[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1344 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1344

To promote research, monitoring, and observation of the Arctic and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2013

  Mr. Begich introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To promote research, monitoring, and observation of the Arctic 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 ``Arctic Research, Monitoring, and 
Observing Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. ARCTIC RESEARCH COMMISSION.

    (a) Duties of the Arctic Research Commission.--Section 104(a) of 
the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4103(a)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``assist in 
        establishing'' and inserting ``establish'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraphs (3) through (10) as 
        paragraphs (4) through (11), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) award--
                    ``(A) grants to Federal, State, local, or tribal 
                governments and academic and private organizations to 
                conduct research on or related to the Arctic, including 
                to the marine environment of the Arctic Ocean, its 
                adjacent seas or associated lesser bodies of water; and
                    ``(B) such grants on the basis of merit in 
                accordance with the national Arctic research program 
                plan;''.
    (b) Administration of the Commission.--Section 106 of the Arctic 
Research and Policy Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4105) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(6) enter into agreements with appropriate agencies or 
        organizations to administer grants made pursuant to this title 
        for Arctic research including reimbursement from funds of the 
        Commission to administer such grants.''.
    (c) Conflicts of Interest; Arctic Research Commission.--Section 103 
of the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (15 U.S.C. 4102) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) Conflict of Interest.--The Commission shall adopt conflict of 
interest and recusal provisions that apply to any decision by the 
Commission and to all members of the Commission as if each member of 
the Commission is an `affected individual' within the meaning of 
section 302(j) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and 
Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1852(j)), except that in addition to the 
disclosure requirements of paragraph (2) of such section 302(j), each 
member of the Commission shall disclose any financial interest or 
relationship in an organization or with an individual that is applying 
for funding from the Commission held by the member of the Commission, 
including an interest as an officer, director, trustee, partner, 
employee, contractor, agent, or other representative.''.

SEC. 3. NORTH PACIFIC RESEARCH BOARD.

    Subsection (e) of section 401 of the Department of the Interior and 
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (43 U.S.C. 1474d(e)) is 
amended by striking paragraph (5) and inserting the following:
            ``(5) The Board may adopt such rules of procedure and 
        establish such committees as it deems necessary to carry out 
        the purposes of this title, including the conduct of 
        administrative duties between meetings.
            ``(6) All decisions of the Board shall be by majority vote 
        of the full board in regular session.
            ``(7) The Board shall adopt conflict of interest and 
        recusal provisions that apply to any decision by the Board and 
        to all members of the Board as if each member of the Board is 
        an `affected individual' within the meaning of section 302(j) 
        of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act 
        (16 U.S.C. 1852(j)), except that in addition to the disclosure 
        requirements of paragraph (2) of such section 302(j), each 
        member of the Board shall disclose any financial interest or 
        relationship in an organization or with an individual that is 
        applying for funding from the Board, including an interest as 
        an officer, director, trustee, partner, employee, contractor, 
        agent, or other representative.
            ``(8) The Secretary of Commerce may accept funds from a 
        source other than the Government of the United States to be 
        used by the Board to carry out the Board's functions.''.
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