Common Sense Maritime and Consumer Services Protection Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 709 To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide statutory authority for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services of the Federal Maritime Commission, to increase public awareness and under- standing of ocean shipping services agreements and such Office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 22, 2019 Mr. POSEY (for himself and Mr. GARAMENDI) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide statutory authority for the Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services of the Federal Maritime Commission, to increase public awareness and understanding of ocean shipping services agreements and such Office, 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 ‘‘Common Sense Mari- 4 time and Consumer Services Protection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H709.IH H709 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 709 IH SEC. 2. OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS AND DISPUTE RES- 1 OLUTION SERVICES OF THE FEDERAL MARI- 2 TIME COMMISSION; INCREASING PUBLIC 3 AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING. 4 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Chapter 403 of title 46, United 5 States Code is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘§ 40108. Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Res- 8 olution Services of the Federal Maritime 9 Commission 10 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF OFFICE.—There shall be in 11 the Federal Maritime Commission an Office of Consumer 12 Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services (in this section 13 referred to as the ‘Office’). 14 ‘‘(b) FUNCTION OF OFFICE.—To promote better pub- 15 lic understanding, the Office shall seek to— 16 ‘‘(1) raise public awareness about ocean ship- 17 ping agreements between carriers, use of ocean 18 transportation intermediaries, and other shipping 19 services; and 20 ‘‘(2) assist consumers in confidentially resolving 21 disputes and other related matters deemed valuable 22 to the consumer by the Commission.’’. 23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis at the be- 24 ginning of such chapter is further amended by adding at 25 the end the following: 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H709.IH H709 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 709 IH ‘‘40108. Office of Consumer Affairs and Dispute Resolution Services of the Fed- eral Maritime Commission.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:05 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H709.IH H709 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS