“To amend title 46, United States Code, with respect to merchant mariner credential examination working groups, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section revises the Coast Guard working group process for reviewing examinations required for merchant mariner credentials (i.e., licensing exams for personnel serving on U.S.-flag commercial vessels). In subsection (c), it (1) changes the heading to “Working group” and extends the initial convening deadline to 180 days after enactment of the Mariner Exam Modernization Act (from 90 days after enactment of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2016); (2) expands the review scope to questions, content, and relevancy of examinations (from new questions for inclusion); (3) adds to group composition at least two individuals who took and passed the relevant examination within the prior five years; (4) requires annual meetings or upon creation of new questions, whichever sooner, with remote participation permitted; (5) prohibits use of questions for examinations until reviewed and approved by the group; and (6) modifies the baseline review (redesignated as paragraph (5)) to occur not later than 270 days after enactment (from within one year), designates the Commandant (from Secretary) to oversee it, adds consideration of industry standards and practices, relevancy of topics, and redundancy with Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping (STCW) competencies, and requires a report to the Commandant with update recommendations (Thus, the review informs exam improvements to align with current maritime standards.). This section redesignates subsection (d) as (e) and inserts new subsection (d) requiring the Commandant, not later than 270 days after completion of the baseline review, to develop a plan—developed in consultation with the working group and standardized testing experts—to update and modernize the examinations by eliminating or updating outdated topics, modernizing testing procedures, and collecting pass/fail data for analysis. Not later than one year after enactment, the Coast Guard must brief the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on the review and plan.