Vessel Documentation Act

(Measure passed Senate, amended)

=Title I: Vessel Documentation Act= - Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to designate ports of documentation in the United States where vessels may be documented.

Describes the vessels which shall be eligible for documentation. Directs that eligibility shall be based upon weight (minimum of five tons) and ownership by a citizen of the United States, or the Government of the United States or a political subdivision thereof.

Authorizes the Secretary to prescribe the form of filing, the manner of filing, and the information to be contained in applications for certificates of documentation. Requires the Secretary to maintain a numbering system for the identification of documented vessels.

States that a certificate of documentation issued under this Act is: (1) conclusive evidence of nationality for international purposes, but not in any proceeding conducted under the laws of the United States; (2) evidence of qualification to be employed in a specified trade; and (3) not conclusive evidence of ownership in any proceeding in which ownership is in issue.

Authorizes the issuance of a registry for any vessel which is eligible for documentation. States that a registered foreign built vessel may not engage in the coastwise trade, the Great Lakes trade, or the fisheries.

Allows the issuance of a coastwise license or an appropriately endorsed registry for any vessel which: (1) is eligible for documentation; (2) was built in the United States (or was condemned as a prize captured in war); and (3) qualifies under laws of the United States to be employed in the coastwise trade. Directs that only vessels receiving such a license may be employed in coastwise trade and the fisheries.

Establishes similar requirements for the issuance of Great Lakes licenses, fishery licenses, and pleasure vessel licenses.

Prohibits the employment of a vessel in any trade other than a trade covered by the certificate of documentation.

Directs that whenever the owner of a vessel knowingly falsfies or conceals a material fact, or makes a false representation in connection with the documentation of a vessel under this Act, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, that vessel, together with its equipment, is liable to seizure by, and forfeiture to, the United States.

Authorizes the Secretary and the Secretary of State to provide for the issuance of a provisional registry for any vessel procured outside the United States which meets the ownership requirements of this Act.

Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to publish periodically a list of all documented vessels. Authorizes the Secretary to require owners and masters of documented vessels to submit reports to insure compliance with this Act.

Prescribes a civil penalty of $500 for each violation of thisAct. Repeals specified shipping laws so as to conform with this Act.

=Title II: Tonnage Measurement Simplification Act= - Transfers from the Secretary of the Treasure to the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating responsibility for measuring vessels by tonnage before such vessels may be documented.

Requires that a vessel be measured if it engages in international voyage by sea, or it is at least 24 meters in length and is self-propelled.

Directss that a vessel not required to be measured by this Act may be measured if requested by the owner.

Specifies instances in which remeasurement shall be required.

Directs the Secretary to issue such regulations as may be necessary to carry out the required measurement of vessels.

Directs that a vessel measured prior to the effective date of this Act shall be considered as having been measured as required by this Act.

=Title III:= Extends for five years the existing exemption of the Steamboat Delta Queen from certain vessel laws.

Authorizes an appropriation to the Secretary of Transportation for a study of the feasibility of constructing a railroad drawbridge across Coos Bay, Oregon.

Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to transfer, without reimbursement, title and ownership of the ocean tugboat Scotch Cap to the Superior-Douglas County Museum in Superior, Wisconsin, for use solely as a maritime museum.