Short Sea Shipping Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5351 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt certain shipping from the harbor maintenance tax. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 6, 2019 Mr. HIGGINS of New York (for himself and Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt certain shipping from the harbor maintenance tax. 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 ‘‘Short Sea Shipping 4 Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN COMMERCIAL CARGO 6 FROM THE HARBOR MAINTENANCE TAX. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4462 of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating subsection 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5351.IH H5351 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5351 IH (i) as subsection (j) and by inserting after subsection (h) 1 the following new subsection: 2 ‘‘(i) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN SHORT SEA SHIP- 3 PING CARGO.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No tax shall be imposed 5 under section 4461(a) with respect to commercial 6 cargo (other than bulk cargo) which— 7 ‘‘(A) is loaded at a port in the United 8 States mainland and is unloaded at— 9 ‘‘(i) another port in the United States 10 mainland after transport solely by coastal 11 route or river, or 12 ‘‘(ii) a port in Canada located in the 13 Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, 14 or 15 ‘‘(B) is loaded at a port in Canada located 16 in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Sys- 17 tem and is unloaded at a port in the United 18 States mainland. 19 ‘‘(2) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 20 ‘‘(A) BULK CARGO.—The term ‘bulk cargo’ 21 has the meaning given that term by section 22 53101(1) of title 46, United States Code. 23 ‘‘(B) GREAT LAKES ST. LAWRENCE SEA- 24 WAY SYSTEM.—The term ‘Great Lakes St. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5351.IH H5351 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5351 IH Lawrence Seaway System’ means the waterway 1 between Duluth, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia, 2 encompassing the 5 Great Lakes, their con- 3 necting channels, and the St. Lawrence River. 4 ‘‘(C) UNITED STATES MAINLAND.—The 5 term ‘United States mainland’ has the meaning 6 given such term in subsection (b)(3).’’. 7 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 this section shall apply to port use after the date of the 9 enactment of this Act. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:23 Dec 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5351.IH H5351 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS