00                 CS FOR SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 12(STA)                                                              
01 Requesting that Alaska be exempt from changes to the interpretation of the Passenger                                    
02 Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886, proposed by the United States Department of                                       
03 Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, affecting cruise                                            
04 itineraries of foreign-flagged vessels transporting passengers to ports in Alaska; or, if                               
05 Alaska is not exempted, opposing the proposed changes to the interpretation of that Act.                                
06 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
07       WHEREAS the cruise ship industry is an integral part of the economy of the state;                               
08 and                                                                                                                     
09       WHEREAS the tourism industry in the state thrives when cruise ships land at ports in                            
10 the state; and                                                                                                          
11       WHEREAS about 1,000,000 passengers visited the state by cruise ship during 2007,                                
12 typically calling at three or four ports of call; and                                                                   
13       WHEREAS many of the cruise ships visiting the state travel under foreign flags; and                             
14       WHEREAS these foreign-flagged vessels generally operate as noncoastwise-qualified                               
15 vessels, as defined by the Passenger Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886, as amended (46                               
01 U.S.C. 55103); and                                                                                                      
02       WHEREAS foreign-flagged passenger vessels compete with United States-flagged                                    
03 cruise vessels in the Hawaiian market from mainland United States ports of embarkation; to                              
04 comply with the Act, these foreign-flagged vessels typically call briefly at the port of                                
05 Ensenada, Mexico, often without permitting passengers to disembark; and                                                 
06       WHEREAS, motivated in part by expressions by the United States-flagged cruise                                 
07 vessels operating in the Hawaiian cruise ship market opposing these foreign-flagged cruise                              
08 ship itineraries, the United States Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and                              
09 Border Protection, is proposing to adopt a new interpretive rule that would require stops at an                         
10 intervening foreign port to last at least 48 hours, to spend an amount of time at the foreign                           
11 port that is more than 50 percent of the total amount of time at the United States ports of call,                       
12 and to permit cruise ship passengers to disembark at the foreign port; and                                              
13       WHEREAS it is not clear from the notice and publicity relating to the proposed rule                             
14 change that the rule, if adopted, would be confined in its application to foreign-flagged                               
15 vessels engaged in the Hawaiian cruise ship market; and                                                                 
16       WHEREAS application of the rule to the Alaska market would have devastating                                     
17 economic effects in this state; if applied to Alaska, the proposed revision of the interpretive                         
18 rule would typically allow not more than one stop, or perhaps two brief stops, in ports of call                         
19 in Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, thereby reducing or limiting port calls in some places                            
20 and eliminating them in others; and                                                                                     
21       WHEREAS application of the proposed rule change to the Alaska market would                                      
22 diminish the attractiveness of Alaska as a cruise ship itinerary destination; and                                       
23       WHEREAS application of the proposed rule change to the Alaska market would also                                 
24 significantly and dramatically reduce the shoreside employment and business opportunities in                            
25 the communities in this state in which cruise ships currently call;                                                     
26       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature requests that Alaska be                                        
27 exempted from the proposed changes to the interpretation of the Passenger Vessel Services                               
28 Act of June 19, 1886 (46 U.S.C. 55103), as amended by the United States Department of                                   
29 Homeland Security, Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, that would require                                          
30 nonqualified coastwise vessels to                                                                                       
31            (1)  stop at least 48 hours in a foreign port; and                                                           
01            (2)  spend more than 50 percent of the total time spent in United States ports in                            
02 foreign ports; and be it                                                                                                
03       FURTHER RESOLVED that if Alaska is not exempted from the proposed changes                                       
04 to the interpretation of the Passenger Vessel Services Act of June 19, 1886, that the Alaska                            
05 State Legislature opposes the proposed changes to the interpretation of that Act.                                       
06       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Michael Chertoff, United                               
07 States Secretary of Homeland Security; the Honorable W. Ralph Basham, Commissioner of                                   
08 the United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection; and the Honorable Ted Stevens                                
09 and the Honorable Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S.                                      
10 Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.