Bill > HR5991

This bill, the "Close Agency Loopholes to the Jones Act of 2023", seeks to address issues with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) interpretation and enforcement of the Jones Act. The Jones Act, passed in 1920, requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried on U.S.-flagged, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed vessels. The bill aims to preclude CBP from providing exemptions to the Jones Act for foreign vessels engaging in commercial transportation services to support the exploration, development, production, transportation, or transmission of resources, including non-mineral energy resources, on the Outer Continental Shelf. It also clarifies that vessels engaged in commercial research activities to support such offshore activities cannot be designated as oceanographic research vessels exempt from the Jones Act. The bill further directs CBP to revoke or modify certain ruling letters and interpretations that have created "unlawful doctrines" and "invalid exemptions" from the Jones Act, such as the "vessel equipment," "paid out not unladen," "lifting operations," and "pristine seabed" exemptions. It also establishes a process for domestic interested parties to petition CBP for interpretive rulings and contest those rulings. Additionally, the bill includes provisions related to the publication of fines and penalties for Jones Act violations, a prevailing wage requirement for certain foreign-owned offshore facilities, and rulemaking to implement recent changes to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.

Transportation and Infrastructure

https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5991/all-info