00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 11                                                                     
01 Requesting the United States Congress to pass legislation that provides a temporary                                     
02 waiver of the Passenger Vessel Services Act to allow cruise ships to sail directly to the                               
03 state from other United States ports.                                                                                   
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
05       WHEREAS Canada has announced it will extend its ban on large cruise ships until at                              
06 least February of 2022; and                                                                                             
07       WHEREAS 46 U.S.C. 55103 (Passenger Vessel Services Act) places restrictions on                                  
08 the transport of passengers by foreign vessels between ports or places in the United States to                          
09 which the coastwise laws apply; and                                                                                     
10       WHEREAS most large cruise ships that sail to the state are foreign flagged ships and                            
11 are required to stop in or depart from a Canadian port before arriving in the state; and                                
12       WHEREAS, because of Canada's ban on large cruise ships, the state faces a second                              
13 season of severely reduced tourism, which has the potential to devastate the already crippled                           
14 tourism industry; and                                                                                                   
15       WHEREAS the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the state's economy,                                         

01 which is already suffering from a recession; and                                                                        
02       WHEREAS the state must do all it can to support the industries that keep its citizens                           
03 employed and help keep the struggling economy afloat; and                                                               
04       WHEREAS the state's leisure and hospitality industry lost more than 15,000 jobs at                              
05 the peak of the summer season compared to the same period in 2019; and                                                  
06 WHEREAS a temporary waiver of the Passenger Vessel Services Act allowing cruise                                       
07 ships to sail to the state from United States west coast ports would help mitigate continued job                        
08 and revenue loss and provide major relief to an industry with an economic impact that spans                             
09 across every region of the state and employs people from Ketchikan to Nome;                                             
10       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the United                               
11 States Congress to pass legislation that provides a temporary waiver of the Passenger Vessel                            
12 Services Act to allow cruise ships to sail directly to the state from other United States ports.                        
13 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, President                                   
14 of the United States; the Honorable Kamala D. Harris, Vice President of the United States and                           
15 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Dan Sullivan,                              
16 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
17 delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 117th United States Congress.