Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991 - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, sonar simulators, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, and evaluation; (4) retirement pay and benefits; (5) alteration or removal of bridges; and (6) environmental compliance and restoration. Requires that, of funds authorized for the first two numbered categories, certain amounts be derived from the Oil Spill Liability Fund for implementation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for operating expenses and for the establishment of the National Response System under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

Authorizes, subject to reprogramming procedures: (1) a multiyear lease agreement for a replacement command and control aircraft; and (2) reprogramming from any subaccount of the acquisition, construction, and improvements appropriation.

Mandates use of funds as necessary, to a specified maximum, to begin and pursue renovation to extend the useful life of the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw at least 15 years.

Requires that up to a specified amount of funds authorized for operations and maintenance be used for annual obligations of membership in the International Maritime Organization.

Authorizes the Coast Guard end strength for active duty personnel and the average military training student load.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report to the Congress on the functions, powers, and duties vested in the Secretary and exercised through the Commandant of the Coast Guard that would be transferred to the Secretary of the Navy when the Coast Guard operates as a service of the Navy.

Amends Federal law to: (1) delay the retirement date of Coast Guard real admirals and rear admirals (lower half) who are considered but not continued on active duty; and (2) allow the Coast Guard Commandant, with the approval of the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating, to annually retain on active duty a real admiral or rear admiral (lower half) who would otherwise be retired.

Amends Federal law to modify requirements and procedures regarding enlisted personnel boards and involuntary retirement.

Authorizes the Commandant of the Coast Guard to accept the services of individuals ordered to perform community service by a court.

Authorizes the Commandant to enter into a lease for at least one year to acquire a site at the Massachusetts Military Reservation on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Authorizes the Coast Guard to spend appropriated amounts for the construction and renovation of housing units at the site.

Authorizes the Coast Guard to enter into a lease for at least one year to acquire a site at Charleston, South Carolina, for construction of a permanent air facility.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to submit to specified committees of the Congress a report on Coast Guard housing.

States that the President is not required to submit a two-year budget request for the Coast Guard until the President is required to submit a two-year budget request for the Department of Transportation.

Amends provisions of Federal law to allow the transportation of the baggage and household effects, in connection with a temporary or permanent station change, of cadets and midshipmen.

Modifies requirements regarding: (1) emergency recall of Coast Guard reservists; and (2) recall of retired officers.

Extends the termination date of the Coast Guard's Advisory Committee to the Academy.

Amends the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Act to require every power vessel of twenty meters or over in length (currently, every power vessel of three hundred gross tons and upward) to have a radiotelephone capable of operation from its navigational bridge.

Authorizes a specified vessel to transport a limited number of passengers when the North Carolina Maritime Museum operates the vessel for educational purposes.

Establishes the Houston-Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee and the Lower Mississippi River Waterway Advisory Committee.

Amends provisions of Federal law relating to the use of fire-retardant materials in certain passenger vessels to change from 1993 to 1998 the date on which certain requirements apply to vessels in operation before 1968. Requires the owner or operator of a vessel exempted from such provisions to notify the Coast Guard of structural alterations to the vessel and to comply with any combustible material requirements the Coast Guard prescribes for non-public spaces. Requires Coast Guard requirements for public spaces to be consistent with preservation of the historic integrity of the vessel.

Amends the Inland Navigational Rules Act of 1980 to require a vessel or class of vessels of special construction or purpose to comply with alternative rules when the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating determines that the vessel or class cannot comply fully. (Current law requires such alternative compliance when the vessel or class cannot comply without interfering with the special function.)

Modifies collision avoidance rules regarding vessels whose passage or safe passage is not to be impeded.

Deems the Bordeaux Railroad Bridge of the Cumberland River an unreasonable obstruction to navigation.

Declares the vessel, Sea Falcon, to have been built in 1990, for specified purposes.

Extends the termination date of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council and the Commercial Fishing Industry Vessel Advisory Committee.

Authorizes the conveyance of the Cape May Point Lighthouse to New Jersey.

Transfers the Ship Shoal Lighthouse, Louisiana, to the City of Berwick, Louisiana.

Provides for: (1) the development of a strategy regarding the relocation, ownership, maintenance, operation, and use of Cape Cod Lighthouse in North Truro, Massachusetts, and Sankaty Head Light Station in Nantucket, Massachusetts; and (2) after the completion of such strategy, the conveyance, without consideration, of such Lighthouse and Light Station to one or more Federal, State, or local government agencies or appropriate nonprofit private preservation groups.

Provides for conveyance of: (1) one or both of the Heceta Head Lighthouse and the Cape Blanco Lighthouse to the State of Oregon; (2) the White Island Lighthouse to the State of New Hampshire; and (3) the Portland Head Lighthouse to the Town of Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation to report on the effect of provisions of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 on the safety of vessels used to transport oil and the capability of owners and operators to meet their legal obligations in the event of an oil spill.

Amends provisions of Federal law relating to marine casualties to require, in the case of a marine casualty involving a U.S. citizen on a foreign passenger vehicle that embarks or disembarks passengers in the United States or transports passengers under any air or sea program marketed in the United States, that an investigation be conducted that: (1) is thorough and timely; and (2) makes recommendations to improve safety on passenger vessels.

Declares a portion of the Sacramento River Barge Canal to not be navigable waters for purposes of bridge administration under the General Bridge Act of 1946.

Declares that the Congress commends the Coast Guard for the role it played in the Persian Gulf Conflict.

Declares that the railroad bridge across Wappinger Creek in New York is determined to provide for the reasonable needs of navigation under the General Bridge Act of 1946 and other specified Federal law at the closed position and need not be maintained as a movable structure.

Directs the Secretary of Transportation, through the Secretary of State, to enter into discussions with their appropriate Canadian counterparts regarding improving commercial vessel traffic safety off the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Provides for conveyance of Coast Guard property at Folly Island, South Carolina, to the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission.

Amends the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships to modify requirements regarding reporting of pollution incidents.

Amends Federal law regarding remuneration to salvors of life from salvors of a vessel to require compensation from those who prevent or minimize damage to the environment as well as from the salvors of a vessel or other property.

Authorizes the issuance of a certificate of documentation for employment in coastwise trade for the vessel Mayflower II.

Deems the John F. Limehouse Memorial Bridge across the Atlantic Intracoastal Water in Charleston County, South Carolina, an unreasonable obstruction to navigation.

Mandates a report to specified congressional committees on the adequacy of pre-positioned oil spill response equipment to respond to potential damage caused by spills upriver on the Columbia River.

Authorizes inclusion of Coast Guard military personnel in any program in which the Department of Transportation participates under specified Federal law relating to encouragements to government employees to use public transportation.

Requires the Commandant of the Coast Guard to provide certain information to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New England Division regarding Chatham Harbor, Massachusetts.

Authorizes issuance of certificates of documentation for three specified vessels.

Amends Federal law to increase the limit on the aggregate annual Federal share of awards to National Maritime Enhancement Institutes.

Directs the Secretary of Commerce to acquire space from the Administrator of General Services for the long-term space needs of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the area of Newport News-Norfolk, Virginia, and on Near Island in Kodiak, Alaska. Provides for the transfer of Coast Guard property at Auke Cape, Alaska, to NOAA.

Mandates a report on methods by which Coast Guard enforcement efforts under the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act of 1972 may be enhanced and coordinated with those of NOAA.

Declares described portions of Pelican Island, Texas, which are not submerged to be nonnavigable waters of the United States.

Requires furnishing to payors of a fee on certain recreational vessels a statement that they cannot expect an increase in the quantity, quality, or variety of services they receive from the Coast Guard as a result of the payment.

Declares that the Congress commends the Coast Guard regarding the protection of life and property by certain units.

Establishes the Cooperative Institute of Fisheries Oceanography in NOAA in partnership with Duke University and the Consolidated University of North Carolina. Authorizes appropriations.

Amends the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946 to Direct the Secretary of Transportation to take specified actions to ensure the readiness of vessels in the Ready Reserve Force (RRF) of the National Defense Reserve Fleet. Sets forth requirements regarding contracts for the management of a vessel in the RRF.