00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12                                                                    
01 Opposing proposed changes to the interpretation of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of                                 
02 June 19, 1886, by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of                                          
03 Customs and Border Protection, affecting cruise itineraries of foreign-flagged vessels                                  
04 transporting passengers to ports in Alaska.                                                                             
05 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
06       WHEREAS the cruise ship industry is an integral part of the economy of the state;                               
07 and                                                                                                                     
08       WHEREAS the tourism industry in the state thrives when cruise ships land at ports in                            
09 the state; and                                                                                                          
10       WHEREAS about 1,000,000 passengers visited the state by cruise ship during 2007,                                
11 typically calling at three or four ports of call; and                                                                   
12       WHEREAS many of the cruise ships visiting the state travel under foreign flags; and                             
13       WHEREAS these foreign-flagged vessels generally operate as noncoastwise-qualified                               
14 vessels, as defined by the Passenger Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886, as amended (46                               
15 U.S.C. 55103); and                                                                                                      

01       WHEREAS current regulations adopted to implement and interpret the Act provide                                  
02 that the Act is violated when a noncoastwise-qualified vessel that is a foreign-flagged cruise                          
03 ship transports a passenger on a voyage solely to one or more coastwise ports and the                                   
04 passenger disembarks or goes ashore temporarily at a coastwise port, and when a                                         
05 noncoastwise-qualified vessel transports a passenger on a voyage to one or more coastwise                               
06 ports and a nearby foreign port or ports, but no other foreign port, and the passenger                                  
07 disembarks at a coastwise port other than the port of embarkation, but that there is no                                 
08 violation of the Act when a passenger is on a voyage to one or more coastwise ports and a                               
09 distant foreign port or ports and the passenger disembarks at a coastwise port if the passenger                         
10 has proceeded with the vessel to a distant foreign port; and                                                            
11       WHEREAS foreign-flagged passenger vessels compete with United States-flagged                                    
12 cruise vessels in the Hawaiian market from mainland United States ports of embarkation; to                              
13 comply with the Act, these foreign-flagged vessels typically call briefly at the port of                                
14 Ensenada, Mexico, often without permitting passengers to disembark; and                                                 
15       WHEREAS this competition in the Hawaiian cruise market has generated economic                                   
16 hardship on the operations of coastwise-qualified cruise ship operators in that market; and                             
17       WHEREAS, motivated in part by expressions by the United States-flagged cruise                                 
18 vessels operating in the Hawaiian cruise ship market opposing these foreign-flagged cruise                              
19 ship itineraries, the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and                              
20 Border Protection, is proposing to adopt a new interpretive rule that would require stops at an                         
21 intervening foreign port to last at least 48 hours, to spend an amount of time at the foreign                           
22 port that is more than 50 percent of the total amount of time at the United States ports of call,                       
23 and to permit cruise ship passengers to disembark at the foreign port; and                                              
24       WHEREAS it is not clear from the notice and publicity relating to the proposed rule                             
25 change that the rule, if adopted, would be confined in its application to foreign-flagged                               
26 vessels engaged in the Hawaiian cruise ship market; and                                                                 
27       WHEREAS application of the rule to the Alaska market would have devastating                                     
28 economic effects in the coastal communities of this state; if applied to Alaska, the proposed                           
29 revision of the interpretive rule would typically allow not more than one stop, or perhaps two                          
30 brief stops, in ports of call in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, thereby reducing or limiting                        
31 port calls in some places and eliminating them in others; and                                                           

01       WHEREAS application of the proposed rule change to the Alaska market would                                      
02 diminish the attractiveness of Alaska as a cruise ship itinerary destination; and                                       
03       WHEREAS application of the proposed rule change to the Alaska market would also                                 
04 significantly and dramatically reduce the shoreside employment and business opportunities in                            
05 the communities in this state in which cruise ships currently call;                                                     
06       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature opposes the proposed changes                                   
07 to the interpretation of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886 (46 U.S.C. 55103),                          
08 as amended by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and                                  
09 Border Protection, that would require nonqualified coastwise vessels to                                                 
10            (1)  stop at least 48 hours in a foreign port; and                                                           
11            (2)  spend more than 50 percent of the total time spent in United States ports in                            
12 foreign ports.                                                                                                          
13       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Michael Chertoff, United                               
14 States Secretary of Homeland Security; the Honorable W. Ralph Basham, Commissioner of                                   
15 the United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection; and the Honorable Ted Stevens                                
16 and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                      
17 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.