I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2429
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to develop and implement a com-
prehensive Campus Modernization Plan for the United States Merchant
Marine Academy, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH27, 2025
Mr. G
ARBARINO(for himself, Ms. GILLEN, Mrs. KIGGANSof Virginia, Mr.
S
UOZZI, and Mr. LALOTA) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Armed Services
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Transportation to develop and
implement a comprehensive Campus Modernization Plan
for the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR 3
UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE ACAD-4
EMY INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES 5
MODERNIZATION. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) The United States Merchant Marine Acad-1
emy plays a critical role in training service-obligated 2
licensed merchant mariners to operate commercial 3
vessels, in peacetime and during times of conflict. 4
(2) The United States Merchant Marine Acad-5
emy is 1 of the 5 Federal service academies and 6
plays a critical role in maintaining a domestic, com-7
mercial maritime industry, with each graduate hav-8
ing a commitment to serve not less than 8 years in 9
the foreign and domestic commerce and the national 10
defense of the United States, which may include 11
service on a merchant vessel documented under 12
chapter 121 of title 46, and graduates make up 13
more than 80 percent of the United States Navy’s 14
Strategic Sealift Officer Program. 15
(3) The United States defense readiness relies 16
on a strong investment in educating and training 17
militarily obligated United States Merchant Marine 18
officers at the United States Merchant Marine Acad-19
emy. 20
(4) Most of the facilities at the United States 21
Merchant Marine Academy date back to the Acad-22
emy’s founding, have not been modernized since, and 23
are not conducive to the immersive training and de-24
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manding coursework today’s Midshipmen are re-1
quired to complete. 2
(5) Rehabilitating and modernizing the campus 3
infrastructure at the United States Merchant Ma-4
rine Academy is necessary to ensuring current and 5
future generations of Midshipmen receive a first- 6
class education. 7
(b) S
ENSE OF THEHOUSE OFREPRESENTATIVES.— 8
It is the sense of the House of Representatives— 9
(1) to ensure that the United States continues 10
to have a sufficient number of service-obligated li-11
censed merchant mariners to meet current and fu-12
ture national security needs, the Maritime Adminis-13
tration and the Department of Transportation have 14
a responsibility to provide suitable academic, train-15
ing, and dormitory facilities at the United States 16
Merchant Marine Academy by rapidly implementing 17
a comprehensive plan for campus-wide moderniza-18
tion in accordance with section 51329 of title 46, 19
United States Code, (referred to in this section as 20
the ‘‘Campus Modernization Plan’’) and providing 21
sufficient accountability and oversight to ensure that 22
milestones in such plan are met; 23
(2) in developing the comprehensive Campus 24
Modernization Plan for the United States Merchant 25
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Marine Academy, the Maritime Administration, and 1
the Department of Transportation should utilize, to 2
the maximum extent practicable, the ‘‘Merchant Ma-3
rine Academy Full Speed Ahead Plan’’ developed by 4
the Maritime Security Infrastructure Council as 5
summarized in the Congressional Record, dated Feb-6
ruary 28, 2024; 7
(3) given the conditions of the United States 8
Merchant Marine Academy as of the date of enact-9
ment of this section, a comprehensive, campus-wide 10
modernization is needed to significantly upgrade or 11
replace facilities throughout the campus; and 12
(4) the Maritime Administration and the De-13
partment of Transportation should identify opportu-14
nities to utilize design-build contracts to increase de-15
livery times and reduce costs. 16
(c) C
AMPUSMODERNIZATIONPLAN.—Chapter 513 17
of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at 18
the end the following: 19
‘‘§ 51329. 10-year campus modernization plan 20
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after 21
the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall 22
develop and begin to implement a comprehensive Campus 23
Modernization Plan (referred to in this section as the 24
‘Campus Modernization Plan’), informed by the ‘United 25
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States Merchant Marine Academy Full Speed Ahead Plan’ 1
developed by the Maritime Security Infrastructure Council 2
as summarized in the Congressional Record, dated Feb-3
ruary 28, 2024, to carry out a campus-wide modernization 4
at the United States Merchant Marine Academy. 5
‘‘(b) O
BJECTIVES.—In carrying out the Campus 6
Modernization Plan, the Administrator shall prioritize the 7
following objectives: 8
‘‘(1) Promoting modern education best prac-9
tices by constructing learning facilities that leverage 10
state-of-the art technologies and learning best prac-11
tices. 12
‘‘(2) Providing Midshipmen with access to fa-13
cilities needed to pass the United States Coast 14
Guard License Exam for Third Mate or Third As-15
sistant Engineer Unlimited. 16
‘‘(3) Ensuring Midshipmen have access to fa-17
cilities sufficient to enable Midshipmen to maintain 18
physical readiness standards required of United 19
States Navy officers. 20
‘‘(4) Developing campus infrastructure to en-21
sure the Academy attracts a diverse pool of appli-22
cants. 23
‘‘(5) Providing facilities that enable industry 24
engagement and continuing education opportunities. 25
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‘‘(6) Maintaining a safe and secure campus en-1
vironment for all Midshipmen, which shall include 2
any facilities or infrastructure needed to meet the 3
requirements of sections 51326, 51327, or 51328. 4
‘‘(7) Implementing, to the extent practicable, 5
the facilities and infrastructure recommendations in 6
chapter 4 of the report titled ‘Organizational Assess-7
ment of the United States Merchant Marine Acad-8
emy: A Path Forward’ issued by the National Acad-9
emy of Public Administration in November 2021. 10
‘‘(c) I
NCLUSIONS.—In meeting the objectives de-11
scribed in subsection (b), the Campus Modernization Plan 12
shall include— 13
‘‘(1) construction of new facilities or significant 14
renovation of existing facilities to provide— 15
‘‘(A) Standards of Training, Certification, 16
and Watchkeeping applications laboratories; 17
‘‘(B) a Safety Of Life At Sea training 18
pool; 19
‘‘(C) engineering powerplant laboratories; 20
‘‘(D) athletic facilities that meet the needs 21
of both male and female students; 22
‘‘(E) enhanced waterfront facilities, to in-23
clude a new pier; 24
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‘‘(F) a visitor welcome center and main 1
campus security office building; 2
‘‘(G) housing facilities for senior staff and 3
faculty; and 4
‘‘(H) sufficient parking facilities for fac-5
ulty, staff, and campus visitors; 6
‘‘(2) upgrades to all classrooms and laboratories 7
with modern information technology infrastructure; 8
‘‘(3) a campus-wide upgrade and retrofit of— 9
‘‘(A) the electric distribution power grid; 10
‘‘(B) the sanitary sewer system piping; 11
‘‘(C) the storm drainage system; and 12
‘‘(D) the drinking water system, including 13
development of a separate and redundant fire 14
suppression system; and 15
‘‘(4) renovations of existing campus facilities to 16
ensure all campus facilities— 17
‘‘(A) are structurally sound; 18
‘‘(B) have reliable heating and air condi-19
tioning systems; 20
‘‘(C) have functioning plumbing and elec-21
trical systems; 22
‘‘(D) are protected from the elements, in-23
cluding through roof replacements and window 24
repairs or replacements, as needed; 25
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‘‘(E) are accessible in accordance with the 1
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and 2
‘‘(F) have working fire alarm and fire sup-3
pression systems. 4
‘‘(d) R
EQUIREMENTS.—For the duration of the Cam-5
pus Modernization Plan, the Administrator shall ensure 6
that the Academy remains fully operational. 7
‘‘(e) U
SE OF AFEDERALCONSTRUCTIONAGENT.— 8
Consistent with the requirements of section 3515(d)(3) of 9
the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act 10
for Fiscal Year 2023 (Public Law 117–263), the Adminis-11
trator shall seek to enter into an agreement with a Federal 12
construction agent to carry out the Campus Modernization 13
Plan authorized under subsection (a). 14
‘‘(f) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 15
are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of 16
Transportation, out of the Maritime Security Trust Fund 17
established under section 9512 of the Internal Revenue 18
Code of 1986, for fiscal years 2026 through 2035, for the 19
phased rehabilitation, modernization, and construction of 20
facilities and infrastructure at the United States Merchant 21
Marine Academy, in accordance with this section, includ-22
ing the Campus Modernization Plan authorized in sub-23
section (a), $1,020,000,000 of which— 24
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‘‘(1) $54,000,000 is authorized to be appro-1
priated for fiscal year 2026 for design and planning 2
purposes, which shall be used for the development of 3
a design-build plan for the phased rehabilitation, 4
modernization, and construction of facilities and in-5
frastructure at the United States Merchant Marine 6
Academy in accordance with the Campus Moderniza-7
tion Plan; and 8
‘‘(2) for fiscal years 2026 through 2035, 9
$107,333,333 is authorized to be appropriated for 10
each fiscal year for construction and contingency 11
purchases necessary to execute the Campus Mod-12
ernization Plan.’’. 13
(d) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The analysis for chap-14
ter 513 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by 15
adding at the end the following: 16
‘‘51329. 10-Year Campus Modernization Plan.’’.
Æ
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