Detailed Summary

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 - <b>Title I: Authorization - </b>(Sec. 101) Authorizes appropriations for FY 2010 for the Coast Guard, including for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, evaluation, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness; (4) retired pay, payments under the Retired Serviceman's Family Protection and Survivor Benefit Plans, and payments for medical care of retired personnel and their dependents; (5) alteration or removal of bridges over navigable waters of the United States constituting obstructions to navigation; (6) environmental compliance and restoration at Coast Guard facilities; and (7) the Coast Guard Reserve program.

(Sec. 102) Authorizes the Coast Guard active duty personnel end-of-year strength and average military training student loads.

<b>Title II: Coast Guard -</b> (Sec. 201) Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) to appoint civilian employees of that department as appellate military judges, available for assignment to the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals.

(Sec. 202) Allows Coast Guard industrial activities to accept orders from and enter into reimbursable agreements with establishments, agencies, and departments of the Department of Defense.

(Sec. 203) Requires reimbursement for medical-related travel expenses for certain persons residing on islands in the continental United States.

(Sec. 204) Revises requirements regarding the number and distribution of commissioned officers on the active duty promotion list.

(Sec. 205) Removes provisions excluding the Coast Guard from provisions relating to Armed Forces Retirement homes. (Authorizes Coast Guard participation in the Armed Forces Retirement Home system.)

(Sec. 206) Authorizes grants to, or cooperative agreements, contracts, or other agreements with, international maritime organizations to acquire information about merchant vessel inspections, security, safety, classification, and port state or flag state law enforcement or oversight.

(Sec. 207) Allows a Coast Guard member who serves on active duty in support of a declaration of a major disaster or emergency by the President under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to retain accumulated leave that otherwise would be forfeited at the end of a fiscal year.

(Sec. 208) Allows Coast Guard members, in their official duties, to carry a firearm and, while at a facility: (1) to make an arrest without a warrant for any offense against the United States committed in their presence; and (2) as otherwise provided by law, to seize property.

(Sec. 209) Repeals a provision requiring that the initial appointment of the Director of the Boating Safety Office be in the grade of captain.

(Sec. 210) Establishes the Merchant Mariner Medical Advisory Committee to advise the Secretary regarding medical certification determinations for issuance of merchant mariner credentials, medical standards and guidelines for the physical qualifications of operators of commercial vessels, medical examiner education, and medical research.

(Sec. 211) Authorizes the appointment of temporary commissioned officers in: (1) the Regular Coast Guard from among holders of merchant seamen licenses (under current law, from among licensed officers of the U.S. merchant marine); and (2) the Coast Guard Reserve from among Coast Guard Reserve commissioned warrant officers.

(Sec. 212) Modifies requirements regarding selection boards.

(Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to test and report to specified congressional committees on an integrated laser engagement system for training Coast Guard members assigned to small vessels in the use of individual weapons and machine guns on those vessels.

(Sec. 214) Allows firing at or into a vessel that fails to stop on being ordered to do so if the firing vessel or aircraft is on government noncommercial service and is under Coast Guard tactical control and at least one Coast Guard member is assigned and conducting a Coast Guard mission on the vessel or aircraft. (Under current law, Coast Guard personnel are indemnified from any penalties or actions for damages for that firing.)

Requires that vessels and aircraft designated by the Secretary (under current law, that Coast Guard vessels and aircraft) be distinguished by an identifying insignia.

(Sec. 215) Requires the Coast Guard Commandant to appoint a Coast Guard employee as an ombudsman in each Coast Guard district to serve as a liaison between the Coast Guard and ports, terminal operators, shipowners, and labor representatives, including examining complaints by a petitioner operating in a port or by Coast Guard personnel.

(Sec. 216) Raises from 62 to 64 the mandatory retirement age for flag officers serving in a grade of rear admiral (lower half) or above. Allows deferral of the mandatory retirement age of any regular commissioned officer serving in a flag officer grade position (under current law, 62): (1) by the Secretary until age 66; and (2) by the President until age 68.

(Sec. 217) Authorizes the Coast Guard to enforce provisions of shipping law relating to the coastwise trade, including regarding vessels that support the exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, or mineral resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Requires a report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 218) Modifies requirements regarding the number and nomination of Coast Guard Academy cadets.

Directs the Secretary to establish a minority recruiting program for prospective cadets.

(Sec. 219) Requires the Commandant to report to specified congressional committees annually on sexual assaults involving members of the Coast Guard.

(Sec. 220) Prohibits a Coast Guard vessel with its home port in a state of the United States or Guam from being overhauled, repaired, or maintained in a shipyard outside the United States or Guam, other than in the case of voyage repairs. (Current law makes no reference to Guam.)

(Sec. 221) Requires the Commandant to establish: (1) a two part management internship program for students at minority serving institutions (MSIs) to develop a cadre of civilian, career mid-level and senior Coast Guard managers; (2) an MSI component of the College Student Pre-Commissioning Initiative; and (3) Coast Guard Laboratory of Excellence-MSI Cooperative Technology Program at three MSIs to focus on priority security areas for the Coast Guard such as global maritime surveillance, resilience, and recovery. Authorizes appropriations.

<b>Title III: Shipping and Navigation - </b>(Sec. 301) Amends the Act commonly known as the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1884 to authorize the levy of nonfederal sales taxes on goods and services provided to or by vessels or watercraft (other than vessels or watercraft primarily engaged in foreign commerce) that operate on U.S. navigable waters.

(Sec. 302) Amends the Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act of 1915 to: (1) increase the civil penalty for an owner of a vessel that violates regulations establishing anchorage grounds for safe navigation in U.S. waters; and (2) extend the Coast Guard's authority to establish anchorage grounds for vessels from three nautical miles to 12 nautical miles.

(Sec. 303) Subjects to a civil penalty any person who knowingly or intentionally possesses a controlled substance on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(Sec. 304) Revises various provisions regarding the measurement of vessels, including changing the definition of &quot;vessel engaged on a foreign voyage&quot; and modifying international tonnage certificate provisions.

(Sec. 305) Authorizes the Secretary to establish a liability limit for a deepwater port used only in connection with natural gas transportation.

(Sec. 306) Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to require a claim to be presented for recovery of removal costs for an incident within three (under current law, six) years after the date of completion of all removal actions for that incident.

(Sec. 307) Directs the Secretary to submit to specified congressional committees: (1) a plan to ensure that the process for an application (by an individual who has, or has applied for, a transportation security card under specified provisions) for a merchant mariner document can be completed entirely by mail; and (2) a report on the redesign of the merchant mariner document.

(Sec. 308) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to report to specified congressional committees on: (1) the loss of U.S. shipyard jobs and industrial base expertise as a result of the performance in foreign shipyards of rebuilding, conversion, and double-hull work on U.S.-flag vessels eligible to engage in the coastwise trade; (2) enforcement of the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination regulations; and (3) recommendations for improving the transparency in the Coast Guard's foreign rebuild determination process.

(Sec. 309) Requires the Commandant to report to specified congressional committees on exhaust emissions reduction technology on cargo or passenger ships in U.S. waters and ports and federal, state, and local requirements that affect the ability to demonstrate onboard technology for the reduction of contaminated emissions from ships.

(Sec. 310) Allows foreign-flag vessels, notwithstanding specified provisions and if insufficient vessels documented under U.S. law are reasonably available and suitable, to be chartered for a limited time for the setting, relocation, or recovery of anchors or other mooring equipment of a mobile offshore drilling unit over the Outer Continental Shelf for operations in support of exploration, or flow-testing and stimulation of wells, for offshore mineral or energy resources in the Beaufort Sea or the Chukchi Sea adjacent to Alaska.

(Sec. 311) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to work through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to establish agreements to promote coordinated action among the United States, Russia, Canada, Iceland, Norway, and Denmark and other seafaring and Arctic nations to ensure, in the Arctic: (1) placement and maintenance of aids to navigation; (2) appropriate icebreaking escort, tug, and salvage capabilities; (3) oil spill prevention and response capability; (4) maritime domain awareness, including long-range vessel tracking; and (5) search and rescue. Authorizes the Secretary of Transportation, subject to appropriations, to enter into cooperative agreements, contracts, or other agreements with, or make grants to, individuals to conduct demonstration projects to reduce emissions or discharges from vessels operating in the Arctic. Authorizes appropriations.

Requires the Commandant to conduct a comparative cost-benefit analysis of: (1) rebuilding, renovating, or improving the existing fleet of Coast Guard icebreakers; (2) constructing new Coast Guard icebreakers; and (3) any combination of those activities. Requires the Commandant to conduct an analysis of the impact on mission capacity and the ability of the United States to maintain a presence in the Arctic regions through the year 2020 if recapitalization of the icebreaker fleet, either by constructing new icebreakers or rebuilding, renovating, or improving the existing fleet of icebreakers, is not fully funded. Requires related reports to Congress.

(Sec. 312) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to establish eLORAN as the supplemental navigation system for the United States and submit a related report to specified congressional committees. Prohibits the Secretary from terminating or decommissioning the LORAN-C program until 30 days after certifying to specified congressional committees that the eLORAN system is operational.

(Sec. 313) Amends the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to require that double hulled bulk oil tankers over 5,000 gross tons be accompanied by at least two towing vessels (or other vessels the Secretary considers appropriate) in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

<b>Title IV: Great Lakes Icebreaker - </b>Great Lakes Icebreaker Replacement Act - (Sec. 403) Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for the design, acquisition, and construction of a combined buoy tender-icebreaker to replace icebreaking capacity on the Great Lakes.

<b>Title V: Acquisition Reform - </b>Coast Guard Acquisition Reform Act of 2009 - <b>Subtitle A: </b><b>Restrictions on the Use of Lead Systems Integrators - </b>(Sec. 511) Prohibits the Commandant from using a private sector entity as a lead systems integrator for acquisition contracts, delivery orders, or task orders issued after the end of the 180 day period beginning on the date of enactment, except for: (1) the National Distress and Response System Modernization Program (also known as the &quot;Rescue 21&quot; program) and National Security Cutters 2 and 3; (2) completing a delivery order or task order, including the exercise of previously established options on a delivery order or task order that was issued to a lead systems integrator on or before the date that is 180 days after the date of enactment without any change in the quantity of capabilities or assets or the specific type of capabilities or assets covered by the order; and (3) subject to requirements, orders for certain aircraft.

Requires the Commandant to notify the appropriate congressional committees (the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate) and provide a written, detailed rationale, if the Commandant determines that the Coast Guard will use a private sector lead systems integrator for an acquisition.

Prohibits financial interests between certain lead systems integrators and subcontractors.

Requires full and open competition for any acquisition contract unless otherwise excepted under federal acquisition laws and regulations.

Terminates, except as provided above, the authority to use a private entity as a lead systems integrator after the earlier of: (1) September 30, 2011; or (2) the date on which the Commandant certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the Coast Guard has sufficient acquisition workforce personnel and expertise to perform the functions and responsibilities of the lead systems integrator in an efficient and cost-effective way.

<b>Subtitle B: </b><b>Coast Guard Acquisition Policy - </b>(Sec. 521) Prohibits the Coast Guard from initiating an acquisition program at Level 1 (life cycle costs over $1 billion, acquisition costs over $300 million, or having special interest as determined by the Coast Guard's Chief Acquisition Officer) or Level 2 (life cycle costs between $300 million and $1 billion or acquisition costs between $100 million and $300 million) unless the Commandant has approved an operational requirement for such acquisition.

(Sec. 522) Requires certain contract terms for an acquisition of a capability or an asset with an expected service life of 10 years and with a total acquisition cost at or above $10 million, including regarding: (1) the conducting by the Commandant or an independent third party of all certifications for an end-state capability or asset; (2) measurements of contractor and subcontractor performance; (3) TEMPEST certification; and (4) Offshore Patrol Cutters. Prohibits any provision for equitable adjustment that differs from the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Regulates program extensions.

(Sec. 523) Requires the Commandant to ensure the development and regular updating of life-cycle cost estimates for each acquisition with a total acquisition cost that equals or exceeds $10 million and with an expected service life of 10 years and, for each Level 1 or Level 2 acquisition program or project, development of an independent life cycle estimate.

(Sec. 524) Requires the Chief Acquisition Officer, for any Level 1 or Level 2 program or project, to approve a Test and Evaluation Master Plan (TEMP). Regulates testing and evaluation.

(Sec. 525) Requires each cutter, other than a National Security Cutter, acquired by the Coast Guard and delivered after enactment of this Act to be classed by the American Bureau of Shipping before final acceptance. Requires testing in accordance with TEMPEST and communication security (COMSEC) standards by an independent third party of all electronics on all aircraft, surface, and shore capabilities and assets that require TEMPEST certification.

Requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees and the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives before the Coast Guard awards any contract or issues any delivery order or task order to strengthen the hull of either of National Security Cutter 1 or 2 to resolve certain structural design and performance issues.

Requires that an independent third party assess: (1) the design and construction of each National Security Cutter, other than National Security Cutters 1, 2, and 3; and (2) before final acceptance, the airworthiness of all Coast Guard aircraft and aircraft engines.

(Sec. 526) Requires a report to the appropriate congressional committees before any Level 1 or Level 2 program or project may begin to obtain any capability or asset or proceed beyond the phase of its development that entails approving the supporting acquisition.

(Sec. 527) Prohibits entering into an undefinitized contractual action unless such action is directly approved by the Coast Guard's Head of Contracting Activity. Defines &quot;undefinitized contractual action,&quot; subject to exception, as a new procurement action for which the contractual terms, specifications, or price are not agreed on before performance is begun under the action. Regulates such actions.

(Sec. 528) Requires the Commandant to issue guidance to ensure that pass-through charges on contracts, subcontracts, delivery orders, and task orders entered into with a private entity acting as a lead systems integrator are not excessive in relation to the cost of the work performed.

(Sec. 529) Prohibits the Coast Guard from acquiring an experimental or technically immature capability or asset or implementing a Level 1 or Level 2 acquisition unless it has conducted an alternatives analysis in the concept and technology development phase.

(Sec. 530) Requires the Commandant to report to the appropriate congressional committees in the event of the breach of an acquisition program baseline for any Level 1 or Level 2 acquisition program by: (1) a likely cost overrun greater than a specified percentage; (2) a likely delay more than a specified period; or (3) an anticipated failure for any individual or class of capabilities or assets to satisfy any key performance threshold or parameter.

(Sec. 531) Requires the Comptroller General of the United States to report to the appropriate congressional committees on the employment during the preceding year by Coast Guard contractors of individuals who were Coast Guard officials in the previous five year period.

(Sec. 532) Requires the Commandant to: (1) make arrangements with the Secretary of Defense for support in the contracting and management of Coast Guard acquisition programs; and (2) seek to make use of contracts of the Department of Defense (DOD) and other appropriate agencies to obtain the best possible price. Requires a related report by the Comptroller General to the appropriate congressional committees.

<b>Subtitle C: </b><b>Coast Guard Personnel - </b>(Sec. 541) Establishes in the Coast Guard a Chief Acquisition Officer.

(Sec. 542) Prohibits assigning an individual as the program manager for a Level 1 or Level 2 acquisition unless the individual holds a Level III acquisition certification as a program manager.

Requires that integrated product teams, and all teams that oversee integrated product teams, be chaired by officers, members, or employees of the Coast Guard.

Requires the Commandant to: (1) establish a management information system capability to improve acquisition workforce management and reporting; and (2) report annually to Congress on the adequacy of the current acquisition workforce to meet the next year's anticipated workload.

Regulates a variety of personnel matters, including regarding: (1) preference for officers or members for acquisition positions; (2) establishment of acquisition management as a core competency; (3) promotion parity; and (4) a balanced workforce with regard to women and members of racial and ethnic minority groups.

Requires the Commandant to: (1) issue guidance on the qualifications, resources, responsibilities, tenure, and accountability of acquisition program managers; and (2) develop a comprehensive strategy for enhancing the role of Coast Guard program managers in developing and carrying out acquisition programs.

(Sec. 543) Requires implementation of a program to recognize excellent performance by individuals and teams comprised of officers, members, and employees of the Coast Guard that contributed to the long-term success of a Coast Guard acquisition program or project. Allows, subject to appropriations, a related cash bonus.

(Sec. 544) Authorizes the Commandant to designate any category of acquisition positions as shortage category positions and to use the authorities in specified existing provisions to recruit and appoint highly qualified persons directly to such positions.

<b>Title VI: Maritime Workforce Development - </b>Maritime Workforce Development Act - (Sec. 602) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a maritime career training loan program.

Requires making maritime career training loans available to eligible students at federal, state, and commercial maritime training institutions, including state maritime academies, and nonprofit training organizations. Makes undergraduate students at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy ineligible for such loans.

Allows loans to a student of up to $15,000 in a calendar year or $60,000 in the aggregate.

Establishes certain student eligibility and loan requirements.

Establishes a revolving loan fund consisting of receipts from the repayment of loans to cover the administrative costs of the program.

Requires a related annual report to specified congressional committees.

Authorizes appropriations for this loan program for FY2010-FY2015.

Requires publication every three years in the Federal Register, and transmission to specified congressional committees, of a plan that describes the demonstration, research, and multistate project priorities of the Department of Transportation (DOT) regarding merchant mariner recruitment, training, and retention for the three-year period following the publication of the plan.

Authorizes the awarding of competitive grants to maritime training institutions to carry out demonstration projects and other eligible projects that implement DOT priorities in a way to address merchant mariner recruitment, training, and retention issues.

Establishes certain grant and project eligibility requirements.

Authorizes appropriations for this grant program for FY2010-FY2015.

<b>Title VII: Coast Guard Modernization - </b>Coast Guard Modernization Act of 2009 - <b>Subtitle A: Coast Guard Leadership - </b> (Sec. 101) Revises provisions concerning the leadership of the Coast Guard, including: (1) allowing more than one admiral; (2) requiring that the Coast Guard Vice Commandant, while so serving, have the rank of admiral; and (3) replacing the current area commanders with vice admirals and revising their responsibilities.

<b>Subtitle B: Marine Safety Administration - </b> (Sec. 721) Requires the Commandant to promote maritime safety according to specified priorities.

(Sec. 722) Requires the Commandant to: (1) designate Coast Guard positions constituting the marine safety workforce; (2) report annually to specified congressional committees on the adequacy of the current marine safety workforce to meet the anticipated workload; and (3) establish a management information system for that workforce.

Requires there to be a chief of marine safety in each Coast Guard sector.

Authorizes the Commandant to establish and operate one or more Centers of Expertise for Marine Safety.

Requires the Commandant, by policy, to establish a program under which a Coast Guard officer, member, or employee may be assigned to a private entity to further Coast Guard interests regarding marine safety, including to train the person. Requires a related annual report to specified congressional committees.

(Sec. 723) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to develop a long-term strategy for improving vessel safety and the safety of individuals on vessels, including annual issuance of a plan and schedule for achieving specified goals.

(Sec. 724) Provides for a principal advisor to the Commandant regarding marine safety.

(Sec. 725) Requires, except for the Commandant, that any individual adjudicating an appeal or waiver of a marine safety decision either have certain training, experience, and qualifications or be advised by a senior staff member who meets those requirements and concurs in the decision on appeal.

(Sec. 726) Requires a marine safety curriculum at the Coast Guard Academy and during other officer accession programs.

(Sec. 727) Requires the Commandant to report to specified congressional committees on the Coast Guard's efforts to recruit and retain civilian marine inspectors and investigators and the impact of such recruitment and retention efforts on Coast Guard organizational performance.

<b>Title VIII: Marine Safety - </b>Maritime Safety Act of 2009 - (Sec. 802) Amends the American Fisheries Act to allow the owner of an eligible vessel, in order to improve vessel safety and operational efficiencies (including fuel efficiency), to rebuild or replace that vessel with a vessel documented with a fishery endorsement.

Authorizes the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to recommend for approval by the Secretary of Commerce conservation and management measures, including size limits and measures to control fishing capacity, to ensure that the effectiveness of fishery management plans of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area or the Gulf of Alaska is not diminished. Establishes special rules, including rules pertaining to vessel size limits, certain catcher vessels, fishery endorsement limitations, and replacement vessels in the Gulf of Alaska.

(Sec. 803) Directs the Commandant to report to specified congressional committees on the efficacy of the Coast Guard's cold weather survival training.

(Sec. 804) Revises safety requirements for uninspected commercial fishing industry vessels, including requiring that such vessels be equipped with equipment to minimize the risk of crew injury during vessel operations. Requires that the individual in charge of a vessel pass a training program that: (1) is based on professional knowledge and skill obtained through sea service and hands-on training; (2) requires an individual to demonstrate the ability to communicate in an emergency situation and understand information found in navigation publications; and (3) recognizes and gives credit for recent past experience in fishing vessel operation. Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to establish a publicly accessible database listing individuals who have successfully completed a training program.

Requires the Secretary to establish: (1) a competitive Fishing Safety Training Grants Program; and (2) a competitive Fishing Safety Research Grant Program. Authorizes appropriations.

Changes the name of the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Safety Advisory Committee to the Commercial Fishing Safety Advisory Committee. Extends the Committee's termination date from September 30, 2010, to September 30, 2020.

Applies existing load line provisions to fishing vessels that are built or undergo major conversion completed after July 1, 2010.

Requires fishing, fish tender, and fish processing vessels, when they meet certain length and other criteria, to meet all survey and classification requirements prescribed by the American Bureau of Shipping or another similarly qualified organization approved by the Secretary. (Under current law, only fish processing vessels are required to meet those requirements.) Directs the Secretary, by 2017, to prescribe an alternative safety compliance program.

(Sec. 805) Authorizes the Secretary to issue regulations requiring a vessel owner or managing operator of a commercial vessel, or the employer of a seaman on that vessel, to maintain records of each individual engaged on the vessel on matters of engagement, discharge, and service, and to make these records available to the individual and the Coast Guard on request. Imposes a civil monetary penalty for violations.

(Sec. 806) Ends the exemption of certain vessels from towing vessel manning requirements. (Under current law, the exemption applies to vessels that are under 200 gross tons, that are engaged in the offshore mineral and oil industry, and that have offshore mineral and oil industry sites or equipment as their ultimate destination or place of departure.)

(Sec. 807) Requires U.S. vessels (except those on a voyage from the United States to Canada) that are subject to inspection to have an official logbook with specified entries.

(Sec. 808) Allows any individual who is authorized to enforce federal shipping law to: (1) remove a vessel's certificate if the vessel is operating in a condition that does not comply with the provisions of the certificate; (2) order the individual in charge of a vessel without a certificate on board to return the vessel to a mooring; and (3) direct an individual in charge of a vessel operated in an unsafe condition to take steps necessary for the safety of individuals on board.

Requires the Secretary to establish vessel equipment standards that are: (1) based on performance using the best available technology economically achievable; and (2) operationally practical. Authorizes the Secretary to certify lifesaving equipment that is not required to be carried on vessels to ensure that such equipment is suitable for its intended purpose.

(Sec. 809) Prohibits the Secretary from approving a survival craft as a safety device unless it ensures that no part of an individual is immersed in water.

(Sec. 810) Applies certain vessel management requirements to a passenger vessel or small passenger vessel that transports more passengers than a number prescribed by the Secretary based on the number of individuals on the vessel that could be killed or injured in a marine casualty.

(Sec. 811) Adds to the list of acts related to marine safety for which a seaman may not be discharged or discriminated against, including that the seaman testified in a maritime safety law enforcement proceeding or cooperated with a safety investigation. Replaces provisions permtting civil actions by a seaman alleging discharge or discrimination with provisions allowing the seaman to use the Department of Labor complaint process used by commercial drivers, railroad workers, and aviation workers.

(Sec. 812) Requires certain new U.S. vessels with a construction contract date after enactment of this Act, or delivered after January 1, 2011, to comply with specified oil fuel tank protection standards.

(Sec. 813) Repeals the requirement of oaths for applicants for a merchant seaman license or certificate of registry and holders of merchant mariners' documents.

(Sec. 814) Allows eight-month advance renewals of merchant mariners' documents, merchant seamen's licenses, and merchant seaman certificates of registry.

(Sec. 815) Prohibits the Secretary from requiring the fingerprinting of an individual for the issuance or renewal of a license, a certificate of registry, or a merchant mariner's document if the individual was fingerprinted on applying for a transportation security card.

(Sec. 816) Authorizes the Secretary to extend the duration of expiring licenses, certificates of registry, and merchant mariner documents for up to one year to enable the Coast Guard to eliminate an applications backlog or in response to a national emergency or natural disaster.

(Sec. 817) Directs the Secretary to develop an interim clearance process for issuance of a merchant mariner document to enable a newly hired seaman to begin working on an offshore supply vessel or towing vessel, provided the seaman does not pose a safety and security risk.

(Sec. 818) Directs the Commandant to report to specified congressional committees regarding the feasibility of: (1) expanding to all Coast Guard processing centers the streamlined evaluation process program that was affiliated with the Coast Guard's Houston Regional Examination Center; (2) simplifying the application process for a license as an officer, staff officer, or operator and for a merchant mariner's document; (3) providing notice to an applicant of the status of the pending application; and (4) ensuring that all information collected regarding applications for new or renewed licenses, merchant mariner documents, and certificates of registry is retained in a secure electronic format.

(Sec. 819) Eliminates the tonnage cap applicable to offshore supply vessels.

(Sec. 820) Authorizes the Coast Guard to require recreational vessels to be equipped with emergency locator beacons. <br>

(Sec. 821) Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to require the installation, maintenance, and use of life preservers and other lifesaving devices for individuals on board uninspected vessels.

(Sec. 822) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Commandant, to study, and report to specified congressional committees on, the use, safety, and performance of blended fuels in marine applications. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 823) Extends through FY2020 the termination date of the Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee, the National Boating Safety Advisory Council, the Houston-Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee, the Lower Mississippi River Waterway Safety Advisory Committee, the Towing Safety Advisory Committee, and the Navigation Safety Advisory Council.

Revises other requirements for the National Boating Safety Advisory Council, the Lower Mississippi River Waterway Safety Advisory Committee, the Towing Safety Advisory Committee, and the Navigation Safety Advisory Council.

<b>Title IX: Cruise Vessel Safety - </b>Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act of 2009 - (Sec. 903) Delineates passenger vessel security and safety requirements concerning: (1) vessel design, equipment, construction, and retrofitting; (2) video surveillance to monitor crime; (3) posting of U.S. embassy locations; (4) maintenance of equipment and medical personnel for sexual assaults on board; (5) confidentiality of sexual assault information; (6) crew access to passenger staterooms; and (7) log book entry and reporting of homicides, suspicious deaths, missing U.S. nationals, kidnapping, assault with serious bodily injury, thefts, and other crimes.

Requires the Secretary of Transportation to maintain on an Internet site a statistical compilation of missing persons and alleged crimes. Requires aggregating by cruise line, with each cruise line identified by name. Requires each cruise line to include on its Internet site a link, available to the public, to the site maintained by the Secretary of Transportation.

Prescribes civil and criminal penalties for violations of the Act.

Requires development of training standards and curricula for the certification of passenger vessel security personnel, crew members, and law enforcement officials on methods for the prevention, detection, evidence preservation, and reporting of criminal activities in the international maritime environment. Prohibits a vessel carrying U.S. citizens from entering a U.S. port unless there is at least one crew member on board who has met such training and certification requirements. Subjects persons who violate such requirements to civil monetary penalties.

(Sec. 904) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to study and report to Congress on the security needs of a passenger vessel depending on the number of passengers on the vessel, with recommendations for security improvements.

<b>Title X: United States Mariner Protection - </b>United States Mariner and Vessel Protection Act of 2009 - (Sec. 1002) Shields an owner, operator, time charterer, master, or mariner who uses, or authorizes the use of, force to defend a vessel of the United States against piracy from liability for any resulting injury to or death of any person participating in the piracy.

(Sec. 1003) Directs the Secretary to work through the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to establish agreements to promote coordinated action among flag states and port states to deter, protect against, and rapidly respond to acts of piracy against the vessels of, and in the waters under the jurisdiction of, those nations, and to ensure limitations on liability similar to those established by this Act.

<b>Title XI: Port Security - </b>(Sec. 1101) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a program to help prevent acts of terrorism and other activities that jeopardize maritime homeland security by seeking the cooperation of the commercial and recreational boating industries and the public to improve awareness of activity in the maritime domain and report suspicious or unusual activity.

(Sec. 1102) Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to report to specified congressional committees and to the Comptroller General after completion of the pilot program (required by existing law) to test the business processes, technology, and operational impacts required to deploy transportation security card readers at secure areas of the marine transportation system. Requires an assessment of that report by the Comptroller General.

(Sec. 1103) Requires the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to report to specified congressional committees on the establishment of Interagency Operational Centers for Port Security required by specified provisions of the SAFE Port Act.

(Sec. 1104) Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to establish at least two maritime security response teams to act as the Coast Guard's rapidly deployable counterterrorism and law enforcement response units that can apply advanced interdiction skills in response to threats of maritime terrorism.

(Sec. 1105) Requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to begin to increase the number of detection canine teams certified by the Coast Guard for maritime-related security by at least 10 canine teams annually through fiscal year 2012 and to encourage owners and operators of port facilities, passenger cruise liners, oceangoing cargo vessels, and other vessels to strengthen security through the use of highly trained detection canine teams. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1106) Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to lend, lease, donate, or otherwise provide equipment, and provide technical training and support, to the owner or operator of a foreign port or facility to assist: (1) in bringing the port or facility into (or exceeding) compliance with applicable International Ship and Port Facility Code standards; and (2) the port or facility in meeting (or exceeding) specified standards.

Modifies requirements regarding port security antiterrorism efforts in ports and facilities in foreign countries and U.S. territories.

(Sec. 1107) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Commandant, to conduct, in the maritime environment, a program for the mobile biometric identification (fingerprint and digital photography images) of suspected individuals, including terrorists, to enhance border security and for other purposes.

Requires a report to specified congressional committees regarding the cost of expanding the Coast Guard's biometric identification capabilities for use by the Coast Guard's Deployable Operations Group, cutters, stations, and other deployable maritime teams and any other appropriate Department of Homeland Security maritime vessels and units.

(Sec. 1108) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to report to specified congressional committees regarding the threat, vulnerability, and consequence of a terrorist attack on gasoline and chemical cargo shipments in port activity areas in the United States.

(Sec. 1109) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a pilot program to test and deploy preventive radiological or nuclear detection equipment on Coast Guard vessels and other locations. Requires that the pilot program leverage existing federal grant funding.

(Sec. 1110) Requires the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees on the effects that the Transportation Worker Identification Card (TWIC) has on companies that employ seasonal employees.

(Sec. 1111) Requires an independent assessment and report to specified congressional committees comparing the safety and security risk associated with vessel-based and facility-based liquefied natural gas regasification processes conducted within three miles from land versus such processes conducted more than three miles from land.

(Sec. 1112) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish procedures providing for an individual who is required to be fingerprinted for purposes of obtaining a transportation security card under specified provisions to be fingerprinted at any facility operated by or under contract with an agency of the Department of Homeland Security that fingerprints the public. Terminates the directive on December 31, 2012.

(Sec. 1113) Requires issuance of a biometric transportation security card to an individual issued a license, certificate of registry, or merchant mariners document, and to an an individual engaged on a towing vessel that pushes, pulls, or hauls alongside a tank vessel, if those individuals are allowed unescorted access to a secure area designated in a vessel security plan, unless an individual poses a security risk. (Current law requires issuance, but makes no reference to unescorted access to a secure area.)

(Sec. 1114) Requires the Comptroller General to report to specified congressional committees regarding methods to conduct a background security investigation of an individual who possesses a biometric identification card that complies with International Labor Convention number 185 that are equivalent to the investigation conducted on individuals applying for a U.S. visa.

(Sec. 1115) Modifies the composition of the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee and extends its termination date to September 30, 2010. Repeals provisions requiring each committee submit to Congress the committee's recommendation regarding whether the committee should be continued beyond the termination date.

(Sec. 1116) Requires each facility security plan approved under specified provisions to provide a system for seamen assigned to a vessel at that facility, pilots, and representatives of seamen's welfare and labor organizations to board and depart the vessel through the facility in a timely manner at no cost to the individual.

(Sec. 1117) Requires the Coast Guard, consistent with other provisions of law, to enforce any security zone established by the Coast Guard around a tanker containing especially hazardous material.

Prohibits any security arrangement approved as part of a facility security plan approved after the date of enactment of this Act to assist in the enforcement of any security zone established by the Coast Guard around a tanker containing an especially hazardous material, or around an especially hazardous material terminal on or adjacent to the navigable waters of the United States and served by tankers carrying especially hazardous materials, from being based on the provision of security by a state or local government unless the state or local government has entered into an arrangement with the terminal operator to provide such services and the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating ensures that the waterborne patrols operated as part of that security arrangement by a state or local government have the training, resources, personnel, equipment, and experience necessary to deter to the maximum extent practicable a transportation security incident.

Prohibits the Secretary from approving a facility security plan for a new especially hazardous material terminal the construction of which is begun after enactment of this Act unless the Coast Guard has available to the sector in which the terminal is located the resources, including state and local government resources, to carry out the navigation and maritime security risk management measures identified by the Coast Guard under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act.

(Sec. 1118) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security, consistent with other provisions of law, to notify the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) whether the waterway to a proposed waterside liquefied natural gas facility is suitable for associated marine traffic. Requires FERC to reply by informing the Secretary of Homeland Security of FERC's action under the Natural Gas Act regarding the proposed facility.

(Sec. 1119) Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to use a secondary authentication system for individuals applying for transportation security cards when fingerprints are not able to be taken or read to enhance transportation security.

(Sec. 1120) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to report to specified congressional committees on the extent to which state and local law enforcement entities are augmenting Coast Guard resources by enforcing Coast Guard-imposed security zones around vessels transiting to, through, or from United States ports and conducting port security patrols.

(Sec. 1121) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to: (1) prepare an assessment of the enrollment sites for transportation security cards, including the feasibility of keeping those enrollment sites open after September 23, 2009, and customer service quality; and (2) develop timelines and benchmarks for implementing the assessment's findings.

<b>Title XII: Alien Smuggling - </b>Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2009 - (Sec. 1203) Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to check against all available terrorist watchlists persons suspected of alien smuggling and smuggled individuals who are interdicted at U.S. land, air, and sea borders.

(Sec. 1204) Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to specify the following criminal penalties for individuals convicted of smuggling unlawful aliens into the United States (applicable to each alien for whom the offense applies): (1) fine and/or up to five years incarceration for smuggling; (2) fine and/or up to one year incarceration for transit of the defendant's spouse, child, sibling, parent, grandparent, or niece or nephew; (3) fine and/or up to 10 years incarceration for recruiting to enter, or harboring or transporting in the United States for profit, commercial advantage, or private financial gain; (4) fine and/or incarceration for 3 to 10 years for a first or second offense of knowingly bringing an illegal alien into the United States for profit, commercial advantage, or private financial gain, or if the offense was committed with the intent or reason to believe that the individual will commit a federal or state offense punishable by more than one year's incarceration, and 5 to 15 years incarceration for any subsequent violation; (5) fine and/or up to 20 years incarceration if the offense results in serious bodily injury or jeopardizes a person's life; (6) fine and/or up to 30 years incarceration if the defendant knew the individual was a terrorist or intended to engage in terrorist activity; (7) fine and/or incarceration for any term of years/or life if the offense involves kidnaping or attempt to kidnap, the conduct required for aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill; and (8) fine and subject to the death penalty or incarceration for any term of years/or life if the offense results in the death of any person.

Grants extraterritorial jurisdiction over such offenses.

Limits a defense of necessity for knowingly bringing an illegal alien into the United States from the high seas.

Exempts from certain of such violations (transporting or harboring in the United States, or recruiting or encouraging to reside in the United States) a bona fide nonprofit, religious organization in the United States (or its agents or officers) that encourages, invites, or enables an alien who is present in the United States to serve as a volunteer minister or missionary for such organization in the United States, provided the minister or missionary has been a member of the denomination for at least one year.

(Sec. 1205) Amends federal criminal law to specify the following maritime penalties (in addition to the current fine/five-year incarceration): (1) fine and/or up to 10 years incarceration for offenses committed in the course of smuggling, trafficking, shipping, stolen property, drug, and other offenses; (2) fine and/or up to 15 years incarceration for offenses resulting in serious bodily injury or transportation under inhumane conditions; or (3) fine and/or incarceration for any term of years or life if the offense results in death or involves kidnaping or attempt to kidnap, the conduct required for aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit such abuse, or an attempt to kill.

Limits a defense of necessity with respect to such maritime enforcement.

Defines &quot;transportation under inhumane conditions&quot; as the transportation of persons in an engine compartment, storage compartment, or other confined space, transportation at an excessive speed, transportation of a number of persons in excess of the rated capacity of the means of transportation, or intentionally grounding a vessel in which persons are being transported.

(Sec. 1206) Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review and amend as appropriate sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to persons convicted of alien smuggling offenses and criminal failure to heave to or obstruction of boarding.

Directs the Commission to consider sentencing enhancements for offenses that: (1) involve a pattern of continued and flagrant violations; (2) are part of an ongoing commercial organization or enterprise; (3) involve aliens who were transported in groups of 10 or more; (4) involve the transportation or abandonment of aliens in a manner that endangered their lives; or (5) involve the facilitation of terrorist activity.

<b>Title XIII: Miscellaneous Provisions - </b>(Sec. 1301) Modifies specifications related to the issuance of a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement for the vessel GALLANT LADY.

(Sec. 1302) Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, notwithstanding specified provisions, to issue a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement for five named and numbered vessels.

(Sec. 1303) Amends the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 to require the National Maritime Enhancement Institute for the Great Lakes region (under current law, the Secretary) to conduct maritime transportation studies of the Great Lakes region. Increases the specific studies included. Authorizes appropriations for FY2010-FY2013.

(Sec. 1304) Directs the Secretary to convey to Nantucket, Massachusetts, the Station Brant Point Boat House located at Coast Guard Station Brant Point, Nantucket, Massachusetts, for use for a public purpose, and to enter into a lease authorizing Nantucket to occupy the land on which the buildings are located.

(Sec. 1305) Caps the total delayed payment of wages (at ten times the unpaid wages that are subject to the claim) in a class action suit by seamen on a passenger vessel capable of carrying over 500 passengers on foreign, intercoastal, and coastwise voyages when payment of wages is not made by specified deadlines without sufficient cause. Regulates other aspects of seamen's wages regarding such vessels.

(Sec. 1306) Modifies provisions relating to vessel manning requirements for fish tender vessels in the Aleutian trade.

(Sec. 1307) Requires the Commandant, on the decommissioning of the Coast Guard Cutter STORIS, to convey the vessel to the USCG Cutter STORIS Museum and Maritime Education Center, LLC, in the state of Alaska, provided certain conditions are met.

(Sec. 1308) Authorizes the Commandant, notwithstanding any other law, to convey to Elizabeth City State University in the state of North Carolina an HU-25 Falcon Jet aircraft under the administrative jurisdiction of the Coast Guard if the Commandant makes specified determinations.

(Sec. 1309) Requires the Commandant, notwithstanding any other law, on the scheduled decommissioning of any Coast Guard 41-foot patrol boat, to give the government of Haiti a right of first refusal for conveyance of that vessel, subject to conditions, including that Haiti use the boat for the Coast Guard of Haiti and make the vessel available to the U.S. government if needed in time of war or national emergency.

(Sec. 1310) Allows foreign-flag vessels, notwithstanding specified provisions and if insufficient vessels documented under U.S. law are reasonably available and suitable, to be chartered for a limited time for the setting, relocation, or recovery of anchors or other mooring equipment of a mobile offshore drilling unit over the Outer Continental Shelf for operations in support of exploration, or flow-testing and stimulation of wells, for offshore mineral or energy resources in the Beaufort Sea or the Chukchi Sea adjacent to Alaska.

(Sec. 1311) Requires the Commandant, through the appropriate Area Committee under specified provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, to prepare a vessel traffic risk assessment for Cook Inlet, Alaska, within one year after enactment of this Act. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1312) Requires the Commandant to study an area commonly identified as Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, located in Buffalo, New York, and report to specified congressional committees on the most cost-effective method for providing shore facilities and the feasibility of consolidating and relocating shore facilities on a portion of the existing site while meeting and expanding Sector Buffalo operational requirements. Requires that the report contain a preliminary plan for the design, engineering, and construction of the proposed project.

(Sec. 1313) Authorizes the Commandant, notwithstanding the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, to convey to the Sheriff's Departments of Coahoma, Warren, and Washington Counties, Mississippi, Coast Guard trailerable boats and any equipment or parts from other Coast Guard vessels that the Commandant determines are excess to the needs of the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security.

(Sec. 1314) Authorizes the Secretary of Homeland Security to station additional Coast Guard assets in the United States Virgin Islands for port security and other associated purposes. Authorizes appropriations for FY2010.

(Sec. 1315) Authorizes a purse seine tuna fishing vessel fishing exclusively for highly migratory species under a fishing license issued under the 1987 Treaty on Fisheries Between the Governments of Certain Pacific Islands States and the Government of the United States of America in the treaty area to engage a non-U.S. citizen as a chief engineer, radio officer, or officer in charge of a deck watch or engineering watch if no U.S. citizens are readily available. Applies that authorization only to vessels that are homeported in American Samoa, Guam, or the Northern Mariana Islands and imposes other restrictions.

(Sec. 1316) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to report to specified congressional committees on the need for additional Coast Guard prevention and response capability in the high latitude regions, including search and rescue, marine pollution response and prevention, fisheries enforcement, and maritime commerce.

(Sec. 1317) Directs the Secretary to study, through the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the need for regional response vessel and salvage capability for the state of Washington Olympic Peninsula coast.

(Sec. 1318) Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to specified congressional committees regarding the proposed construction or alteration of any bridge, drawbridge, or causeway over navigable waters with a channel depth of 25 feet or greater that may impede or obstruct future navigation to or from port facilities.

(Sec. 1319) Prohibits the employer of a seaman from withholding state or local taxes, except by voluntary agreement, if the seaman performs regularly-assigned duties while engaged as a master, officer, or crewman on a vessel operating on navigable waters in two or more states (under current law, the navigable waters of more than one state).

(Sec. 1320) Requires the Commandant, notwithstanding any other law and after the government of Haiti has exercised all of their options under specified provisions of this Act, on the scheduled decommissioning of any Coast Guard 41-foot patrol boat, to give the government of Bermuda a right of first refusal for conveyance of that vessel, subject to conditions, including that Bermuda use the boat for the Coast Guard of Bermuda and make the vessel available to the U.S. government if needed in time of war or national emergency.

(Sec. 1321) Authorizes the Commandant, notwithstanding the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, to convey to the Police Department of Nassau County, New York, two Coast Guard 41-foot patrol boats.

(Sec. 1322) Requires the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to report to specified congressional committees on the public health, safety, and environmental concerns related to the underground petroleum spill on the Brooklyn shoreline of Newtown Creek, New York City, New York, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Authorizes appropriations.

(Sec. 1323) Authorizes the Commandant to convey as federal surplus property real property commonly identified as Coast Guard Station Marquette and Lighthouse Point to the city of Marquette, Michigan. Requires the Coast Guard to perform and bear the cost of environmental remediation required under federal law unless the city agrees to do so.

(Sec. 1324) Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to prepare a mission requirement analysis for the navigable portions of the Rio Grande River, Texas, international water boundary.

(Sec. 1325) Authorizes the Commandant, notwithstanding any other law, to convey, at fair market value, a parcel of about three acres of real property that is under the Coast Guard's administrative control in Cheboygan, Michigan.

Status of the Legislation

Latest Major Action: 10/15/2010: Signed by President.

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