Anti-Terrorism and Port Security Act of 2003
Latest action · Jun 25, 2003 Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 5, 2003
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Anti-Terrorism and Port Security Act of 2003 - Amends the Federal criminal code to make it unlawful to: (1) destroy or interfere with vessels or maritime facilities; (2) put devices in U.S. waters that can destroy a ship or cargo or interfere with safe navigation or maritime commerce; (3) use a dangerous weapon or explosive to try to kill someone on board a passenger vessel; (4) fail to heave to (that is, to slow or stop) a vessel at the direction of a Coast Guard or other authorized Federal law enforcement official seeking to board that vessel, or to interfere with boarding by such an officer; (5) destroy an aid to maritime navigation (such as a buoy or shoal/breakwater light) maintained by the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation or the Coast Guard if this would endanger the safe navigation of a vessel; or (6) knowingly discharge or release oil, a hazardous substance, a noxious liquid substance or any other substance (malicious dumping) into U.S. navigable waters or the adjoining shoreline with intent to endanger human life, health, or welfare.
Revises piracy and privateering laws, increasing penalties.
Requires the Attorney General to coordinate port-related crime data collection.
Designates the Captain-of-the-Port as the primary authority for seaport security at each port.
Amends the Tariff Act of 1930 to specify mandatory information in cargo manifests, which must be transmitted electronically. Establishes criminal penalties for violations of requirements, and increases civil penalties.
Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to: (1) develop a shipment profiling plan to track containers (including empty containers) and shipments of merchandise to be imported into the United States; (2) submit to Congress a plan for inspecting merchandise and their transportation containers at foreign facilities before importation into the United States; (3) issue final regulations prescribing seaport security requirements, including unauthorized gun and explosives prohibitions, access restrictions, and specifications for biometric ("smart") identification cards for employees and other personnel; and (4) approve minimum standards for high security container seals meeting specified criteria, and award grants to developers of such seals.
Requires Captains-of-the-Port to secure and protect all sensitive information, including maps, blueprints, and information on the Internet.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 3
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Jun 5, 2003 |
| Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee | Referred Jun 25, 2003 | |
| House | Transportation and Infrastructure Committee | Referred Jun 5, 2003 |
| Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee | Referred Jun 6, 2003 | |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Jun 5, 2003 |
| Trade Subcommittee | Referred Jun 9, 2003 |
Actions 5
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 25, 2003Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
- Jun 9, 2003Referred to the Subcommittee on Trade.
- Jun 6, 2003Referred to the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
- Jun 5, 2003Introduced in House
- Jun 5, 2003Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 746 | Anti-Terrorism and Port Security Act of 2003 | Identical bill | Jul 14, 2003 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To prevent and respond to terrorism and crime at or through ports.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Anti-Terrorism and Port Security Act of 2003
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Transportation and Public Works.
- Administrative procedure
- Alien labor
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Arrest
- Arson
- Assault
- Bombings
- Business records
- Canals
- Capital punishment
- Coast guard
- Commerce
- Common carriers
- Congress
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Conspiracy
- Containerization
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Criminal justice information
- Criminal negligence
- Customs administration
- Data banks
- Department of Homeland Security
- Department of Justice
- Department of Transportation
- Destruction of property
- Driver licenses
- EBB Terrorism
- Electronic data interchange
- Embezzlement
- Emergency Management
- Energy
- Environmental Protection
- Evidence (Law)
- Explosives
- Federal aid to transportation
- Federal law enforcement officers
- Federal-local relations
- Federal-state relations
- Finance and Financial Sector
- Fines (Penalties)
- Foreign Trade and International Finance
- Fraud
- Freight
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Harbors
- Identification devices
- Immigration
- Informers
- International Affairs
- Labor and Employment
- Larceny
- Law
- Liability for environmental damages
- Licenses
- Liens
- Lighting
- Maps
- Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
- Marine pollution
- Marine safety
- Marine terminals
- Merchant seamen
- Merchant ships
- Motor vehicle registration
- Nuclear fuels
- Nuclear terrorism
- Obstruction of justice
- Oil pollution
- Passenger ships
- Prosecution
- Radiation
- Radioactive wastes
- Receiving stolen goods
- Rescue work
- Sabotage
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Searches and seizures
- Security measures
- Sentences (Criminal procedure)
- Sentencing guidelines
- Ships
- St. Lawrence Seaway
- Standards
- Territorial waters
- Terrorism
- Transportation and Public Works
- Transportation of hazardous substances
- U.S. Sentencing Commission
- Violence
- Waste disposal in the ocean
- Weapons
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 5, 2003Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.