Short Sea Shipping Act of 2009

Short Sea Shipping Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the harbor maintenance tax commercial cargo (other than bulk cargo) loaded at: (1) a port in the U.S. mainland and unloaded at another such port after transport solely by coastal route or river or unloaded at a port in Canada located in the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System; or (2) such a port in Canada and unloaded at a port in the U.S. mainland.

Defines the "Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System" as the waterway between Duluth, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia, encompassing the five Great Lakes, their connecting channels, and the Saint Lawrence River.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3486 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3486

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt certain shipping 
                    from the harbor maintenance tax.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 31, 2009

   Mr. Higgins (for himself, Mr. McHugh, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. 
Levin, Ms. Slaughter, Mr. Peters, Mrs. Dahlkemper, Mr. LaTourette, Mr. 
 Massa, Mr. Costa, Mr. Kucinich, Mr. Kagen, and Mr. Posey) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
                                 Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exempt certain shipping 
                    from the harbor maintenance tax.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Short Sea Shipping Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN COMMERCIAL AND BULK CARGO FROM THE HARBOR 
              MAINTENANCE TAX.

    (a) In General.--Section 4462 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
is amended by redesignating subsection (i) as subsection (j) and by 
inserting after subsection (h) the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Exemption for Certain Short Sea Shipping Cargo.--
            ``(1) In general.--No tax shall be imposed under section 
        4461(a) with respect to commercial cargo (other than bulk 
        cargo) that is loaded at--
                    ``(A) a port in the United States mainland and 
                unloaded at another port in the United States mainland 
                after transport solely by coastal route or river or 
                unloaded at a port in Canada located in the Great Lakes 
                St. Lawrence Seaway System, or
                    ``(B) a port in Canada located in the Great Lakes 
                St. Lawrence Seaway System and unloaded at a port in 
                the United States mainland.
            ``(2) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) Bulk cargo.--The term `bulk cargo' has the 
                meaning given that term by section 53101(1) of title 
                46, United States Code.
                    ``(B) Great lakes st. lawrence seaway system.--The 
                term `Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System' means the 
                waterway between Duluth, Minnesota, and Nova Scotia, 
                encompassing the 5 Great Lakes, their connecting 
                channels, and the St. Lawrence River.
                    ``(C) United states mainland.--The term `United 
                States mainland' has the meaning given such term in 
                subsection (b)(3).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to port use after the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>