Safeguarding American Tourism Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1998 To exempt large cruise ships from certain requirements applicable to passenger vessels, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 9, 2021 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To exempt large cruise ships from certain requirements applicable to passenger vessels, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safeguarding Amer- 4 ican Tourism Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. ADJUSTING APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN PVSA AND 6 JONES ACT REQUIREMENTS. 7 (a) PVSA DOMESTIC REQUIREMENTS.—Section 8 55103(a) of title 46, United States Code, is amended by 9 adding at the end the following: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:56 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1998.IS S1998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1998 IS ‘‘(c) NONAPPLICABLITY.—This section shall not 1 apply to any vessel with 800 or more passenger berths.’’. 2 (b) JONES ACT REQUIREMENTS.—Chapter 121 of 3 title 46, United States Code, is amended— 4 (1) in section 12103, by adding at the end the 5 following: 6 ‘‘(d) NONAPPLICABILITY.—The requirements of this 7 section shall not apply to any vessel with 800 or more pas- 8 senger berths and that transports passengers between 9 ports or places in the United States to which the coastwise 10 laws apply, either directly or via a foreign port.’’; 11 (2) in section 12112(a)— 12 (A) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘except 13 in the case of a vessel described in subpara- 14 graph (C) of paragraph (2),’’ before ‘‘satisfies’’; 15 and 16 (B) in paragraph (2)— 17 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 18 ‘‘or’’ after the semicolon; 19 (ii) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by strik- 20 ing ‘‘; and’’ and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 21 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 22 lowing: 23 ‘‘(C) has 800 or more passenger berths and 24 transports passengers between ports or places in the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:56 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1998.IS S1998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1998 IS United States to which the coastwise laws apply, ei- 1 ther directly or via a foreign port; and’’. 2 (c) ADJUSTMENT OF CITIZENSHIP AND NAVY RE- 3 SERVE REQUIREMENTS.—Section 8103(k) of title 46, 4 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(k) NONAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN PASSENGER 6 VESSELS.—Subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to any 7 vessel with 800 or more passenger berths and that trans- 8 ports passengers between ports or places in the United 9 States to which the coastwise laws apply, either directly 10 or via a foreign port.’’. 11 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENTS RELATING TO PERMITS TO LAND 12 TEMPORARILY FOR ALIEN CREWMEN. 13 Section 252(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 14 Act (8 U.S.C. 1282(a)) is amended, in the matter pre- 15 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘not to exceed—’’ and 16 all that follows through the period at the end of paragraph 17 (2) and inserting ‘‘not to exceed the period of time during 18 which the crewman is in possession of a valid, unexpired 19 visa issued pursuant to such paragraph, if the immigration 20 officer is satisfied that the crewman intends to depart— 21 ‘‘(1) on the vessel or aircraft on which the 22 crewman arrived; or 23 ‘‘(2) on a vessel or aircraft other than the ves- 24 sel or aircraft on which the crewman arrived.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:56 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1998.IS S1998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1998 IS SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 1 Nothing in the amendments made by this Act shall 2 be construed to exempt a vessel that transports passengers 3 between ports or places in the United States to which the 4 coastwise laws apply, either directly or via a foreign port, 5 from any applicable law of the United States except as 6 explicitly provided in such amendments. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:56 Jun 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1998.IS S1998 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS