prepared without any prior review or approval by any official of the executive branch (other than the members and staff of the Commission). (h) The Commission shall cease to exist 90 days after the date on which the final report of the Commission under subsection (g) is submitted to the President and the Congress. (i) There is authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 1985, 1986, and 1987, a total of $1,500,000 to carry out this section. Any amount appropriated under this subsection shall remain available until September 30, 1987. [§ 1536] PASSENGER VESSELS Public Law 92-296 (86 Stat. 140) [As amended by Public Law 94-536 (90 Stat. 2497) and Public Law 96-111 (93 Stat. 845)] AN ACT To authorize the foreign sale of certain passenger vessels. 86 Stat. 140. eign sale. 75 Stat. 89. 1183. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Certain bled, Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of passenger prior contract with the United States, any vessel here- vessels. Fortofore operated as a passenger vessel, as defined in section 613(a) of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended, under an operating-differential subsidy contract with the United States and now in inactive or layup status, except the steamship Independence and the steamship United States, may be sold and transferred to foreign ownership, registry, and flag, with the prior approval of the Secretary of Transportation. Such approval shall require (1) approval of the purchaser; (2) Approval payment of existing debt and private obligations related conditions. to the vessel; (3) approval of the price, including terms of payment, for the sale of the vessel; (4) the seller to enter into an agreement with the Secretary whereby an amount equal to the net proceeds received from such sale in excess of existing obligations and expenses incident to the sale shall within a reasonable period not to exceed twelve months of receipt be committed and thereafter be used as equity capital for the construction of new vessels which the Secretary determines are built 49 Stat. 1985. to effectuate the purposes and policy of the Merchant 46 App. U.S.C. Marine Act, 1936, as amended; and (5) the purchaser to enter into an agreement with the Secretary, binding upon such purchaser and any later owner of the vessel and running with title to the vessel, that (a) the vessel will not carry passengers or cargo in competition, as determined by the Secretary, with any United States-flag passenger vessel for period of two years from the date the transferred vessel goes into operation; (b) the vessel will be made available to the United States in time of emergency and just compensation for title or use, as the case may be, shall be paid in accordance with section 1245. 902 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended (46 53 Stat. 1255. U.S.C. 1242); (c) the purchaser will comply with such 70 Stat. 985. further conditions as the Secretary may impose as au 40 Stat. 901. 79 Stat. 1305. Surety bond. Agreement thorized by sections 9, 37, and 41 of the Shipping Act, 1916, as amended (46 App. U.S.C. 808, 835, and 839); and (d) the purchaser will furnish a surety bond in an amount and with a surety satisfactory to the Secretary to secure performance of the foregoing agreements. In addition to any other provision such agreements enforcement. may contain for enforcement of (4) and (5) above, the agreements therein required may be specifically enforced by decree for specific performance or injunction in any district court of the United States. In the agreement with the Secretary the purchaser shall irrevocably appoint a corporate agent within the United States for service of process upon such purchaser in any action to enforce the agreement. SS United States, purchase. SEC. 2. The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and directed to purchase the steamship United States, as is, where is, at the depreciated cost of the vessel to the owner, as determined by the Secretary of Commerce, less the unpaid principal and interest on the mortgage on the vessel, for layup in the National Defense Reserve Fleet and operation for the account of any agency or department of the United States during any period in which vessels may be requisitioned under section 902 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, and/or for sale or charter to a qualified operator for operation under the American flag in the coastwise and/or foreign commerce of the United States and/or between foreign ports notwithstanding the provision of section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936: Provided, That for hire carriage in coastwise commerce of the United States is limited to passengers, their accompanying baggage, and one thousand measurement tons of cargo, of forty cubic feet each, per annum in any single coastwise trade: Provided further, That for hire carriage of cargo in excess of the aforesaid one thousand tons shall be unlawful. The depreciated cost of the vessel to the owner shall be computed on the schedule adopted by the Internal Revenue Service for income tax purposes. Such determination shall be final. The Secretary of Commerce shall require the owner of the vessel to agree that it will pay all existing private obligations related to the vessel, and that it will commit an amount equal to the net proceeds received from such sale in excess of existing obligations and expenses incident to the sale, within a reasonable period not to exceed twelve months of receipt, as equity capital for the construction of new vessels which the Secretary determines are built to effectuate the purposes and policy of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, as amended. To revitalize the pleasure cruise industry by clarifying and waiving certain restrictions in the Merchant Marine Act, 1936, and the Merchant Marine Act, 1920, to permit the entry of the steamship vessel United States, steamship vessel Oceanic Independence, steamship vessel Santa Rosa, and the steamship vessels Mariposa and Monterey into the trade. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 506 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1936 (46 App. U.S.C. 1156), section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act, 1920 (46 App. U.S.C. 883), and any other provision of law, the Secretary of the department in which the United States Coast Guard is operating shall cause the vessel Oceanic Independence (official Coast Guard numbered 261147) and the vessel steamship Santa Rosa (official Coast Guard numbered 276598) to be documented as vessels of the United States entitled to engage in the coastwise trade, so long as (1) in the case of the Oceanic Independence (A) the vessel is in compliance with all other requirements for vessels engaging in the coastwise trade, (B) any rebuilding of the vessel or repair work constituting a rebuilding, accomplished after enactment of this Act, shall be effected within the United States, its territories (not including trust territories), or its possessions, except that the vessel shall not lose its coastwise privileges by reason of having work necessary to install bow thrusters in the vessel and to equip it with a marine sewer sanitation system performed outside the United States, its territories (not including the trust territories) or its possessions before the vessel engages in the coastwise trade following enactment of this Act, (C) the vessel is owned by a citizen or citizens of the United States as defined in the applicable laws prescribing the qualifications for vessels to engage in the coastwise trade, and (D) for hire carriage in such trade is limited to passengers, their accompanying baggage, and one thousand measurement tons of cargo, of forty cubic feet each, per annum in any coastwise trade: Provided, That for hire carriage of cargo in excess of the aforesaid one thousand tons shall be unlawful, Nov. 15, 1979 [S. 1281] Steamship vessels, waiv er of trade restrictions. |