Offshore Energy and Jobs Act
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Offshore Energy and Jobs Act - Title I: Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program Reforms - (Sec. 101) Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to implement a leasing program that includes at least 50% of the available unleased acreage within each outer Continental Shelf (OCS) planning area considered to have the largest undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources, with an emphasis on offering the most geologically prospective parts of the planning area.
(Sec. 102) Instructs the Secretary, in developing a five-year oil and gas leasing program, to determine a specified domestic strategic production goal for the development of oil and natural gas as a result of that program.
(Sec. 103) Requires the Secretary to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a new five-year oil and gas leasing program. (2) conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (3) make replacement lease blocks available in the Virginia lease sale planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production if the Secretary of Defense proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development.
(Sec. 104) Prohibits construction of this Act as authorizing the issuance of a lease under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to any person designated for the imposition of sanctions pursuant to the following:
the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996;
the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability and Divestiture Act of 2010;
the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012;
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 or the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012;
Executive Orders 13622, 13628, or 13645 (Iran sanctions);
Executive Order 13224 (transactions with those who commit or support terrorism);
Executive Order 13338 (Syria sanctions); or
the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003.
Title II: Directing the President to Conduct New OCS Sales in Virginia, South Carolina, and California - (Sec. 201) Instructs the Secretary to: (1) conduct offshore oil and gas Lease Sale 220 within one year after enactment of this Act, and (2) make replacement lease blocks available in the Virginia lease sale planning area that are acceptable for oil and gas exploration and production if the Secretary of Defense (DOD) proposes deferral from a lease offering due to defense-related activities irreconcilable with mineral exploration and development.
The summary continues for 14 more paragraphs. Read it in full on Congress.gov
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on June 28, 2013. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 8, 2013: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
DOC HASTINGS (R-WA) introduced it on June 4, 2013, and 11 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 11 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 4, 2013, 4846 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4812 days ago, on July 8, 2013.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers