PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 4, 2015
Ships to be Recycled in the States Act or the STORIS Act
This bill requires the Department of Transportation (DOT), in coordination with the Department of the Navy, to report to Congress on the program for disposal of government-owned merchant vessels as well as on any other disposal of obsolete government-owned vessels.
The Government Accountability Office shall audit all excess federal government vessel sales contracts, including resulting receivables and expenditures, entered into by the Maritime Administration during a specified period.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill repeals authority to scrap any vessel sold from the National Defense Reserve Fleet in an approved foreign market without obtaining additional separate DOT approval to transfer the vessel to a person not a U.S. citizen.
The Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 is amended to revise requirements for the selection of qualified scrapping facilities.
The Toxic Substances Control Act is amended to declare that nothing in the mandate for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) shall be construed to prohibit the dismantling of a vessel or marine structure in order to recycle recovered materials. If PCBs are found or suspected, the person dismantling the vessel or marine structure must comply with specified requirements for informing the EPA and disposing of the PCBs.
The bill repeals authorization for any foreign country to apply for an obsolete vessel to be used for an artificial reef.
The Maritime Administration shall make public on its website the full text of each memorandum of agreement and similar agreement between the Maritime Administration and any other agency, department, or person.
People & committees
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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