United States HR 9118: Cruising for Alaska's Workforce Act

Bill Text

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117TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION H. R. 9118
To permit under certain conditions the transportation of passengers between
the State of Alaska and other United States ports on vessels not qualified
to engage in the coastwise trade that transport more than 1,000 pas-
sengers, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 30, 2022
Mrs. PELTOLA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To permit under certain conditions the transportation of
passengers between the State of Alaska and other United
States ports on vessels not qualified to engage in the
coastwise trade that transport more than 1,000 pas-
sengers, 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 ‘‘Cruising for Alaska’s 4
Workforce Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. TRANSPORTATION OF PASSENGERS BETWEEN 1
ALASKA AND OTHER PORTS IN THE UNITED 2
STATES. 3
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 551 of title 46, United 4
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘§ 55124. Transportation of passengers between Alas-7
ka and other ports in the United States 8
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9
‘‘(1) CERTIFICATE.—The term ‘certificate’ 10
means a certificate of financial responsibility for in-11
demnification of passengers for nonperformance of 12
transportation issued by the Federal Maritime Com-13
mission under section 44102 of this title. 14
‘‘(2) PASSENGER VESSEL.—The term ‘pas-15
senger vessel’ means a vessel transporting more than 16
1,000 passengers that is of similar size, or offering 17
similar service, as any other vessel transporting pas-18
sengers under subsection (b). 19
‘‘(b) EXEMPTION.—Except as otherwise provided in 20
this section, a vessel transporting more than 1,000 pas-21
sengers that is not qualified to engage in the coastwise 22
trade may transport passengers between a port in the 23
State of Alaska and another port in the United States, 24
directly or by way of a foreign port. 25
‘‘(c) EXPIRATION OF EXEMPTION.— 26
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‘‘(1) WHEN COASTWISE-QUALIFIED VESSEL OF-1
FERING SERVICE.—On a showing to the Secretary of 2
the department in which the Coast Guard is oper-3
ating, by the vessel owner or charterer, that a 4
United States passenger vessel qualified to engage in 5
the coastwise trade is offering or advertising pas-6
senger service between a port in the State of Alaska 7
and another port in the United States, directly or by 8
way of a foreign port, pursuant to a certificate, the 9
Secretary shall notify the owner or operator of each 10
vessel transporting passengers under subsection (b) 11
to terminate that transportation within 270 days 12
after the Secretary’s notification. Except as provided 13
in subsection (d), the authority to transport pas-14
sengers under subsection (b) and the applicability of 15
subsection (f) shall expire at the end of that 270-day 16
period. 17
‘‘(2) WHEN NON-COASTWISE QUALIFIED VES-18
SEL OFFERING SERVICE.—On a showing to the Sec-19
retary, by the vessel owner or charterer, that a 20
United States passenger vessel not qualified to en-21
gage in the coastwise trade is offering or advertising 22
passenger service between a port in the State of 23
Alaska and another port in the United States, di-24
rectly or by way of a foreign port, pursuant to a cer-25
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tificate, the Secretary shall notify the owner or oper-1
ator of each foreign vessel transporting passengers 2
under subsection (b) to terminate that transpor-3
tation within 270 days after the Secretary’s notifica-4
tion. Except as provided in subsection (d), the au-5
thority of a foreign vessel to transport passengers 6
under subsection (b) and the applicability of sub-7
section (f) shall expire at the end of that 270-day 8
period. 9
‘‘(d) DELAYING EXPIRATION.—If the vessel offering 10
or advertising the service described in subsection (c) has 11
not begun that service within 270 days after the Sec-12
retary’s notification, the expiration provided by subsection 13
(c) is delayed until 90 days after the vessel offering or 14
advertising the service begins that service. 15
‘‘(e) REINSTATEMENT OF EXEMPTION.—If the Sec-16
retary finds that the