[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1425 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1425

 To amend the Marine Debris Act to better address severe marine debris 
                    events, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2013

Ms. Bonamici (for herself, Ms. Herrera Beutler, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Smith 
of Washington, Mr. Schrader, Ms. Chu, Mr. Honda, Mr. Farr, Ms. Speier, 
   Mr. Larsen of Washington, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Blumenauer, Ms. Lee of 
California, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. 
Young of Alaska, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Huffman, Mr. Heck of Washington, and 
 Ms. DelBene) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and in addition to the 
    Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Marine Debris Act to better address severe marine debris 
                    events, 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 ``Marine Debris Emergency Act of 
2013''.

SEC. 2. MARINE DEBRIS.

    Section 3 of the Marine Debris Act (33 U.S.C. 1952) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(d) Severe Marine Debris Events.--
            ``(1) Priority consideration and disbursement.--Not later 
        than 60 days after receiving an application for a grant under 
        subsection (c) with respect to a severe marine debris event, 
        the Administrator shall, to the extent feasible--
                    ``(A) approve or disapprove the application; and
                    ``(B) if approving the application, provide the 
                approved grant funds to the grant recipient.
            ``(2) Preference.--In evaluating applications for grants 
        under subsection (c), the Administrator shall give preference 
        to projects that address severe marine debris events, including 
        projects that address a severe marine debris event that has 
        introduced or is likely to introduce marine invasive species to 
        the United States.
            ``(3) Request for a declaration.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Governor of a State may 
                request that the Administrator declare a severe marine 
                debris event, in such State or a region that includes 
                such State, for purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2).
                    ``(B) Response to requests.--Not later than 30 days 
                after receiving a request under subparagraph (A), the 
                Administrator shall either--
                            ``(i) declare a severe marine debris event 
                        with respect to the request; or
                            ``(ii) provide a response to the Governor 
                        who submitted the request, explaining why the 
                        Administrator has not declared a severe marine 
                        debris event with respect to the request.
    ``(e) Guidance.--The Administrator shall take appropriate steps to 
encourage recipients of grants under this section to--
            ``(1) educate staff and volunteers engaged in marine debris 
        response efforts on the potential threats that marine debris 
        and marine invasive species may pose to the United States with 
        respect to living marine resources, the marine environment, 
        navigation, and public health; and
            ``(2) coordinate marine debris response efforts with 
        appropriate Federal, State, and local government and 
        nongovernmental entities.
    ``(f) Marine Invasive Species Defined.--In this section, the term 
`marine invasive species' means a marine nonindigenous species (as 
defined in section 1003 of the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance 
Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (16 U.S.C. 4702)) the introduction 
of which to the United States will, or is likely to--
            ``(1) cause economic or environmental harm;
            ``(2) threaten the diversity or abundance of native species 
        or the ecological stability of infested waters; or
            ``(3) disrupt commercial, agricultural, aquacultural, or 
        recreational activities dependent on infested waters.''.
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