[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2784 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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117th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2784
To amend title 46 to establish a grant program for developing,
offering, or improving educational or career training programs for
American workers related to the maritime workforce.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
September 21, 2021
Mr. Wicker (for himself and Mr. Cardin) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 46 to establish a grant program for developing,
offering, or improving educational or career training programs for
American workers related to the maritime workforce.
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 ``Maritime Technological Advancement
Act of 2021''.
SEC. 2. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE FOR DOMESTIC MARITIME WORKFORCE.
Section 51706 of title 46, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ``of Transportation'';
(2) in subsection (b), in the subsection heading, by
striking ``Assistance'' and inserting ``Cooperative
Agreements'';
(3) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d);
(4) in subsection (d), as redesignated by paragraph (2), by
adding at the end the following:
``(3) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary
of Transportation.''; and
(5) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
``(c) Grant Program.--
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Administrator.--The term `Administrator'
means the Administrator of the Maritime Administration.
``(B) Eligible institution.--The term `eligible
institution' means a postsecondary educational
institution (as such term is defined in section 3 of
the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act
of 2006 (20 U.S.C. 2302)) that offers a 2-year program
of study, a 1-year program of training, or is a
postsecondary vocational institution, and that offers
educational or career training programs for American
workers in the United States maritime industry.
``(C) United states maritime industry.--The term
`United States maritime industry' means all segments of
the maritime-related transportation system of the
United States, both in domestic and foreign trade, and
in coastal, offshore, and inland waters, as well as
non-commercial maritime activities, such as pleasure
boating and marine sciences (including all scientific
research vessels), and all of the industries that
support such uses, including vessel construction and
repair, vessel operations, ship logistics supply,
berthing, port operations, port intermodal operations,
marine terminal operations, vessel design, marine
brokerage, marine insurance, marine financing,
chartering, maritime-oriented supply chain operations,
offshore industry, and maritime-oriented research and
development.
``(2) Grant authorization.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of the Maritime Technological
Advancement Act of 2021, the Administrator may award
maritime career training grants to eligible
institutions for the purpose of developing, offering,
or improving educational or career training programs
for American workers related to the maritime workforce.
``(B) Guidelines.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of the Maritime Technological
Advancement Act of 2021, the Administrator shall--
``(i) promulgate guidelines for the
submission of grant proposals under this
subsection; and
``(ii) publish and maintain such guidelines
on the website of the Maritime Administration.
``(3) Limitations.--The Administrator may not award a grant
under this subsection in an amount that is more than
$20,000,000.
``(4) Required information.--
``(A) In general.--An eligible institution that
desires to receive a grant under this subsection shall
submit to the Administrator a grant proposal that
includes a detailed description of--
``(i) the specific project for which the
grant proposal is submitted, including the
manner in which the grant will be used to
develop, offer, or improve an educational or
career training program that is suited to
maritime industry workers;
``(ii) the extent to which the project for
which the grant proposal is submitted will meet
the educational or career training needs of
maritime workers in the community served by the
eligible institution;
``(iii) the extent to which the project for
which the grant proposal is submitted fits
within any overall strategic plan developed by
an eligible community; and
``(iv) any previous experience of the
eligible institution in providing maritime
educational or career training programs.
``(B) Community outreach required.--In order to be
considered by the Administrator, a grant proposal
submitted by an eligible institution under this
subsection shall--
``(i) demonstrate that the eligible
institution--
``(I) reached out to employers to
identify--
``(aa) any shortcomings in
existing maritime educational
and career training
opportunities available to
workers in the community; and
``(bb) any future
employment opportunities within
the community and the
educational and career training
skills required for workers to
meet the future maritime
employment demand; and
``(II) reached out to other
similarly situated institutions in an
effort to benefit from any best
practices that may be shared with
respect to providing maritime
educational or career training programs
to workers eligible for training; and
``(ii) include a detailed description of--
``(I) the extent and outcome of the
outreach conducted under clause (i);
``(II) the extent to which the
project for which the grant proposal is
submitted will contribute to meeting
any shortcomings identified under
clause (i)(I)(aa) or any maritime
educational or career training needs
identified under clause (i)(I)(bb); and
``(III) the extent to which
employers, including small- and medium-
sized firms within the community, have
demonstrated a commitment to employing
workers who would benefit from the
project for which the grant proposal is
submitted.
``(5) Criteria for award of grants.--
``(A) In general.--Subject to the appropriation of
funds, the Administrator shall award a grant under this
subsection based on--
``(i) a determination of the merits of the
grant proposal submitted by the eligible
institution to develop, offer, or improve
maritime educational or career training
programs to be made available to workers;
``(ii) an evaluation of the likely
employment opportunities available to workers
who complete a maritime educational or career
training program that the eligible institution
proposes to develop, offer, or improve;
``(iii) an evaluation of prior demand for
training programs by workers in the community
served by the eligible institution, as well as
the availability and capacity of existing
maritime training programs to meet future
demand for training programs;
``(iv) any prior designation of an
institution as a Center of Excellence for
Domestic Maritime Workforce Training and
Education; and
``(v) an evaluation of the previous
experience of the eligible institution in
providing maritime educational or career
training programs.
``(B) Matching requirements.--A grant awarded under
this subsection may not be used to satisfy any private
matching requirement under any other provision of law.
``(6) Competitive awards.--
``(A) In general.--The Administrator shall award
grants under this subsection to eligible institutions
on a competitive basis in accordance with guidelines
and requirements established by the Administrator under
paragraph (2)(B).
``(B) Timing of grant notice.--The Administrator
shall post a Notice of Funding Opportunity regarding
grants awarded under this subsection not more than 90
days after the date of enactment of the appropriations
Act for the fiscal year concerned.
``(C) Timing of grants.--The Administrator shall
award grants under this subsection not later than 270
days after the date of the enactment of the
appropriations Act for the fiscal year concerned.
``(D) Application of requirements.--The
requirements under subparagraphs (B) and (C) shall not
apply until the guidelines required under paragraph
(2)(B) have been promulgated.
``(E) Reuse of unexpended grant funds.--
Notwithstanding subparagraph (C), amounts awarded as a
grant under this subsection that are not expended by
the grantee shall remain available to the Administrator
for use for grants under this subsection.
``(F) Administrative costs.--Not more than 3
percent of amounts made available to carry out this
subsection may be used for the necessary costs of grant
administration.
``(7) Eligible uses of grant funds.--An eligible
institution receiving a grant under this subsection--
``(A) shall carry out activities that are
identified as priorities for the purpose of developing,
offering, or improving educational or career training
programs for the United States maritime industry
workforce;
``(B) shall provide training to upgrade the skills
of the United States maritime industry workforce,
including training to acquire covered requirements as
well as technical skills training for jobs in the
United States maritime industry; and
``(C) may use the grant funds to--
``(i) admit additional students to maritime
training programs;
``(ii) expand existing or create new
maritime training programs, including through
partnerships with 4-year institutions of higher
education or apprenticeships with the United
States maritime industry;
``(iii) create new maritime career
pathways;
``(iv) expand existing or create new
training programs for transitioning military
veterans to careers in the United States
maritime industry;
``(v) purchase, construct, develop, expand,
or improve training facilities, buildings, and
equipment to deliver maritime training
programs;
``(vi) recruit and train additional faculty
to expand the maritime training programs
offered by the institution;
``(vii) provide financial assistance
through scholarships or tuition waivers, not to
exceed the applicable tuition expenses
associated with the covered programs;
``(viii) promote the use of distance
learning that enables students to take courses
through the use of teleconferencing, the
Internet, and other media technology;
``(ix) assist in providing services to
address maritime workforce recruitment and
training of youth residing in targeted high-
poverty areas within empowerment zones and
enterprise communities;
``(x) implement partnerships with national
and regional organizations with special
expertise in developing, organizing, and
administering maritime workforce recruitment
and training services;
``(xi) design, develop, and test an array
of approaches to providing recruitment,
training, or retention services, to enhance
diversity, equity, and inclusion in the United
States maritime industry workforce;
``(xii) in conjunction with employers,
organized labor, other groups (such as
community coalitions), and Federal, State, or
local agencies, design, develop, and test
various training approaches in order to
determine effective practices; or
``(xiii) assist in the development and
replication of effective service delivery
strategies for the United States maritime
industry as a whole.
``(8) Public report.--Not later than December 15 in each of
the calendar years 2023 through 2025, the Administrator shall
make available on a publicly available website a report and
provide a briefing to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of
Representatives--
``(A) describing each grant awarded under this
subsection during the preceding fiscal year;
``(B) assessing the impact of each award of a grant
under this subsection in a fiscal year preceding the
fiscal year referred to in subparagraph (A) on workers
receiving training; and
``(C) the performance of the grant awarded with
respect to the indicators of performance under section
116(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (29 U.S.C. 3141(b)(2)(A)(i)).
``(9) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this subsection $40,000,000 for
each of the fiscal years 2022 through 2026.''.
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