[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2256 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2256

  To provide an authorized strength for commissioned officers of the 
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 26, 1998

   Mr. Kerry (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Hollings, and Mr. Stevens) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide an authorized strength for commissioned officers of the 
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps, 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 ``National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration Corps Continuation Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Tracing its roots back to 1807 when President Thomas 
        Jefferson signed a bill for the ``Survey of the Coast'', the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps has 
        served the armed services and the Nation consistently and ably 
        for almost two centuries.
            (2) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        Corps is a dedicated and specialized uniformed officer corps 
        that operates vessels and planes, provides important scientific 
        and technical services, and carries out programmatic 
        responsibilities throughout the National Oceanic and 
        Atmospheric Administration.
            (3) The smallest of the seven uniformed services, the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps grew in 
        size from 275 officers in 1970, the year the National Oceanic 
        and Atmospheric Administration was created, to 411 officers in 
        1994.
            (4) The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 
        Corps has met or exceeded the 1996 National Performance Review 
        recommendation which called for a reduction of 130 officers 
        from the 1994 level.
            (5) Federally-sponsored studies conclude that no immediate 
        or long-term cost savings would be achieved by replacing the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps with a 
comparable civilian entity.
            (6) As a result of the hiring freeze imposed on the 
        National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps, 
        positions necessary to maintain the statutorily mandated 
        operation of the vessel and aircraft fleets of the National 
        Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have not been filled, 
        valuable research work has been delayed, and the hydrography 
        expertise of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
        Administration, that is critical to the international trade of 
        the United States, has been compromised.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZED NUMBER OF COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.

    Section 2 of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Commissioned Officers' 
Act of 1948 (33 U.S.C. 853a) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsections (a) through (e) as 
        subsections (b) through (f), respectively; and
            (2) by inserting before subsection (b), as redesignated, 
        the following:
    ``(a) There are authorized to be not less than 264 and not more 
than 299 commissioned officers on the active list of the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.''.

SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND 
              ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION CORPS.

    Section 24(a) of the Coast and Geodetic Survey Commissioned 
Officers' Act of 1948 (33 U.S.C. 853u(a)) is amended by inserting ``One 
such position shall be the director of the commissioned officers who 
shall be appointed from the officers on the active duty promotion list 
serving in or above the grade of captain, and who shall be responsible 
for administration of the commissioned officers, and for oversight of 
the operation of the vessel and aircraft fleets, of the 
Administration.'' before ``An officer''.

SEC. 5. RELIEF FROM HIRING FREEZE.

    The Secretary of Commerce immediately shall relieve the moratorium 
on new appointments of commissioned officers to the National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration Corps.
                                 <all>