Navigation Safety Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2926 To amend title 46, United States Code, to adjust certain standards for shipping safety, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2019 Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To amend title 46, United States Code, to adjust certain standards for shipping safety, 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 ‘‘Navigation Safety Act 4 of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. ELECTRONIC CHARTS; EQUIVALENCY. 6 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 3105(a)(1) of title 46, 7 United States Code, is amended to read as follows: 8 ‘‘(1) ELECTRONIC CHARTS IN LIEU OF MARINE 9 CHARTS, CHARTS, AND MAPS.—Subject to paragraph 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2926 IH (2), the following vessels, while operating on the 1 navigable waters of the United States, shall be 2 equipped with and operate electronic navigational 3 charts conforming to a standard acceptable to the 4 Secretary in lieu of any marine charts, charts, and 5 maps required by titles 33 and 46, Code of Federal 6 Regulations, as in effect on the date of the enact- 7 ment of this paragraph: 8 ‘‘(A) A self-propelled commercial vessel of 9 at least 65 feet in overall length. 10 ‘‘(B) A vessel carrying more than a num- 11 ber of passengers for hire determined by the 12 Secretary. 13 ‘‘(C) A towing vessel of more than 26 feet 14 in overall length and 600 horsepower. 15 ‘‘(D) Any other vessel for which the Sec- 16 retary decides that electronic charts are nec- 17 essary for the safe navigation of the vessel.’’. 18 (b) EXEMPTIONS AND WAIVERS.—Section 19 3105(a)(2) of title 46, United States Code, is amended 20 by— 21 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘operates; 22 and’’ and inserting ‘‘operates;’’; 23 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘those 24 waters.’’ and inserting ‘‘those waters; and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2926 IH (3) by adding at the end the following: 1 ‘‘(C) permit vessels that operate solely 2 landward of the baseline from which the terri- 3 torial sea of the United States is measured to 4 utilize software-based, platform-independent 5 electronic chart systems that the Secretary de- 6 termines are capable of displaying electronic 7 navigational charts with necessary scale and de- 8 tail to ensure safe navigation for the intended 9 voyage.’’. 10 SEC. 3. OFFSHORE NAVIGATION. 11 (a) PORT ACCESS ROUTES.—Section 70003(e) of 12 title 46, United States Code, is amended— 13 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘continues; 14 and’’ and inserting ‘‘continues;’’; 15 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period at 16 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 17 (3) by adding at the end the following: 18 ‘‘(5) shall, unless otherwise authorized by the 19 Secretary, and notwithstanding any other provision 20 of this chapter, require— 21 ‘‘(A) a 2-nautical-mile buffer between the 22 parallel outer or seaward boundary of a traffic 23 lane and any offshore structure affixed to the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2926 IH submerged land of the Outer Continental Shelf; 1 and 2 ‘‘(B) a 5-nautical-mile buffer between the 3 entry or exit of any traffic separation scheme 4 and any offshore structure.’’. 5 (b) NAVIGATION; CONFLICT MITIGATION.—Not later 6 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, 7 the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard 8 is operating shall implement the recommendations of the 9 Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study, docket number 10 USCG–2011–0351, dated February 24, 2016, including 11 any recommendations in the appendices thereto. 12 (c) FAIRWAYS.—Not later than July 1, 2021, the 13 Commandant of the Coast Guard shall conduct a review 14 of navigation on the East Coast of the United States and 15 submit recommendations for new fairways on such coast 16 to facilitate commerce to the Committee on Transpor- 17 tation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives 18 and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transpor- 19 tation of the Senate. 20 SEC. 4. SAFETY OF SPECIAL ACTIVITIES. 21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title 46, United States Code, is 22 amended by inserting after section 70005 the following: 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2926 IH ‘‘§ 70006. Safety of special activities 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may establish a 2 safety zone to address special activities in the exclusive 3 economic zone. 4 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 ‘‘(1) The term ‘safety zone’ has the meaning 6 provided in section 165.20 of title 33, Code of Fed- 7 eral Regulations. 8 ‘‘(2) The term ‘special activities’ includes— 9 ‘‘(A) space activities, including launch and 10 reentry, as those terms are defined in section 11 50902 of title 51, carried out by United States 12 citizens; and 13 ‘‘(B) offshore energy development activi- 14 ties, as described in section 8(p)(1)(C) of the 15 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 16 1337(p)(1)(C)), on or near a fixed platform. 17 ‘‘(3) The term ‘United States citizen’ has the 18 same meaning as the term ‘eligible owners’ in sec- 19 tion 12103. 20 ‘‘(4) The term ‘fixed platform’ means an artifi- 21 cial island, installation, or structure permanently at- 22 tached to the sea-bed for the purpose of exploration 23 or exploitation of resources or for other economic 24 purposes.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2926 IH (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap- 1 ter 700 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by 2 inserting after the item relating to section 70005 the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘70006. Safety of special activities.’’. (c) REGULATIONS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 7 of the department in which the Coast Guard is oper- 8 ating shall establish regulations to implement this 9 section. 10 (2) ALIGNMENT WITH OTHER REGULATIONS.— 11 Such regulations shall align with subchapter C of 12 chapter III of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations. 13 SEC. 5. TOWING VESSELS; OPERATION OUTSIDE THE 14 BOUNDARY LINE. 15 (a) INTERIM EXEMPTION.—A towing vessel to which 16 this section applies is exempt from any additional require- 17 ments of subtitle II of title 46, United States Code, and 18 chapter I of title 33 and chapter I of title 46, Code of 19 Federal Regulations that would result solely from such 20 vessel operating outside the Boundary Line (as such term 21 is defined in section 103 of title 46, United States Code) 22 if such vessel— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2926 IH (1) is listed as a response vessel on a vessel re- 1 sponse plan and is operating outside the Boundary 2 Line solely to perform duties of a response vessel; or 3 (2) is operating outside the Boundary Line 4 solely to perform operations necessary to escort a 5 vessel with limited maneuverability. 6 (b) APPLICABILITY.—This section applies to a towing 7 vessel— 8 (1) that is subject to inspection under chapter 9 33 of title 46, United States Code, and subchapter 10 M of title 46, Code of Federal Regulations; 11 (2) with only ‘‘Lakes, Bays, and Sounds’’ or 12 ‘‘Rivers’’ routes recorded on such vessel’s certificate 13 of documentation under section 176.110 of title 46, 14 Code of Federal Regulations; and 15 (3)(A) that, with respect to a vessel that is de- 16 scribed in subsection (a)(1), is listed on a vessel re- 17 sponse plan under part 155 of title 33, Code of Fed- 18 eral Regulations, on the date of the enactment of 19 this Act; or 20 (B) that, with respect to a vessel described in 21 subsection (a)(2), is regularly engages in harbor as- 22 sist operations, including the docking, undocking, 23 mooring, unmooring, and escorting of vessels with 24 limited maneuverability. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2926 IH (c) LIMITATIONS.—A vessel exempted under sub- 1 section (a) is subject to the following operating limitations: 2 (1) RESPONSE VESSELS.—The voyage of a ves- 3 sel exempted under subsection (a)(1) shall— 4 (A) be less than 12 hours in total duration; 5 and 6 (B) originate and end in the inspection 7 zone of a single Officer In-Charge, Marine In- 8 spection, as defined in section 3305(d)(4) of 9 title 46, United States Code. 10 (2) ESCORT VESSELS.—The voyage of a vessel 11 exempted under subsection (a)(2) shall— 12 (A) be less than 12 hours in total duration; 13 (B) originate and end in the inspection 14 zone of a single Officer In-Charge, Marine In- 15 spection, as such term is defined in section 16 3305(d)(4) of title 46, United States Code; and 17 (C) occurs no further than 10 nautical 18 miles from the Boundary Line. 19 (d) TERMINATION.—The interim exemption provided 20 under subsection (a) shall terminate on July 22, 2023. 21 (e) RESTRICTION.—The Officer In-Charge, Marine 22 Inspection, as defined in section 3305(d)(4) of title 46, 23 United States Code, for an inspection zone may restrict 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2926 IH operations under the exemptions provided under sub- 1 section (a) for safety purposes. 2 (f) BRIEFING.—Not later than July 22, 2022, the 3 Commandant of the Coast Guard shall brief the Com- 4 mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House 5 of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, 6 Science, and Transportation of the Senate regarding the 7 following: 8 (1) The impacts of the interim exemptions pro- 9 vided under this section. 10 (2) Any safety concerns regarding the expira- 11 tion of such interim exemptions. 12 (3) Whether such interim exemptions should be 13 extended or made permanent in the interests of safe- 14 ty. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:18 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 034408 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS