Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)
Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014 - Title I: Authorization - (Sec. 101) Authorizes FY2015 appropriations for the Coast Guard for:
operation and maintenance;
the acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft;
the Coast Guard Reserve program;
environmental compliance and restoration of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and facilities;
research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors related to search and rescue, aids to navigation, marine safety, marine environmental protection, enforcement of laws and treaties, ice operations, oceanographic research, and defense readiness; and
alteration or removal of bridges over navigable waters of the United States constituting obstructions to navigation, and for personnel and administrative costs associated with the Alteration of Bridges Program.
(Sec. 102) Authorizes for FY2015 end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 43,000 and military training student loads.
Title II: Coast Guard - (Sec. 201) Reduces from 7,200 to 6,000 the number of commissioned officers on the active duty promotion list, subject to current exceptions.
(Sec. 202) Designates the date on which the term for the Commandant of the Coast Guard begins and ends.
(Sec. 203) Identifies the skills and qualifications necessary for a career as a waterways operations manager or a facility safety and security specialist.
(Sec. 204) Authorizes the Coast Guard’s centers of expertise for prevention and response to conduct experiments and investigate plans, devices, and inventions relating to the performance of Coast Guard functions.
(Sec. 205) Increases the amount of certain fines and penalties for tampering with aids to navigation and making false distress calls.
(Sec. 206) Authorizes the Coast Guard to enter into cooperative agreements with public and private entities and foreign nations for conducting experiments and investigating plans, devices, and inventions relating to the performance of Coast Guard functions. Authorizes the Coast Guard to impose and collect a fee from those entities for expenses incurred in carrying out the agreements.
The summary continues for 93 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 without amendment" stage on December 3, 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 4, 2014: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- 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?
Duncan Hunter (R-CA) introduced it on December 1, 2014, and 3 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 2 Democrats, 1 Republican.
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 1, 2014, 4301 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4298 days ago, on December 4, 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