[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1494 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1494

 To direct the Secretary of Defense to review the operation of certain 
         ships during the Vietnam Era, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2013

   Mr. Gibson (for himself, Mr. Connolly, Ms. Norton, Mr. Griffin of 
    Arkansas, Mr. Cicilline, Ms. Kuster, Mr. Stivers, Mr. Brady of 
 Pennsylvania, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Grimm, Mr. Owens, Mrs. McCarthy of 
  New York, Ms. Meng, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Castro of Texas, Mr. Young of 
 Alaska, Mr. Walz, Mr. Poe of Texas, and Mr. Courtney) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, 
and in addition to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, 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 direct the Secretary of Defense to review the operation of certain 
         ships during the Vietnam Era, 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 ``Blue Water Navy Ship Accountability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. REVIEW OF OPERATION OF CERTAIN SHIPS DURING THE VIETNAM ERA.

    (a) Review Required.--By not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall review the 
logs of each ship under the authority of the Secretary of the Navy that 
is known to have operated in the waters near Vietnam during the Vietnam 
Era (as that term is defined in section 101(29) of title 38, United 
States Code) to determine--
            (1) whether each such ship operated in the territorial 
        waters of the Republic of Vietnam during the period beginning 
        on January 9, 1962, and ending on May 7, 1975; and
            (2) for each such ship that so operated--
                    (A) the date or dates when the ship so operated; 
                and
                    (B) the distance from the shore of the location 
                where the ship operated that was the closest proximity 
                to shore.
    (b) Provision of Information to the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs.--Upon a determination that any such ship so operated, the 
Secretary of Defense shall provide such determination, together with 
the information described in subsection (a)(2) about the ship, to the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
    (c) Public Availability of Information.--The Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs shall make publicly available all unclassified information 
provided to the Secretary under subsection (b).
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