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Congress Supports Maritime Heritage Amendments!
e scored a big win recently when the marathon session of the House Armed Services Committee marked up the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. Language to restore the maritime heritage grant program was included in the mark-up of the bill by the Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee, led by Chairman]. Randy Forbes (R-VA) and Ranking Member Joe Courtney (D-CT). The Seapower bill was subsequently adopted by the House Armed Services Committee, supported by its chairman, Mac Thornberry (R-TX), and Ranking Member Adam Smith (D-WA). Also included was an amendment submitted by Rep. Norcross (D-NJ) to require the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to provide detailed reporrs on the ship recycling program, and report on funds for maritime heritage. The amendments are drawn from the STORIS Act (HR 2876), introduced in the House by Rep. Graves (R-LA) in June 2015. STORIS Act co-sponsors include Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Rep. Filemon Vela (D-TX), Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA), Rep. Gene Green (D-TX), Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), Rep . Don Young (R-AK), Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC), and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC). We requested that key provisions of the STORIS Act be submitted as amendments to bills, rather than the entire, and more complex, STORIS Act. This proved to be expedient. Those key provisions were successfully introduced as amendments in both the House and Senate bills. Therefore we are no longer advocating for the STORIS Act. It lives on in these separate amendments in both House and Senate. On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee included language submitted by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) in the Maritime Administration Authorization and Enhancement Act requiring an annual report by MARAD on the vessel disposal program.
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by Dr. Timothy J. Runyan It was adopted by the full Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, chaired by Senator John Thune (R-SD) and Ranking Member Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL). The full committee's approval was given after Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE), chair of the subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security, and Ranking Member Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), authors of the underlying legislation, agreed to its inclusion. The Wicker amendment includes several references to the National Maritime Heritage Act, and asks for reporting on the uses of maritime heritage funds. These are items included in the STORIS Act (S. 1511) that was introduced by Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and cosponsored by Senator Bill Cassidy (RLA). Senator Wicker introduced the amendment after Senators Vitter and Cassidy sent a formal letter to the Senate Commerce Committee requesting its inclusion in the MARAD Authorization and Enhancement Act. We thank all members of the House and Senate for their support! We are especially thankful to Rep. Forbes for his leadership. Next steps-the bills move to the floor for approval, then to the conference of the House and Senate, and then to the president's desk for his signature into law-but only if they are passed at each step of the process. Therefore, it is critical that we continue our advocacy efforts to clear these next hurdles. We need both House and Senate support going forward in the next few months. Our maritime heritage community consists of about 1,000 maritime heritage organizations, mostly non-profit, and spread across forty states and territories. They are place-based-in communities, mainly on our four coasts and inland waters. This includes about 600 maritime museums, 130 historic naval ships, 150 tall ships for sail training and youth programs, 150 historic lighthouses, and
numerous other organizations. These "others" include the National Maritime Historical Society, recipient of a 2016 maritime heritage grant. These valued funds must be matched 1-to-l in cash or in-kind (as must all awards), and will be used to have all past issues of Sea History digitized, indexed, and made available to the public on the NMHS website. Also, the "Sea History for Kids" web pages will be upgraded and enhanced. How did this grant money become available? After an amendment was slipped into the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) diverting promised funding for the National Maritime Heritage Act grant program to the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Maritime Alliance and the maritime heritage community at large stepped up its efforts to encourage MARAD to direct a portion of its profits from recycling mothballed ships to the grant program. With help from our friends in Congress and industry, and the agreement with MARAD, we succeeded in securing about halfthe funds that would have been allocated, according to the National Maritime Heritage Act (1994). This amounts to $7 million that has been transferred to the National Park Service to administer the grant program. So far, about $5.2 million has been awarded in two distributions of $2.6 million each-in April 2015, and April 2016. Going forward, the Maritime Administration recently stated it will provide an additional $5.5 million to fund the National Maritime Heritage grant program. This is just a portion of the $11.6 currently available from ship recycling profits. We strongly support the transfer of the remaining $6.1 million. We are not home yet, but we are partway around the bases to restoring the grant program as created in 1994, which will provide much greater funding. These are critically needed dollars that would fund jobs, including work SEAHISTORY 155, SUMMER2016