[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1717 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1717

To amend title 46, United States Code, to exempt old vessels that only 
   operate within inland waterways from the fire-retardant materials 
   requirement if the owners of such vessels make annual structural 
alterations to at least 10 percent of the areas of the vessels that are 
              not constructed of fire-retardant materials.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              July 8, 2015

 Mr. Brown (for himself, Mr. Portman, Mrs. McCaskill, Mr. Boozman, Mr. 
 Vitter, and Mr. Cotton) introduced the following bill; which was read 
     twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 46, United States Code, to exempt old vessels that only 
   operate within inland waterways from the fire-retardant materials 
   requirement if the owners of such vessels make annual structural 
alterations to at least 10 percent of the areas of the vessels that are 
              not constructed of fire-retardant materials.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FIRE-RETARDANT MATERIALS EXEMPTION.

    Section 3503 of title 46, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), by striking ``2008, this section'' 
        and inserting ``2028, this subsection''; and
            (2) in subsection (b)(1)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A), by 
                striking ``this section'' and inserting ``subsection 
                (a)'';
                    (B) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ``and crew'' 
                after ``prospective passengers'';
                    (C) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``or crew 
                member'' after ``passenger'';
                    (D) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end; and
                    (E) by striking subparagraph (D) and inserting the 
                following:
                    ``(D) the owner or managing operator of the vessel 
                shall--
                            ``(i) make annual structural alterations to 
                        not less than 10 percent of the areas of the 
                        vessel that are not constructed of fire-
                        retardant materials;
                            ``(ii) provide advance notice to the Coast 
                        Guard regarding the alterations made pursuant 
                        to clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) comply with any noncombustible 
                        material requirements prescribed by the Coast 
                        Guard; and
                    ``(E) the requirements referred to in subparagraph 
                (D)(iii) shall, to the extent practicable, be 
                consistent with the preservation of the historic 
                integrity of the vessel in areas carrying or accessible 
                to passengers or generally visible to the public.''.
                                 <all>