§51707 Merchant Mariner Recruitment, Training, and Retention Strategic Plan

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation, through the Administrator of the Maritime Administration, must publish in the Federal Register a plan no later than one year after this law starts and at least once every five years after that until the rule ends. Each plan must cover the five years after it is published. Each plan must include a strategy for recruiting, training, and keeping U.S. merchant mariners and must list research and demonstration priorities. In making the plan, the Secretary must use current research available when the plan is published and make sure the results will work broadly for U.S. merchant marine workforce development. The Secretary must consult maritime industry representatives, labor organizations, including the Commander of the Transportation Command and the Commander of the Military Sealift Command, and other government and industry stakeholders. Copies of each plan must be sent to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate. The duty to publish plans stops when the Maritime Administration Administrator decides there are enough U.S. mariners for sustained strategic sealift.