Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act
Latest action. Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 113-711.
Strengthening Fishing Communities and Increasing Flexibility in Fisheries Management Act - Revises and reauthorizes through FY2018 the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA).
Revises requirements for fishery management plans for overfished fisheries.
Modifies annual catch limit requirements, including by authorizing Regional Fishery Management Councils to consider changes in an ecosystem and the economic needs of the fishing communities when establishing the limits.
Replaces the term “overfished” with “depleted” throughout the MSA to distinguish between fish that are depleted due to fishing and those that are depleted for other reasons.
Requires fishery management plans to include a fishery impact statement to assess, specify, and analyze the likely effects and impacts of the proposed action on the quality of the human environment.
Requires the Secretary of Commerce to issue regulations governing the use of electronic monitoring of fisheries. Authorizes the Secretary to obligate amounts received as fisheries enforcement penalties for collecting information on data-poor fisheries.
Requires the Secretary to publish within a year a plan for implementing the Cooperative Research and Management Program.
Extends the offshore jurisdiction of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama from three miles to nine miles for the recreational management of red snapper.
Specifies the role of the MSA in relationship to certain environmental laws.
Revitalizing the Economy of Fisheries in the Pacific Act or the REFI Pacific Act - Directs the Secretary of Commerce to issue a loan to refinance the existing debt obligation funding the fishing capacity reduction program for the West Coast groundfish fishery implemented under the Department of Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 23, 2014. 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 December 22, 2014: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 113-711.
- 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 May 23, 2014. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 May 23, 2014, 4493 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4280 days ago, on December 22, 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