I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2500
To amend title 46, United States Code, to assign specified liability to a
person who transfers title of a commercial vessel, or former commercial
vessel, to a transferee for use as a recreational vessel if the transferee
does not have applicable insurance at the time of the transfer and
the vessel sinks, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH31, 2025
Mr. H
ARDERof California (for himself and Mr. GARAMENDI) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary,
for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case
for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
A BILL
To amend title 46, United States Code, to assign specified
liability to a person who transfers title of a commercial
vessel, or former commercial vessel, to a transferee for
use as a recreational vessel if the transferee does not
have applicable insurance at the time of the transfer
and the vessel sinks, 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
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Abandoned Vessel Pre-2
vention Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. LIABILITY FOR SPECIFIED EXPENSES RESULTING 4
FROM SINKING OF CERTAIN DECOMMIS-5
SIONED COMMERCIAL VESSELS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Chapter 301 of title 46, United 7
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-8
lowing new section: 9
‘‘§ 30107. Liability for specified expenses resulting 10
from sinking of certain decommissioned 11
commercial vessels 12
‘‘(a) L
IABILITY FORTRANSFEROR.—Except as pro-13
vided in subsection (b), any person who transfers title of 14
a covered vessel to another for use as a recreational vessel 15
shall be liable for any specified expenses resulting from 16
the vessel sinking on navigable waters of the United 17
States. 18
‘‘(b) E
XCEPTIONS.— 19
‘‘(1) V
ESSEL LENGTH ; VESSEL AGE.—Sub-20
section (a) shall not apply to a vessel less than 35 21
feet in length or fewer than 40 years old. 22
‘‘(2) I
NSURANCE.—Subsection (a) shall not 23
apply to a person who transfers title of a covered 24
vessel to a person who, at the time of the transfer, 25
has insurance— 26
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‘‘(A) applicable to the vessel for the 12- 1
month period beginning on the date of the 2
transfer; and 3
‘‘(B) that, in the case the vessel sinks, cov-4
ers specified expenses. 5
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
‘‘(1) C
OMMERCIAL VESSEL .—The term ‘com-7
mercial vessel’ has the meaning given such term in 8
section 4462(a)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 9
1986 (26 U.S.C. 4462(a)(4)). 10
‘‘(2) C
OVERED VESSEL .—The term ‘covered 11
vessel’ means— 12
‘‘(A) commercial vessel; or 13
‘‘(B) a recreational vessel that was pre-14
viously a commercial vessel. 15
‘‘(3) S
PECIFIED EXPENSES.—The term ‘speci-16
fied expenses’ mean, with respect to a sunken ves-17
sel— 18
‘‘(A) damages attributable to the sinking 19
of the vessel; and 20
‘‘(B) expenses relating to— 21
‘‘(i) removal of the vessel and any de-22
bris; 23
‘‘(ii) clean-up of any pollution attrib-24
utable to the sinking of the vessel; and 25
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‘‘(iii) any shut down of, or repairs or 1
maintenance to, a water intake pump as a 2
result of pollution attributable to the sink-3
ing of the vessel. 4
‘‘(4) R
ECREATIONAL VESSEL .—The term ‘rec-5
reational vessel’ has the meaning given such term in 6
section 2101 of title 46, United States Code.’’. 7
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 8
for chapter 301 of title 46, United States Code, is amend-9
ed by adding at the end the following new item: 10
‘‘30107. Liability for specified expenses resulting from sinking of certain decom-
missioned commercial vessels.’’.
Æ
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