H.R. 4813

[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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