Ocean Energy Safety and Technology Improvement Act of 2013
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Energy.
Ocean Energy Safety and Technology Improvement Act of 2013 - Amends the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, with respect to the consideration of permits for geological explorations and development and production, to allow the Secretary of the Interior to give priority to reviewing and processing plans and applications that use, develop, or demonstrate new safety-enhancing technologies.
Directs the Secretary to establish: (1) a small business innovation research program or technology transfer program, or both, to broaden participation in the development of safer technologies for offshore oil and gas exploration and development; and (2) an Ocean Energy Safety Institute, as a collaborative federally funded research and development center or university-affiliated research center, to enhance safe and responsible operations across the offshore oil and gas industry. Funds operations of the Institute through an annual fee applicable to areas of the outer Continental Shelf subject to an oil or gas lease under which production is not occurring.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on December 16, 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 January 8, 2014: Referred to the Subcommittee on Energy.
- 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?
RUSH HOLT (D-NJ) introduced it on December 16, 2013, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 3 Democrats.
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 December 16, 2013, 4651 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4628 days ago, on January 8, 2014.
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