“A bill to adjust certain ownership and other requirements for passenger vessels, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section repeals the Passenger Vessel Services Act (PVSA, 46 U.S.C. §55103), which required U.S. citizen ownership and a coastwise endorsement for vessels transporting passengers between U.S. ports or places subject to coastwise laws (with a $300 penalty per passenger landed). It exempts such passenger vessels from (1) documentation eligibility requirements (46 U.S.C. §12103), (2) criteria for coastwise endorsements except as specified (46 U.S.C. §12112(a)), (3) cross-references to the PVSA (46 U.S.C. §12121(b)), and (4) U.S. citizen or resident manning requirements for officers and crew (46 U.S.C. §8103(a)-(b)). The section also makes conforming amendments, including repealing 46 U.S.C. §55104 (prohibiting certain passenger vessel operations) and revising 46 U.S.C. §55121 to apply only to merchandise (consistent with the Jones Act, 46 U.S.C. §55102). (Thus, foreign-flag passenger vessels may transport passengers between U.S. ports without U.S. ownership, build, documentation, endorsement, or specified crewing requirements.)
This section provides a rule of construction stating that the amendments made by this Act do not exempt vessels transporting passengers between U.S. ports or places subject to coastwise laws (i.e., cabotage laws such as the Jones Act)—either directly or via a foreign port—from any other applicable U.S. law except as explicitly provided therein.