Protecting Jobs in American Ports Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1994 To enable passenger vessels that were not built in the United States to receive coastwise endorsement, 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 enable passenger vessels that were not built in the United States to receive coastwise endorsement, 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 ‘‘Protecting Jobs in 4 American Ports Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. COASTWISE ENDORSEMENT FOR PASSENGER VES- 6 SELS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 12112(a)(2)(B) of title 8 46, United States Code, is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1994.IS S1994 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1994 IS (1) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; or’’ and insert- 1 ing a semicolon; 2 (2) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and in- 3 serting ‘‘; or’’; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(iv) is a vessel that transports pas- 6 sengers between ports or places in the 7 United States to which the coastwise laws 8 apply, either directly or via a foreign port; 9 and’’. 10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 12121 of 11 title 46, United States Code, is repealed. 12 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in the 13 amendments made by this section shall be construed to 14 exempt a vessel that transports passengers between ports 15 or places in the United States to which the coastwise laws 16 apply, either directly or via a foreign port, from any appli- 17 cable law of the United States except as explicitly provided 18 in such amendments. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:49 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1994.IS S1994 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS