117 S4999 IS: Puerto Rico Recovery Act U.S. Senate 2022-09-28 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II117th CONGRESS2d SessionS. 4999IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESSeptember 28, 2022Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and TransportationA BILLTo provide exemptions from certain Jones Act restrictions to vessels providing disaster relief to Puerto Rico for the areas affected by Hurricane Fiona.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Puerto Rico Recovery Act.

2.

Temporary exemptions from Jones Act restrictions for vessels providing hurricane relief to Puerto Rico

(a)

Temporary exemption for Puerto Rican hurricane relief

(1)

In general

Notwithstanding sections 12112, 12103, and 55102 of title 46, United States Code, the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (referred to in this section as the Secretary) shall exempt a vessel from the requirements of such sections if the Secretary determines that the owner or operator of the vessel has reasonably demonstrated that the exemption is needed to provide disaster relief to Puerto Rico for areas affected by Hurricane Fiona.(2)

Process

(A)

Request

An owner or operator of a vessel may request an exemption under paragraph (1), and the Secretary shall approve or deny the request by not later than 72 hours after the request is made.(B)

Public denial statement

In any case where the Secretary denies an exemption request under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall promptly provide a public, detailed statement regarding the reasoning and analysis for the denial.(C)

Deemed approval

If the Secretary does not approve or deny a request according to the terms of subparagraph (A), the request shall be deemed to be approved.(b)

Period of exemption

An exemption approved under subsection (a) shall be valid until the earlier of—(1)the date that is 1 year after the date on which the exemption was approved; or(2)the date on which the major disaster declared by the President under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121) on September 22, 2022 expires.(c)

Applicability

This section, and any exemption issued under this section, shall cease to have effect on the date described in subsection (b)(2).