Noncontiguous Disaster Shipping Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4813 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4813

   To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide for a waiver of 
  navigation or vessel-inspection laws in noncontiguous areas upon a 
 declaration of a major disaster or emergency, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 29, 2025

Mr. Moylan (for himself, Mr. Case, Ms. King-Hinds, Mrs. Radewagen, and 
   Mr. Torres of New York) introduced the following bill; which was 
     referred to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 46, United States Code, to provide for a waiver of 
  navigation or vessel-inspection laws in noncontiguous areas upon a 
 declaration of a major disaster or emergency, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Noncontiguous Disaster Shipping 
Act''.

SEC. 2. WAIVER IN A NONCONTIGUOUS AREA.

    Section 501 of title 46, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
        (d) and (e), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(c) In a Noncontiguous Area.--
            ``(1) In general.--Upon a declaration by the President 
        pursuant to section 401 or 501 the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
        Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170; 5191) that 
        a major disaster or emergency exists in a noncontiguous area of 
        the United States, the head of an agency responsible for the 
        administration of the navigation or vessel-inspection laws 
        shall waive compliance with such laws for a vessel transporting 
        cargo to or from the noncontiguous area affected by such major 
        disaster or emergency for the purpose of disaster relief.
            ``(2) Duration of waiver.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Subject to subparagraphs (B) and 
                (C), a waiver issued under this subsection shall be for 
                a period of not more than 10 days.
                    ``(B) Waiver extension.--Upon the termination of a 
                waiver issued under this subsection, the head of the 
                agency referred to in paragraph (1), in consultation 
                with the Governor of the noncontiguous area affected by 
                such major disaster or emergency, may extend the waiver 
                for an additional period of not more than 10 days.
                    ``(C) Aggregate duration.--The aggregate duration 
                of the period of all waivers and extensions of waivers 
                under this subsection with respect to any one major 
                disaster or emergency shall not exceed 45 days.
            ``(3) Notice to congress.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The head of the agency referred 
                to in paragraph (1) shall notify the Committee on 
                Transportation and Infrastructure, the Committee on 
                Armed Services of the House of Representatives and the 
                Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and 
                the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate of the 
                issuance of any waiver of the navigation or vessel-
                inspection laws under this subsection not later than 48 
                hours after such issuance.
                    ``(B) Notification required for extensions.--For 
                the purposes of this paragraph, an extension issued 
                under paragraph (2)(B) shall be treated in the same 
                manner as a waiver issued under this subsection.
            ``(4) Noncontiguous area of the united states defined.--For 
        the purposes of this subsection, the term `noncontiguous area 
        of the United States' means Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 
        Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
        Islands, Hawaii, and Alaska.''.
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