Maritime Administration Authorization and Improvement Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3930 To reauthorize the Maritime Administration and to reauthorize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Act of 2002. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 10, 2020 Mr. WICKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To reauthorize the Maritime Administration and to reauthor- ize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion Commissioned Officer Corps Act of 2002. 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 ‘‘Maritime Administra- 4 tion Authorization and Improvement Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 6 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title. Sec. 2. Table of contents. TITLE I—MARITIME MATTERS VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3930 IS Sec. 101. Authorization of the Maritime Administration. Sec. 102. Marine highways. Sec. 103. Maritime security program operating requirement. Sec. 104. Tanker security fleet. Sec. 105. Port and intermodal improvement program. Sec. 106. Sea year cadets on cable security fleet and tanker security fleet ves- sels. Sec. 107. Conditional bachelor of science degree from United States Merchant Marine Academy. Sec. 108. Graduation requirements for State maritime academies. Sec. 109. Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Sec. 110. Maritime academy information. Sec. 111. Centers of excellence for domestic maritime workforce training and education. Sec. 112. Criteria to be eligible to train students from State maritime acad- emies. Sec. 113. Improvement of the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. Sec. 114. GAO review of Department-wide efforts to manage cybersecurity. Sec. 115. GAO review of efforts to support and grow the vessels of the United States. Sec. 116. GAO review of Federal efforts to enhance port infrastructure resil- iency and disaster preparedness. Sec. 117. Study on foreign investment in shipping. Sec. 118. National Academies standing committee on America’s supply chain security during disasters. TITLE II—NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION COMMISSIONED OFFICER CORPS Sec. 201. References to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Act of 2002. Subtitle A—General Provisions Sec. 211. Strength and distribution in grade. Sec. 212. Recalled officers. Sec. 213. Obligated service requirement. Sec. 214. Training and physical fitness. Sec. 215. Aviation accession training programs. Sec. 216. Recruiting materials. Sec. 217. Technical correction. Subtitle B—Parity and Recruitment Sec. 221. Education loans. Sec. 222. Interest payments. Sec. 223. Student pre-commissioning program. Sec. 224. Limitation on educational assistance. Sec. 225. Applicability of certain provisions of title 10, United States Code, and extension of certain authorities applicable to members of the Armed Forces to commissioned officer corps. Sec. 226. Applicability of certain provisions of title 37, United States Code. Sec. 227. Prohibition on retaliatory personnel actions. Sec. 228. Application of certain provisions of competitive service law. Sec. 229. Employment and reemployment rights. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3930 IS Sec. 230. Treatment of commission in commissioned officer corps for purposes of certain hiring decisions. Subtitle C—Appointments and Promotion of Officers Sec. 231. Appointments. Sec. 232. Personnel boards. Sec. 233. Positions of importance and responsibility. Sec. 234. Temporary appointments. Sec. 235. Officer candidates. Sec. 236. Procurement of personnel. Sec. 237. Career intermission program. Subtitle D—Separation and Retirement of Officers Sec. 241. Involuntary retirement or separation. Sec. 242. Separation pay. TITLE III—OTHER NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION MATTERS Sec. 301. Charting and survey services. Sec. 302. Leases and co-location agreements. Sec. 303. Satellite and data management. TITLE I—MARITIME MATTERS 1 SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF THE MARITIME ADMINISTRA- 2 TION. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro- 4 priated to the Department of Transportation for fiscal 5 year 2021, to be available without fiscal year limitation 6 if so provided in appropriations Acts, for programs associ- 7 ated with maintaining the United States Merchant Ma- 8 rine, the following amounts: 9 (1) For expenses necessary for operations of the 10 United States Merchant Marine Academy, 11 $98,216,000, of which— 12 (A) $80,216,000 shall remain available 13 until September 30, 2022, for Academy oper- 14 ations; and 15 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3930 IS (B) $18,000,000 shall remain available 1 until expended for capital asset management at 2 the Academy. 3 (2) For expenses necessary to support the State 4 maritime academies, $50,780,000, of which— 5 (A) $2,400,000 shall remain available until 6 September 30, 2022, for the Student Incentive 7 Program; 8 (B) $6,000,000 shall remain available until 9 expended for direct payments to such acad- 10 emies; 11 (C) $30,500,000 shall remain available 12 until expended for maintenance and repair of 13 State maritime academy training vessels; 14 (D) $3,800,000 shall remain available until 15 expended for training ship fuel assistance; and 16 (E) $8,080,000 shall remain available until 17 expended for offsetting the costs of training 18 ship sharing. 19 (3) For expenses necessary to support the Na- 20 tional Security Multi-Mission Vessel Program, 21 $389,000,000, which shall remain available until ex- 22 pended. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3930 IS (4) For expenses necessary to support Maritime 1 Administration operations and programs, 2 $80,628,000, of which— 3 (A) $5,000,000 shall remain available until 4 expended for activities authorized under section 5 50307 of title 46, United States Code; and 6 (B) $19,775,000 shall remain available 7 until expended for the Marine Highways Pro- 8 gram. 9 (5) For expenses necessary to dispose of vessels 10 in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, $5,000,000, 11 which shall remain available until expended. 12 (6) For expenses necessary to maintain and 13 preserve a United States flag Merchant Marine to 14 serve the national security needs of the United 15 States under chapter 531 of title 46, United States 16 Code, $314,008,000, which shall remain available 17 until expended. 18 (7) For expenses necessary for the loan guar- 19 antee program authorized under chapter 537 of title 20 46, United States Code, $33,000,000, of which— 21 (A) $30,000,000 may be used for the cost 22 (as defined in section 502(5) of the Federal 23 Credit Reform Act of 1990 (2 U.S.C. 661a(5))) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3930 IS of loan guarantees under the program, which 1 shall remain available until expended; and 2 (B) $3,000,000 may be used for adminis- 3 trative expenses relating to loan guarantee com- 4 mitments under the program. 5 (8) For expenses necessary to provide assist- 6 ance to small shipyards and for maritime training 7 programs under section 54101 of title 46, United 8 States Code, $40,000,000, which shall remain avail- 9 able until expended. 10 (9) For expenses necessary to implement sec- 11 tion 111 of this Act, $200,000,000. 12 (10) For expenses necessary to implement the 13 Port and Intermodal Improvement Program, 14 $500,000,000. 15 SEC. 102. MARINE HIGHWAYS. 16 (a) MARINE HIGHWAYS PROGRAM.—Section 55601 17 of title 46, United States Code, is amended— 18 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘Short 19 sea transportation program’’ and inserting 20 ‘‘Marine highways program’’; 21 (2) by redesignating subsections (a) through (g) 22 as subsections (c) through (i), respectively; 23 (3) by inserting before subsection (c), as redes- 24 ignated by paragraph (2), the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3930 IS ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find- 1 ings: 2 ‘‘(1) Our Nation’s waterways are an integral 3 part of our transportation network. 4 ‘‘(2) River transportation is the most efficient 5 form of bulk transportation, the safest mode of 6 transportation, and more environmentally friendly 7 than other forms of transportation. 8 ‘‘(3) Using the Nation’s waterways—coastal, in- 9 land, and others that can support commercial trans- 10 portation, alleviates surface transportation conges- 11 tion and burdensome road and bridge repair costs. 12 ‘‘(4) Marine highways are serviced by docu- 13 mented United States Flag vessels and manned by 14 United States citizens, providing added resources for 15 national security and to aid in times of crisis. 16 ‘‘(5) According to the United States Army 17 Corps of Engineers, inland navigation is a key ele- 18 ment of economic development and is essential in 19 maintaining economic competitiveness and national 20 security. 21 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.— 22 ‘‘(1) MARINE HIGHWAY PROJECT.—The term 23 ‘marine highway project’ means planned or con- 24 templated new services, or expansions of existing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3930 IS services, on marine highway routes, that seek to pro- 1 vide new modal choices to shippers, offer more desir- 2 able services, reduce transportation costs, or provide 3 public benefits, which include reduced air emissions, 4 reduced road maintenance costs, connectivity, and 5 improved safety or resiliency impacts. 6 ‘‘(2) MARINE HIGHWAY ROUTE.—The term 7 ‘marine highway route’ means commercially navi- 8 gable coastal, inland, or intracoastal waters of the 9 United States (including connections between United 10 States ports and Canadian ports and non-contiguous 11 United States ports).’’; 12 (4) in subsection (c), as redesignated by para- 13 graph (2)— 14 (A) by inserting ‘‘, to be known as the 15 ‘America’s Marine Highway program’,’’ after 16 ‘‘transportation program’’; 17 (B) by striking ‘‘short sea transportation 18 projects’’ and inserting ‘‘marine highway 19 projects’’; and 20 (C) by striking ‘‘mitigate landside conges- 21 tion or to promote short sea transportation’’ 22 and insert ‘‘provide an alternative to transpor- 23 tation or to promote short sea transportation’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 3930 IS (5) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para- 1 graph (2), by striking paragraph (1) and inserting 2 the following: 3 ‘‘(1) vessels documented under chapter 121 of 4 this title’’; 5 (6) by striking subsection (e), as redesignated 6 by paragraph (2), and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘(e) DESIGNATION AND MAPPING OF MARINE HIGH- 8 WAY ROUTES.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 10 after the date the Secretary receives a request for 11 designation of a new marine highway route or exten- 12 sion of an existing marine highway route from an el- 13 igible requester as described in paragraph (4), the 14 Secretary shall make a determination whether to 15 designate or extend such marine highway route as 16 an integrated part of the surface transportation sys- 17 tem and increase public and private efforts to use 18 the waterways as an alternative to coastal or inland 19 highway corridors or to promote short sea transpor- 20 tation. 21 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 7 days 22 after the date on which the Secretary makes the de- 23 termination whether to designate or extend a marine 24 highway route under paragraph (1), the Secretary 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 3930 IS shall send the eligible requester a notification of the 1 determination. 2 ‘‘(3) DATA COLLECTION AND DISSEMINA- 3 TION.—The Secretary may collect and disseminate 4 data for the designation and delineation of short sea 5 transportation routes, naming them as the ‘United 6 States Marine Highway Routes’. 7 ‘‘(4) ELIGIBLE REQUESTERS.—A request for 8 designation of a new marine highway route or exten- 9 sion of an existing marine highway route may be 10 submitted to the Secretary, by— 11 ‘‘(A) the Governor of an affected State; 12 ‘‘(B) an official Tribal resolution of an In- 13 dian tribe (as defined in section 4 of the Indian 14 Self-Determination and Education Assistance 15 Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), or a consortium of In- 16 dian tribes; 17 ‘‘(C) a State Department of Transpor- 18 tation; 19 ‘‘(D) a Port Authority; 20 ‘‘(E) a metropolitan planning organization; 21 or 22 ‘‘(F) any other comparable elected or po- 23 litically appointed representative, as determined 24 by the Secretary. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Jun 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3930.IS S3930 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 3930 IS ‘‘(5) NUMBERING OF ROUTES.—Each marine 1 highway route, if practicable, shall be numbered in 2 terms of the specific landside transportation routes 3 (road or railway) that it parallels or to which it con- 4 nects. 5 ‘‘(6) MAP.—Not later than 120 days after the 6 date of enactment of the Maritime Administration 7 Authorization and Improvement Act, and thereafter 8 each time a marine highway route is amended or 9 added, the Secretary shall make publically available 10 a map showing the location of marine highway 11 routes along the coasts, in the inland waterways, 12 and at sea.’’; 13 (7) in subsection (f), as redesignated by para- 14 graph (2)— 15 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 16 by striking ‘‘short sea transportation project’’ 17 and inserting ‘‘marine highway project’’; and 18 (B) by striking paragraph (1) and insert- 19 ing the following: 20 ‘‘(1) provides an alternative to landside trans- 21 portation; or’’; 22 (8) in subsection (g), as redesigna [Text truncated for display. 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