Short Sea Shipping Act of 2019

Short Sea Shipping Act of 2019

This bill exempts certain commercial cargo from the harbor maintenance excise tax. The exemption is for commercial cargo, other than bulk cargo, that (1) is loaded at a port in the United States mainland (i.e., the continental United States not including Alaska) and is unloaded at another port in the U.S. mainland after transport solely by coastal route or river, or a port in Canada located in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System; or (2) is loaded at a port in Canada located in the Great Lakes St.. Lawrence Seaway System and is unloaded at a port in the U.S. mainland.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5351 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5351

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 6, 2019

  Mr. Higgins of New York (for himself and Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania) 
 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 2019''.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION OF CERTAIN COMMERCIAL 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) which--
                    ``(A) is loaded at a port in the United States 
                mainland and is unloaded at--
                            ``(i) another port in the United States 
                        mainland after transport solely by coastal 
                        route or river, or
                            ``(ii) a port in Canada located in the 
                        Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, or
                    ``(B) is loaded at a port in Canada located in the 
                Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System and is 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 the enactment of this Act.
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