maritime Administration's NDRF vessel recycling contracts.
 

Title V: Piracy
 - Piracy Suppression Act of 2012 - (Sec. 502) Directs the DOT Secretary to certify a training curriculum for U.S. mariners on the use of force against pirates including information on Commandant-designated high-risk waters, current threats and patterns of attack, defense tactics, rules for the use of force as self-defense, and procedures to improve crewmember survivability if captured or taken hostage by pirates.
 
(Sec. 503) Requires the DOT Secretary to direct agencies (except DOD), when responsible for the carriage of equipment, materials, or commodities procured, furnished, or financed by the U.S. government, to: (1) provide armed personnel aboard the U.S. vessels transiting such supplies in high-risk waters; and (2) reimburse, subject to the availability of appropriations, the vessel owners or operators for the cost of providing such armed personnel.
 
(Sec. 504) Directs the DOD Secretary to report to Congress on actions taken by the DOD to protect foreign-flagged vessels from acts of piracy on the high seas.
 

Title VI: Marine Debris
 - Marine Debris Act Amendments of 2012 - (Sec. 602) Renames the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act as the Marine Debris Act.
 
Defines &quot;marine debris&quot; as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes.
 
(Sec. 604) Replaces the Marine Debris Prevention and Removal Program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with a Marine Debris Program to identify, determine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its adverse impacts on the U.S. economy, the marine environment, and navigation safety. 
 
Revises Program components, including by requiring the NOAA to provide national and regional coordination to assist states, Indian tribes, and regional organizations in the identification, determination of sources, assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of marine debris.
 
Directs the NOAA to develop interagency plans, coordinated with state, tribal, and local governments, for the timely response to severe marine debris events.
 
Defines &quot;severe marine debris event&quot; as atypically large amounts of marine debris caused by a natural disaster, including a tsunami, flood, landslide, hurricane, or other source.
 
Amends the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 to repeal the plastic pollution public education program. 
 
(Sec. 606) Replaces provisions of the Marine Debris Program concerning interagency coordination with provisions establishing the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee.
 
Requires the Committee to submit biennial progress reports.
 
(Sec. 607) Requires the NOAA Administrator to ensure the confidentiality of information submitted into the federal information clearinghouse on marine debris. (Currently, the Administrator is required to ensure the confidentiality of only such information that is submitted by the fishing industry.) 
 
(Sec. 609) Directs the NOAA to provide Congress with a determination as to whether the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami and the October 2012 hurricane Sandy each caused a severe marine debris event.
 

Title VII: Miscellaneous
 - (Sec. 701) Permits certain U.S. purse seine fishing vessels fishing exclusively for highly migratory species in the treaty area under a fishing license issued pursuant to the 1987 Treaty on Fisheries Between the Governments of Certain Pacific Islands States and the Government of the United States of America, or transiting to or from the treaty area exclusively for such purpose, to engage duly licensed foreign citizens to meet the manning requirement (except for the master) through the date such treaty ceases to have effect under specified articles of such treaty, if no U.S. citizen personnel are readily available to fill such vacancy. 
 
Expands such authority to vessels operating in and out of Guam (currently, only American Samoa). 
 
Modifies related licensing and credential requirements. 
 
(Sec. 703) Extends, until December 18, 2014, provisions prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or a state with an approved National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act), from requiring an NPDES permit for a covered vessel (a vessel that is less than 79 feet in length or a fishing vessel) for any discharge: (1) of effluent from properly functioning marine engines; (2) of laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes; or (3) that is incidental to the normal operation of a covered vessel. 
 
(Sec. 704) Prohibits notice of arrival regulations required under the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 for foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf from applying to certain U.S.-owned vessels that are not documented under foreign laws unless such vessels arrive from a foreign port or place. 
 
(Sec. 705) Permits the Secretary to issue a certificate of documentation with a fishery endorsement for the vessel Texas Star Casino, except that such endorsement is not valid for any fishery for which a fishery management plan has been approved by the Secretary of Commerce under specified provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act before the enactment of this Act.
 
Exempts the passenger vessel Ranger III from specified tank vessel construction standards during any period it is owned and operated by the National Park Service. 
 
(Sec. 706) Deems the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission a government agency for purposes of specified notification requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. Requires the National Response Center to notify and report to the Commission regarding the Ohio River Basin. 
 
(Sec. 707) Deems two numbered vessels to be new vessels if no encumbrances are on record with the Coast Guard at the time of the issuance of the new vessel certificate of documentation for each such vessel. 
 
(Sec. 708) Declares that the waters of Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction under federal laws addressing the Coast Guard's enforcement duties.
 
(Sec. 709) Directs the DHS Secretary to reform the transportation worker identification credentialing process to require, in total, a maximum of one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center except in extenuating circumstances.
 
(Sec. 710) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to increase investments in income-producing securities under specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 by a specified amount.
 
(Sec. 711) Authorizes the Commandant to establish an Integrated Cross-Border Maritime Law Enforcement Operations Program to coordinate the maritime security operations of the United States and Canada, strengthen border security, and respond to terrorism and border-related violations of law.
 
Provides authority for joint training with Canada and coordination with DHS border security and antiterrorism programs.
 
(Sec. 712) Allows the Secretary (for purposes of reviewing a permit application pursuant to specified provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, the Bridge Act of 1906, the Truman-Hobbs Act, or the General Bridge Act of 1946) to: (1) accept voluntary services from bridge owners, and (2) accept and credit to Coast Guard operating expenses any amounts received from such owners.
 
Directs the Secretary to complete determinations on any required approval for issuance of any permits under its jurisdiction related to the construction or alteration of a bridge over the Kill Van Kull (a tidal strait connecting Bayonne, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York) consistent with Executive Order 13604 from March 22, 2012.
 
(Sec. 713) Permits the Secretary to consider the tonnage measurements for the vessel Aqueos Acadian to be valid until a specified date if the vessel and the use of its space is not changed in a way substantially affecting the tonnage of the vessel.
 
(Sec. 714) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the impact of additional regulatory requirements imposed on passenger vessels operating on the Ringo Cocke Canal in the state of Louisiana as a result of the Coast Guard's navigability determination dated March 25, 2010.
 
Prohibits the Commandant, before a specified period after such assessment is submitted, from enforcing such regulatory requirements.
 
(Sec. 715) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress the Coast Guard's National Housing Assessment and any related analysis.
 
(Sec. 716) Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress an assessment of the need for additional Coast Guard prevention and response capability in the high-latitude regions, including all Coast Guard mission areas, search and rescue, marine pollution response and prevention, fisheries enforcement, and maritime commerce. 
 
(Sec. 717) Directs the Commandant to determine if any improvements are necessary to designate existing ice-free facilities or infrastructure in the Central Bering Sea as a fully functional, year-round Potential Place of Refuge. 
 
(Sec. 718) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the Coast Guard National Maritime Center's merchant mariner medical evaluation program and alternatives to such program.
 
(Sec. 719) Directs the Secretary to provide Congress an assessment of: (1) the loss of U.S. shipyard jobs and industrial base expertise as a result of rebuild, conversion, and double-hull work on U.S.-flag vessels eligible to engage in the coastwise trade being performed in foreign shipyards; (2) enforcement of the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination regulations; and (3) recommendations for improving transparency in the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination process.
 
(Sec. 720) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of factors under the authority of the Coast Guard that impact the ability of U.S.-documented vessels to effectively compete in international transportation markets.
 
(Sec. 721) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress a study on the feasibility of establishing a deepwater seaport in the Arctic to protect and advance strategic U.S. interests.
 
(Sec. 722) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the increased vessel traffic in the Salish Sea (including Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait, Rosario Strait, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca), that may occur from the transport of Canadian oil sands oil. Directs the Commandant, in conducting such assessment, to consult with the state of Washington, affected tribal governments, vessel operators, oil sands producers, and spill response experts.

action_date: 2012-12-20
text: 

(This measure has not been amended since it was amended by the House on December 5, 2012. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
 
 
Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 - 
Title I: Authorization
 - (Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2013-FY2014 appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of navigation aids, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, aircraft, and related equipment; (3) the Coast Guard Reserve program; (4) environmental compliance and restoration of vessels, aircraft, and facilities; (5) the Commandant of the Coast Guard for research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors directly related to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness; and (6) alteration or removal of bridges over U.S. navigable waters, including for personnel and administrative costs of the Alteration of Bridges Program. 
 
Designates amounts from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to carry out specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. 
 
(Sec. 102) Authorizes, for each such fiscal year, end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 47,000 and specified average military training student loads. 
 

Title II: Coast Guard
 - (Sec. 201) Establishes a class E felony and a civil penalty for knowingly and willingly operating a device with the intention of interfering with the broadcast or reception of a radio, microwave, or other signal (including a global positioning system) transmitted, retransmitted, or augmented by the Coast Guard for the purpose of maritime safety. 
 
(Sec. 202) Allocates and vests in the Coast Guard and the department in which the Coast Guard is operating all authority (including programmatic budget authority) for the operation and maintenance of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, systems, aides to navigation, infrastructure, and other assets or facilities. 
 
(Sec. 203) Limits to $100,000 per fiscal year the amount the Commandant is authorized to use for the activities of traveling contract teams, maritime authority liaison teams of foreign governments making reciprocal visits to Coast Guard units, and related seminars, conferences, publication distributions, and personnel expenses. 
 
(Sec. 204) Entitles foreign nationals permitted to receive instruction at the Coast Guard Academy to the same emoluments (in addition to pay and allowances) as other appointed cadets.
 
(Sec. 205) Requires the Commandant to direct the Superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy to: (1) prescribe a policy on sexual harassment and sexual violence for cadets and other Academy personnel; (2) conduct an annual assessment to determine the effectiveness of such policies, training, and procedures; and (3) report annually, along with a prevention and response plan, on the number of such incidents. 
 
Directs the Commandant to transmit such reports to Congress, together with comments by the Commandant. 
 
(Sec. 206) Specifies that an original appointment of a permanent commissioned officer refers to that member's most recent appointment that is neither a promotion nor a demotion. 
 
(Sec. 207) Modifies the oath for members of a selection board. 
 
(Sec. 208) Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (the Secretary) to convene a special selection board if an administrative error results in an officer or former officer: (1) not being considered for selection for promotion by a selection board, or (2) not being placed on an all-fully-qualified-officers list. Authorizes the Secretary to also convene such a special selection board for an officer or former officer considered but not selected for promotion if the selection board: (1) acted contrary to law in a matter material to the decision or with the involvement of material factual or administrative error, or (2) did not have material information before it for consideration. 
 
Authorizes judicial review of: (1) a decision of the Secretary not to convene a special selection board, and (2) an action of a special selection board. 
 
(Sec. 209) Prohibits the Secretary from authorizing certain involuntary administrative separations for Coast Guard members based on medical conditions considered by the Physical Evaluation Board during an evaluation resulting in the individual being determined fit for duty. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to require reevaluations if the Secretary determines there is reason to believe a medical condition renders the individual unsuitable for continued duty. 
 
Permits the retirement or separation for physical disability of an individual determined to be unfit based on such a reevaluation.
 
(Sec. 210) Directs the Secretary to report biennially to Congress on the status of all major acquisition programs with a life-cycle cost estimate of at least $300 million. Requires such report to include: (1) any mission hour gaps and program changes; (2) an integration plan for each new asset, including shore-based infrastructure and human resource needs; (3) the operational lifespan and life-cycle cost of each legacy asset including anticipated resource gaps; (4) the accounting for legacy asset costs; (5) an annual performance comparison of new assets to legacy assets; (6) the next fiscal year's anticipated acquisitions workload, acquisition workforce assignments, and understaffed positions; (7) an identification of certified cutters not maintained in class; and (8) other specified information. 
 
(Sec. 211) Authorizes the Commandant to enter into contracts or orders for materials, storage, and planning in advance of a contract or order for construction of a vessel. Permits the Commandant to give priority to persons who manufacture materials, parts, and components in the United States.
 
(Sec. 212) Prohibits the Secretary from, subject to congressional reporting requirements, expending more than $1.5 million each fiscal year from amounts available for operating expenses for minor construction and improvement projects at any location.
 
 Directs the Secretary to report annually to Congress on each such project expending over $500,000. 
 
(Sec. 213) Directs the Commandant, concurrent with the President's budget submission to Congress each year, to submit to Congress a list of unfunded priorities, a capital investment plan including estimated completion costs and projected funding levels for each capital asset for which appropriations are proposed, and a prioritized list of projects eligible for environmental compliance and restoration funding.
 
(Sec. 214) Sets forth guidelines for publicly disclosing records and investigation reports concerning aircraft accidents under the Commandant's jurisdiction. Prohibits: (1) an official responsible for, or conducting, a safety investigation from making such disclosures; and (2) accident investigators' opinions set forth in such reports from being considered in civil and criminal proceedings or as an admission of liability. 
 
(Sec. 215) Extends eligibility for enrollment in the Coast Guard Auxiliary to U.S. nationals and aliens lawfully admitted for permanent residence. 
 
(Sec. 216) Repeals provisions concerning: (1) District Ombudsmen, (2) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) aids to air navigation, (3) floating ocean stations, (4) detail of Coast Guard members to assist foreign governments, (5) the Advisory Committee to the Academy, and (6) history fellowships. 
 
(Sec. 217) Makes technical revisions to various Coast Guard duties. Revises authorities relating to a prohibition on the use of lead system integrators and a Comptroller General report on former Coast Guard officials employed by Coast Guard contractors.
 
(Sec. 218) Revises the acquisition workforce expedited hiring authority in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 to: (1) authorize the Commandant to designate any category of specified acquisition workforce positions as positions for which there is a shortage of candidates or a critical hiring need, and (2) extend such authority to September 30, 2015. 
 
(Sec. 219) Renews temporary early retirement authority for certain Coast Guard personnel for FY2013-FY2018. Sets limits on the total number of commissioned officers and enlisted members who may retire pursuant to such authority.
 
(Sec. 220) Directs the Commandant to maintain the schedule and requirements for the total acquisition of 180 boats specified in the approved program of record for the Response Boat-Medium acquisition program in effect on June 1, 2012, until the Commandant submits to Congress the documentation required to justify the acquisition of less than 180 boats. 
 
(Sec. 221) Authorizes the Secretary, in each fiscal year and after submitting specified certifications to Congress, to enter into a multiyear contract for the procurement of National Security Cutters and associated government-furnished equipment.
 
Requires the Secretary consider specified criteria to determine whether such a contract results in substantial savings.
 
Prohibits the Commandant from certifying a sixth National Security Cutter as Ready for Operations before the Commandant has: (1) submitted a program execution plan to Congress specifying how the first three National Security Cutters will achieve certain goals following the completion of the Structural Enhancement Drydock Availability of the first two National Security Cutters and detailing increased aerial support coverage, and (2) awarded a design and construction contract for the Offshore Patrol Cutter. 
 
(Sec. 222) Directs the Secretary to conduct a business-case analysis for reactivating and extending the service life of the Polar Sea until at least September 30, 2022, to maintain U.S. polar icebreaking capabilities and fulfill the Coast Guard's high-latitude mission needs during the recapitalization of the polar class icebreaker fleet. Prohibits the removal of any part of the Polar Sea until the Secretary submits such analysis to Congress.
 
Requires the Secretary, if it is cost-effective to reactive the Polar Sea compared with other options for providing icebreaking services, to submit to Congress a service life extension plan including a timetable for such reactivation.
 
Authorizes the Commandant, if the Secretary determines that reactivation is not cost-effective, to decommission the Polar Sea. Directs the Commandant, after the Secretary makes such determination, to submit to Congress a bridging strategy for maintaining polar icebreaking services until at least September 30, 2022. 
 
Prohibits the Commandant, until September 30, 2022, except with respect to an authorized decommissioning of the Polar Sea, from: (1) transferring, relinquishing ownership, dismantling, or recycling the Polar Sea or Polar Star; (2) changing the current homeport of such vessels; or (3) expending funds to place either vessel in inactive status or taking other specified decommissioning measures.
 

Title III: Shipping and Navigation
 - (Sec. 301) Amends federal shipping laws that require a determination by the Administrator of the Maritime Administration regarding the non-availability of qualified U.S. flag capacity to meet national defense requirements before the head of an agency responsible for the administration of navigation or vessel-inspection laws is authorized on its own initiative to waive compliance with such laws when it considers it necessary in the interest of national defense. Requires the Administrator, in making such determinations, to: (1) identify any actions that could be taken to enable such flag capacity to meet the national defense requirements, (2) provide notice of each determination to the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the agency for which the determination is made, and (3) publish each determination on DOT's Internet website. 
 
Directs the head of each such agency to notify Congress of any waiver requests or issuances. Requires the notification of the issuance of a waiver to include the reasons why: (1) the waiver is necessary, and (2) specified actions are not feasible. 
 
(Sec. 302) Shields an entity operating a nonfederal vessel traffic information or advisory service pursuant to a written agreement with the Coast Guard, and any pilot acting on behalf of such entity, from liability for damages caused by or related to information, advice, or communication assistance unless the acts or omissions constitute gross negligence or willful misconduct. 
 
(Sec. 303) Directs the Commandant to report to Congress on the carriage of survival craft that ensures no part of an individual is immersed in water.
 
(Sec. 304) Requires, before the Secretary may delegate to a foreign classification society the authority to conduct examinations and approve plans for issuing certificates of inspection, compliance, and other documents regarding certain vessels, a determination by the Secretary of State that such society does not provide comparable services in or for a state sponsor of terrorism. Requires the revocation of a delegation if the Secretary of State makes such a determination. 
 
(Sec. 305) Directs the Secretary to examine at dockside certain uninspected fishing industry vessels at least once every five years (currently, every two years). 
 
Revises certification and compliance requirements based on whether certain vessels were built before or after July 1, 2013 (currently, the applicable date is July 1, 2012).
 
(Sec. 306) Authorizes the Secretary to extend for up to one year a medical certificate issued to an individual holding a license, merchant mariner's document, or certificate of registry if the extension is required to eliminate a backlog in processing applications for medical certificates or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster. 
 
(Sec. 307) Modifies fishery endorsement eligibility requirements for certain vessels under the American Fisheries Act.
 
(Sec. 308) Authorizes the Secretary to conduct investigations and inspections regarding the documentation of vessels.
 
(Sec. 309) Increases the civil penalty for certain documentation violations from $10,000 to $15,000. Establishes a civil penalty of the greater of $25,000 or twice the vessel's charter rate for certain violations involving mobile offshore drilling units. 
 
(Sec. 310) Establishes a U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System as a federal interagency coordinating committee to assess the adequacy of the marine transportation system, promote integration with other modes of transportation and uses of the marine environment, and coordinate federal policy recommendations.
 
Requires the Chair of the Coordinating Board of the Committee to rotate annually among the DOT Secretary, the Secretary of Defense (DOD), the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Secretary of Commerce. Directs the DOT Secretary to appoint an Executive Director.
 
Directs the Committee to report to Congress every five years on: (1) the implementation of actions recommended in the July 2008 National Strategy for the Marine Transportation System, (2) an assessment of marine transportation system conditions and challenges to meeting user demand, and (3) a plan for improving the system and the implementation of actions previously recommended. 
 (Sec. 311) Makes technical revisions with respect to the Secretary's authority to extend the duration of certain licenses, certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents. 
(Sec. 312) Expands the definition of &quot;deepwater port&quot; to include certain structures handling oil or natural gas for transportation to or from any state (currently, only to any state).
 

Title IV: Maritime Administration Authorization
 - Maritime Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 - (Sec. 402) Authorizes FY2013 appropriations to the DOT for Maritime Administration programs associated with maintaining national security aspects of the merchant marine. Enumerates specific amounts for: (1) operations of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, (2) state maritime academies, (3) disposal of vessels in the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF), (4) maintenance and preservation of a U.S.-flag merchant marine for national security needs, and (5) the cost of certain loan guarantees under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990.
 
(Sec. 403) Authorizes the DOT Secretary to engage in the environmental study and deployment of emerging marine technologies and practices related to the marine transportation system through the use of public vessels under the control of the Maritime Administration or private vessels under U.S. registry and through partnerships and cooperative efforts with academic, public, private, and nongovernmental entities and facilities. Permits such research to include the reduction of air or water emissions or other ship discharges, increases in fuel economy or use of alternative fuels and energy, or controlling aquatic invasive species. 
 
(Sec. 404) Expands an authorization to make excess or surplus marine equipment available to maritime academies and nonprofit training institutions to include training institutions that are an instrumentality of a state, the District of Columbia, a territory or possession of the United States, or a unit of local government. Permits fuel to be included in such arrangements.
 
 Requires the consent of the Secretary of the Navy to be obtained with respect to any property from NDRF vessels, if such vessels are either Ready Reserve Force vessels or other NDRF vessels determined to be of sufficient value to the Navy to warrant further preservation and retention.
 
(Sec. 405) Expands the DOT's short sea transportation program (currently, a program to mitigate landside congestion) to include the promotion of such transportation.
 
Permits (currently, requires) the development of multistate, state, and regional strategies to encourage the use of short sea transportation for passengers and cargo. 
 
(Sec. 406) Limits the placement of vessels acquired by the Maritime Administration in the NDRF to vessels of at least 1,500 gross tons or other vessels the DOT determines appropriate. 
 
(Sec. 407) Authorizes all federal entities to transfer vessels to the NDRF without reimbursement subject to the approval of the DOT Secretary and the Secretary of the Navy with respect to Ready Reserve Force vessels and the DOT Secretary with respect to all other vessels.
 
(Sec. 409) Specifies that the mission of the Maritime Administration is to foster, promote, and develop the domestic merchant maritime industry of the United States. 
 
(Sec. 410) Amends the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946 to require the DOT Secretary to conduct sea trials on NDRF vessels at a frequency considered by the DOT Secretary to be necessary (currently, at least once every 30 months). 
 
(Sec. 411) Directs the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to complete the design for a containerized articulated barge identified in the dual-use vessel study carried out by the Administrator and the DOD Secretary that is able to utilize roll-on/roll-off or load-on/load-off technology in marine highway maritime commerce. 
 
(Sec. 412) Directs the Administrator of the Maritime Administration to report to Congress on the potential for using container-on-barge transportation in short sea transportation.
 
(Sec. 413) Expresses the sense of Congress that the DOD Secretary should expedite completion of the study of U.S. strategic ports called for in the conference report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 so that it can be submitted to Congress before July 1, 2013. Directs the Comptroller General to assess such report and conduct a subsequent study of DOD programs and efforts related to the state of strategic ports with respect to DOD's operational and readiness requirements.
 
Defines &quot;strategic port&quot; as a U.S. port designated by the DOD Secretary as a significant transportation hub important to the readiness and cargo throughput capacity of DOD.
 
(Sec. 414) Directs the Comptroller General to report on the training needs of the maritime workforce including an analysis of maritime training requirements imposed by domestic and international regulations and conventions, companies, and government agencies chartering or operating vessels.
 
(Sec. 415) Directs the Comptroller General to assess the source selection procedures and practices used to award the Maritime Administration's NDRF vessel recycling contracts.
 

Title V: Piracy
 - Piracy Suppression Act of 2012 - (Sec. 502) Directs the DOT Secretary to certify a training curriculum for U.S. mariners on the use of force against pirates including information on Commandant-designated high-risk waters, current threats and patterns of attack, defense tactics, rules for the use of force as self-defense, and procedures to improve crewmember survivability if captured or taken hostage by pirates.
 
(Sec. 503) Requires the DOT Secretary to direct agencies (except DOD), when responsible for the carriage of equipment, materials, or commodities procured, furnished, or financed by the U.S. government, to: (1) provide armed personnel aboard the U.S. vessels transiting such supplies in high-risk waters; and (2) reimburse, subject to the availability of appropriations, the vessel owners or operators for the cost of providing such armed personnel.
 
(Sec. 504) Directs the DOD Secretary to report to Congress on actions taken by the DOD to protect foreign-flagged vessels from acts of piracy on the high seas.
 

Title VI: Marine Debris
 - Marine Debris Act Amendments of 2012 - (Sec. 602) Renames the Marine Debris Research, Prevention, and Reduction Act as the Marine Debris Act.
 
Defines &quot;marine debris&quot; as any persistent solid material that is manufactured or processed and directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally, disposed of or abandoned into the marine environment or the Great Lakes.
 
(Sec. 604) Replaces the Marine Debris Prevention and Removal Program within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with a Marine Debris Program to identify, determine sources of, assess, prevent, reduce, and remove marine debris and its adverse impacts on the U.S. economy, the marine environment, and navigation safety. 
 
Revises Program components, including by requiring the NOAA to provide national and regional coordination to assist states, Indian tribes, and regional organizations in the identification, determination of sources, assessment, prevention, reduction, and removal of marine debris.
 
Directs the NOAA to develop interagency plans, coordinated with state, tribal, and local governments, for the timely response to severe marine debris events.
 
Defines &quot;severe marine debris event&quot; as atypically large amounts of marine debris caused by a natural disaster, including a tsunami, flood, landslide, hurricane, or other source.
 
Amends the Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act of 1987 to repeal the plastic pollution public education program. 
 
(Sec. 606) Replaces provisions of the Marine Debris Program concerning interagency coordination with provisions establishing the Interagency Marine Debris Coordinating Committee.
 
Requires the Committee to submit biennial progress reports.
 
(Sec. 607) Requires the NOAA Administrator to ensure the confidentiality of information submitted into the federal information clearinghouse on marine debris. (Currently, the Administrator is required to ensure the confidentiality of only such information that is submitted by the fishing industry.) 
 
(Sec. 609) Directs the NOAA to provide Congress with a determination as to whether the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami and the October 2012 hurricane Sandy each caused a severe marine debris event.
 

Title VII: Miscellaneous
 - (Sec. 701) Permits certain U.S. purse seine fishing vessels fishing exclusively for highly migratory species in the treaty area under a fishing license issued pursuant to the 1987 Treaty on Fisheries Between the Governments of Certain Pacific Islands States and the Government of the United States of America, or transiting to or from the treaty area exclusively for such purpose, to engage duly licensed foreign citizens to meet the manning requirement (except for the master) through the date such treaty ceases to have effect under specified articles of such treaty, if no U.S. citizen personnel are readily available to fill such vacancy. 
 
Expands such authority to vessels operating in and out of Guam (currently, only American Samoa). 
 
Modifies related licensing and credential requirements. 
 
(Sec. 703) Extends, until December 18, 2014, provisions prohibiting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), or a state with an approved National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act), from requiring an NPDES permit for a covered vessel (a vessel that is less than 79 feet in length or a fishing vessel) for any discharge: (1) of effluent from properly functioning marine engines; (2) of laundry, shower, and galley sink wastes; or (3) that is incidental to the normal operation of a covered vessel. 
 
(Sec. 704) Prohibits notice of arrival regulations required under the Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006 for foreign vessels on the Outer Continental Shelf from applying to certain U.S.-owned vessels that are not documented under foreign laws unless such vessels arrive from a foreign port or place. 
 
(Sec. 705) Permits the Secretary to issue a certificate of documentation with a fishery endorsement for the vessel Texas Star Casino, except that such endorsement is not valid for any fishery for which a fishery management plan has been approved by the Secretary of Commerce under specified provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act before the enactment of this Act.
 
Exempts the passenger vessel Ranger III from specified tank vessel construction standards during any period it is owned and operated by the National Park Service. 
 
(Sec. 706) Deems the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission a government agency for purposes of specified notification requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. Requires the National Response Center to notify and report to the Commission regarding the Ohio River Basin. 
 
(Sec. 707) Deems two numbered vessels to be new vessels if no encumbrances are on record with the Coast Guard at the time of the issuance of the new vessel certificate of documentation for each such vessel. 
 
(Sec. 708) Declares that the waters of Mille Lacs Lake, Minnesota, are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction under federal laws addressing the Coast Guard's enforcement duties.
 
(Sec. 709) Directs the DHS Secretary to reform the transportation worker identification credentialing process to require, in total, a maximum of one in-person visit to a designated enrollment center except in extenuating circumstances.
 
(Sec. 710) Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to increase investments in income-producing securities under specified provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 by a specified amount.
 
(Sec. 711) Authorizes the Commandant to establish an Integrated Cross-Border Maritime Law Enforcement Operations Program to coordinate the maritime security operations of the United States and Canada, strengthen border security, and respond to terrorism and border-related violations of law.
 
Provides authority for joint training with Canada and coordination with DHS border security and antiterrorism programs.
 
(Sec. 712) Allows the Secretary (for purposes of reviewing a permit application pursuant to specified provisions of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899, the Bridge Act of 1906, the Truman-Hobbs Act, or the General Bridge Act of 1946) to: (1) accept voluntary services from bridge owners, and (2) accept and credit to Coast Guard operating expenses any amounts received from such owners.
 
Directs the Secretary to complete determinations on any required approval for issuance of any permits under its jurisdiction related to the construction or alteration of a bridge over the Kill Van Kull (a tidal strait connecting Bayonne, New Jersey, and Staten Island, New York) consistent with Executive Order 13604 from March 22, 2012.
 
(Sec. 713) Permits the Secretary to consider the tonnage measurements for the vessel Aqueos Acadian to be valid until a specified date if the vessel and the use of its space is not changed in a way substantially affecting the tonnage of the vessel.
 
(Sec. 714) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the impact of additional regulatory requirements imposed on passenger vessels operating on the Ringo Cocke Canal in the state of Louisiana as a result of the Coast Guard's navigability determination dated March 25, 2010.
 
Prohibits the Commandant, before a specified period after such assessment is submitted, from enforcing such regulatory requirements.
 
(Sec. 715) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress the Coast Guard's National Housing Assessment and any related analysis.
 
(Sec. 716) Directs the Secretary to submit to Congress an assessment of the need for additional Coast Guard prevention and response capability in the high-latitude regions, including all Coast Guard mission areas, search and rescue, marine pollution response and prevention, fisheries enforcement, and maritime commerce. 
 
(Sec. 717) Directs the Commandant to determine if any improvements are necessary to designate existing ice-free facilities or infrastructure in the Central Bering Sea as a fully functional, year-round Potential Place of Refuge. 
 
(Sec. 718) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the Coast Guard National Maritime Center's merchant mariner medical evaluation program and alternatives to such program.
 
(Sec. 719) Directs the Secretary to provide Congress an assessment of: (1) the loss of U.S. shipyard jobs and industrial base expertise as a result of rebuild, conversion, and double-hull work on U.S.-flag vessels eligible to engage in the coastwise trade being performed in foreign shipyards; (2) enforcement of the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination regulations; and (3) recommendations for improving transparency in the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination process.
 
(Sec. 720) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of factors under the authority of the Coast Guard that impact the ability of U.S.-documented vessels to effectively compete in international transportation markets.
 
(Sec. 721) Directs the Commandant to submit to Congress a study on the feasibility of establishing a deepwater seaport in the Arctic to protect and advance strategic U.S. interests.
 
(Sec. 722) Requires the Commandant to submit to Congress an assessment of the increased vessel traffic in the Salish Sea (including Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, Haro Strait, Rosario Strait, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca), that may occur from the transport of Canadian oil sands oil. Directs the Commandant, in conducting such assessment, to consult with the state of Washington, affected tribal governments, vessel operators, oil sands producers, and spill response experts.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2012-12-20
text: Became Public Law No: 112-213.
action_date: 2012-12-20
text: Became Public Law No: 112-213.
action_date: 2012-12-20
text: Signed by President.
action_date: 2012-12-20
text: Signed by President.
action_date: 2012-12-14
text: Presented to President.
action_date: 2012-12-14
text: Presented to President.
action_date: 2012-12-13
text: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
action_date: 2012-12-12
text: Senate agreed to the House amendment to Senate amendment by Voice Vote. (consideration: CR S7972-7973)
action_date: 2012-12-12
text: Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate agreed to the House amendment to Senate amendment by Voice Vote.(consideration: CR S7972-7973)
action_date: 2012-12-06
text: Message on House action received in Senate and at desk: House amendment to Senate amendment.
action_date: 2012-12-05
text: House agreed to Senate amendments with an amendment pursuant to H. Res. 825. (consideration: CR H6626-6640; text as House agreed to Senate amendments with amendment: CR H6626-6640)
action_date: 2012-12-05
text: Passed/agreed to in House: House agreed to Senate amendments with an amendment pursuant to H. Res. 825.(consideration: CR H6626-6640; text as House agreed to Senate amendments with amendment: CR H6626-6640)
action_date: 2012-12-05
text: Resolving differences -- House actions: House agreed to Senate amendments with an amendment pursuant to H. Res. 825.(consideration: CR H6626-6640; text as House agreed to Senate amendments with amendment: CR H6626-6640)
action_date: 2012-09-24
text: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment and an amendment to the Title by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR 9/21/2012 S6673)
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation discharged by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2012-09-22
text: Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation discharged by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2011-11-16
text: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: On passage Passed by voice vote.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed by voice vote.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: On motion to recommit with instructions Failed by the Yeas and Nays: 189 - 235 (Roll no. 841).
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: The previous question on the motion to recommit with instructions was ordered without objection. (consideration: CR H7608)
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: DEBATE - The House proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Larsen (WA) motion to recommit with instructions, pending the reservation of a point of order. The instructions contained in the motion seek to require the bill to be reported back to the House with an amendment to prohibit the Coast Guard from awarding a contract to anyone convicted of fraud or other specified criminal offenses. Subsequently, the reservation of a point of order was removed.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Mr. Larsen (WA) moved to recommit with instructions to Transportation. (consideration: CR H7607-7609; text: CR S7607)
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: The House adopted the amendment in the nature of a substitute as agreed to by the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union. (text: CR 11/4/2011 H7352-7362)
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: The previous question was ordered pursuant to the rule. (consideration: CR H7607)
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: The House rose from the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union to report H.R. 2838.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to provisions of H.Res. 455 and the previous order of the House, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Young (AK) amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on Pierluisi amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced the ayes had prevailed. Mr. Larsen (WA) demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Pierluisi amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: The House resolved into Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for further consideration.
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: Considered as unfinished business. (consideration: CR H7604-7609)
action_date: 2011-11-15
text: ORDER OF PROCEDURE - Mr. LoBiondo asked unanimous consent that, during further consideration of H.R. 2838 in the Committee of the Whole pursuant to House Resolution 455, the amendment by Mr. Young (AK) at the desk be considered as though printed as the last amendment printed in House Report 112-267 and be debatable for 10 minutes. Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union rises leaving H.R. 2838 as unfinished business.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: On motion that the Committee rise Agreed to by voice vote.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: Mr. LoBiondo moved that the Committee rise.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: UNFINISHED BUSINESS - The Chair announced that the unfinished business was on the question of adoption of amendments which had been debated earlier and on which further proceedings had been postponed.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Olson amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Huizenga amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on the Slaughter amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Ms. Slaughter demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Slaughter amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on the Bishop (NY) amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Bishop (NY) demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Bishop (NY) amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on the Napolitano amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Faleomavaega demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Napolitano amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Palazzo amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on the Thompson (MS) amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Thompson (MS) demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Thompson (MS) amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: POSTPONED PROCEEDINGS - At the conclusion of debate on the Cummings amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Cummings demanded a recorded vote and the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until a time to be announced.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the Cummings amendment.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: DEBATE - Pursuant to the provisions of H.Res. 455, the Committee of the Whole proceeded with 10 minutes of debate on the LoBiondo en bloc amendments.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: GENERAL DEBATE - The Committee of the Whole proceeded with one hour of general debate on H.R. 2838.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: The Speaker designated the Honorable Steve Womack to act as Chairman of the Committee.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: House resolved itself into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union pursuant to H. Res. 455 and Rule XVIII.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2838 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. The resolution makes in order as original text for the purpose of amendment an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the Rules Committee Print of H.R. 2838 dated October 21, 2011. All points of order against the amendment in the nature of a substitute made in order as original text are waived.
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: Considered under the provisions of rule H. Res. 455. (consideration: CR H7344-7380)
action_date: 2011-11-04
text: Rule H. Res. 455 passed House.
action_date: 2011-11-03
text: Rules Committee Resolution H. Res. 455 Reported to House. Rule provides for consideration of H.R. 2838 with 1 hour of general debate. Previous question shall be considered as ordered without intervening motions except motion to recommit with or without instructions. Measure will be considered read. Specified amendments are in order. The resolution makes in order as original text for the purpose of amendment an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of the Rules Committee Print of H.R. 2838 dated October 21, 2011. All points of order against the amendment in the nature of a substiture made in order as original text are waived.
action_date: 2011-10-03
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 150.
action_date: 2011-10-03
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. H. Rept. 112-229.
action_date: 2011-10-03
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. H. Rept. 112-229.
action_date: 2011-09-08
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
action_date: 2011-09-08
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2011-09-08
text: Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Discharged.
action_date: 2011-09-06
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
action_date: 2011-09-02
text: Referred to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
action_date: 2011-09-02
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2011-09-02
text: Introduced in House

Enacted as: number: 112-213