To establish a grant program for domestic maritime workforce training and education, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7456 To establish a grant program for domestic maritime workforce training and education, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 1, 2020 Ms. GARCIA of Texas (for herself, Mr. YOUNG, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. BABIN, and Mr. PALAZZO) introduced the following bill; which was re- ferred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure A BILL To establish a grant program for domestic maritime workforce training and education, 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. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DOMESTIC 3 MARITIME WORKFORCE TRAINING AND EDU- 4 CATION. 5 Section 54102 of title 46, United States Code, is 6 amended— 7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘of Transpor- 8 tation’’; 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7456 IH (2) in subsection (b), in the subsection heading, 1 by striking ‘‘ASSISTANCE’’ and inserting ‘‘COOPERA- 2 TIVE AGREEMENTS’’; 3 (3) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub- 4 section (d); 5 (4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by para- 6 graph (2), by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 8 the Secretary of Transportation.’’; and 9 (5) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘(c) GRANT PROGRAM.— 12 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.— 13 In this subsection, the term ‘eligible institution’ 14 means an institution of higher education (as defined 15 in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 16 (20 U.S.C. 1002)) that offers a 2-year program of 17 study, a 1-year program of training, or is a postsec- 18 ondary vocational institution. 19 ‘‘(2) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.— 20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 21 after the date of enactment of the Maritime Ad- 22 ministration Authorization and Improvement 23 Act, the Secretary may award maritime career 24 training grants to eligible institutions for the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7456 IH purpose of developing, offering, or improving 1 educational or career training programs for 2 American workers related to the maritime work- 3 force. 4 ‘‘(B) GUIDELINES.—Not later than 1 year 5 after the date of enactment of the Maritime Ad- 6 ministration Authorization and Improvement 7 Act, the Secretary shall— 8 ‘‘(i) promulgate guidelines for the 9 submission of grant proposals under this 10 subsection; and 11 ‘‘(ii) publish and maintain such guide- 12 lines on the website of the Department of 13 Transportation. 14 ‘‘(3) LIMITATIONS.—The Secretary may not 15 award a grant under this subsection in an amount 16 that is more than $20,000,000. 17 ‘‘(4) REQUIRED INFORMATION.— 18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible institution 19 that desires to receive a grant under this sub- 20 section shall submit to the Secretary a grant 21 proposal that includes a detailed description 22 of— 23 ‘‘(i) the specific project for which the 24 grant proposal is submitted, including the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7456 IH manner in which the grant will be used to 1 develop, offer, or improve an educational 2 or career training program that is suited 3 to maritime industry workers; 4 ‘‘(ii) the extent to which the project 5 for which the grant proposal is submitted 6 will meet the educational or career training 7 needs of maritime workers in the commu- 8 nity served by the eligible institution; 9 ‘‘(iii) the extent to which the project 10 for which the grant proposal is submitted 11 fits within any overall strategic plan devel- 12 oped by an eligible community; and 13 ‘‘(iv) any previous experience of the 14 eligible institution in providing maritime 15 educational or career training programs. 16 ‘‘(B) COMMUNITY OUTREACH REQUIRED.— 17 In order to be considered by the Secretary, a 18 grant proposal submitted by an eligible institu- 19 tion under this subsection shall— 20 ‘‘(i) demonstrate that the eligible in- 21 stitution— 22 ‘‘(I) reached out to employers to 23 identify— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7456 IH ‘‘(aa) any shortcomings in 1 existing maritime educational 2 and career training opportunities 3 available to workers in the com- 4 munity; and 5 ‘‘(bb) any future employ- 6 ment opportunities within the 7 community and the educational 8 and career training skills re- 9 quired for workers to meet the 10 future maritime employment de- 11 mand; and 12 ‘‘(II) reached out to other simi- 13 larly situated institutions in an effort 14 to benefit from any best practices that 15 may be shared with respect to pro- 16 viding maritime educational or career 17 training programs to workers eligible 18 for training; and 19 ‘‘(ii) include a detailed description 20 of— 21 ‘‘(I) the extent and outcome of 22 the outreach conducted under clause 23 (i); 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 7456 IH ‘‘(II) the extent to which the 1 project for which the grant proposal is 2 submitted will contribute to meeting 3 any shortcomings identified under 4 clause (i)(I)(aa) or any maritime edu- 5 cational or career training needs iden- 6 tified under clause (i)(I)(bb); and 7 ‘‘(III) the extent to which em- 8 ployers, including small- and medium- 9 sized firms within the community, 10 have demonstrated a commitment to 11 employing workers who would benefit 12 from the project for which the grant 13 proposal is submitted. 14 ‘‘(5) CRITERIA FOR AWARD OF GRANTS.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the appro- 16 priation of funds, the Secretary shall award a 17 grant under this subsection based on— 18 ‘‘(i) a determination of the merits of 19 the grant proposal submitted by the eligi- 20 ble institution to develop, offer, or improve 21 maritime educational or career training 22 programs to be made available to workers; 23 ‘‘(ii) an evaluation of the likely em- 24 ployment opportunities available to workers 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 7456 IH who complete a maritime educational or 1 career training program that the eligible 2 institution proposes to develop, offer, or 3 improve; 4 ‘‘(iii) an evaluation of prior demand 5 for training programs by workers in the 6 community served by the eligible institu- 7 tion, as well as the availability and capac- 8 ity of existing maritime training programs 9 to meet future demand for training pro- 10 grams; and 11 ‘‘(iv) any prior designation of an insti- 12 tution as a Center of Excellence for Do- 13 mestic Maritime Workforce Training and 14 Education. 15 ‘‘(B) MATCHING REQUIREMENTS.—A 16 grant awarded under this subsection may not 17 be used to satisfy any private matching require- 18 ment under any other provision of law. 19 ‘‘(6) PUBLIC REPORT.—Not later than Decem- 20 ber 15 in each of the calendar years 2021 through 21 2023, the Secretary shall make available on a pub- 22 lically available website a report and provide a brief- 23 ing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 24 Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 7456 IH Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of 1 Representatives— 2 ‘‘(A) describing each grant awarded under 3 this subsection during the preceding fiscal year; 4 and 5 ‘‘(B) assessing the impact of each award of 6 a grant under this subsection in a fiscal year 7 preceding the fiscal year referred to in subpara- 8 graph (A) on workers receiving training. 9 ‘‘(7) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 10 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 11 this subsection $200,000,000.’’. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jul 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7456.IH H7456 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS