PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 574.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Dec 10, 2009
Amends the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Convention Implementation Act to consider nonfederal service individuals serving as Commissioners on the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean or advisory committee members to be federal employees only for purposes of injury compensation or tort claims liability. (Under current law such individuals are considered federal employees for injury compensation, ethics requirements, and criminal or civil statutes governing federal employees.)
Amends the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006 to: (1) reduce to two the number of individuals appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to serve as scientific experts on the joint technical committee; and (2) consider nonfederal service individuals serving on the the joint management committee, the scientific review group, the joint technical committee, or the advisory panel to be federal employees only for purposes of injury compensation or tort claims liability. (Under current law such individuals are considered federal employees for injury compensation, ethics requirements, and criminal or civil statutes governing federal employees.)
People & committees
Sen. Inouye, Daniel K. [D-HI] · D–HI
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 574.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller without amendment. With written report No. 111-297.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Reported by Senator Rockefeller without amendment. With written report No. 111-297.
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.2871 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.2871 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.2871 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.2871 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.