Senate Committee Reports 2012 Funding Bill, Wants HMTF Dedicated to Harbors
On September 7, 2011, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved and reported the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill (H.R. 2354) for the Army Corp of Engineers, and the Departments of the Interior and Energy. In its report of the bill, the Committee provides potential solutions to using more funds for harbors from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
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(The House passed its own version of H.R. 2354 on July 15, 2011. On July 18, 2011, the bill was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. See ITT's 07/18/11 news, 11071802, for BP summary of the House version of the bill.)
The following are highlights of the bill's provisions for the use of funds from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF)1 as reported within the Senate Appropriations Committee's report of the bill2:
Committee Says Expanding Uses of HMTF Could Rapidly Exhaust Surplus
According to the Committee report, while the Administration is interested in expanding the authorized uses of the HMTF as a part of the FY 2012 budget request, no legislative proposal has been forthcoming. The Committee is concerned that any expansion beyond maintenance of harbors, ports, and waterways would rapidly exhaust the HMTF surplus.
Recommends 2 Legislative Solutions, More Funds for Harbor Projects
The Committee report provides two potential solutions to providing more funding for such maintenance projects. One would be to allow HMTF revenues to flow directly to the projects through a legislated mechanism, without committee appropriation. The second would be for the Administration to increase the amount of funding from the HMTF included in their budget request. This could, if the increase did not result in a corresponding decrease elsewhere in the bill, allow the Committee to dedicate more budget authority to harbor, port, and waterway maintenance projects.
Absent either of these solutions, the Committee reports the bill provides some additional funding for maintenance of projects subject to the HMT, but recognizes that the funding level is insufficient to dredge all eligible projects to their authorized widths and depths.
1The Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) receives its monies from a user fee (the Harbor Maintenance Tax, HMT) collected from shippers that utilize the nation’s coastal ports. The revenues from the fees collected amount to roughly $1.5 billion annually and are deposited into the HMTF, from which Congress appropriates funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out the dredging of harbor channels. Current expenditures for maintenance of commercial waterways and ports average about one-half of the revenue generated, which has led to an HMTF surplus of roughly $6 billion.
2Although the Appropriations Committee's report does not have the statutory force and departments and agencies are not legally bound by their declarations, it does explain congressional intent and frequently has effect because departments and agencies must justify their budget requests annually to the Appropriations Committees.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/16/11 news, 11061614, for BP summary of a representative stating that he was disturbed that Congress has been unable to use all of the HMT revenues for their intended use.
See ITT's Online Archives or 02/18/10 news, 10021815, for BP summary of a Congressional Research Service report, which found that despite a large HMTF surplus, the busiest U.S. harbors are under-maintained. The latest CRS report on HMTF expenditures is available here.)
S. Rept. 112-74 is available here.
H.R. 2354 as reported by the Committee is available here.