Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1994

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Title I: Authorizations

Title II: Personnel Management Improvement

Title III: Navigation Safety and Waterway Services Management

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1994 - Title I: Authorizations - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for FY 1995 for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement of aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, and evaluation of technologies, materials, and human factors relating to improving the performance of the Coast Guard's mission in support of specified activities; (4) retired pay, payments under the Retired Serviceman's Family Protection and Survivor Benefit Plans, and payments for medical care of retired personnel and their dependents; (5) alteration or removal of bridges over navigable waters of the United States constituting obstructions to navigation, and personnel and administrative costs associated with the Bridge Alteration Program; and (6) environmental compliance and restoration at Coast Guard facilities.

(Sec. 102) Authorizes: (1) an end-of-year strength for active duty personnel of 39,000 as of September 30, 1995; (2) specified military training student loads for FY 1995; and (3) appropriations to the Secretary of Transportation for operation and maintenance expenses of Coast Guard drug interdiction activities for FY 1995.

Title II: Personnel Management Improvement - Makes provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1993 regarding homeowners assistance for certain individuals affected by Hurricane Andrew applicable to the military personnel of the Coast Guard who were assigned to, or employed at or in connection with, any Federal facility or installation in the vicinity of Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, subject to specified limitations.

(Sec. 202) Repeals a requirement that, upon approval by the President, the names of officers selected by a board for continuation on active duty shall be promptly disseminated to the Coast Guard at large.

(Sec. 203) Specifies that reserve members ordered to active duty for emergency augmentation of regular forces shall not be counted in computing the authorized strength of members on active duty or members in grade under any law.

(Sec. 204) Authorizes the head of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) to conduct informal investigations of marine casualties, but does not require the Secretary to hold an informal investigation open to the public.

(Sec. 205) Authorizes the Commandant of the Coast Guard to: (1) make child development services available to members and civilian employees of the Coast Guard, and, as remaining space is available, to members of the armed forces and Federal civilian employees; (2) require that fees for such services at Coast Guard child development centers be used only for compensation of center employees directly involved in providing child care, with exceptions; (3) use Department of Defense or other training programs to insure that all child development services providers meet minimum standards; and (4) provide assistance to members and civilian employees of the Coast Guard for obtaining services of qualified family home child development services providers.

Title III: Navigation Safety and Waterway Services Management - Repeals a provision requiring the Secretary to collect and pay to the Treasury the same fees for the inspection of foreign vessels carrying passengers from the United States that a foreign country charges U.S. vessels trading to the ports of that country.

(Sec. 302) Increases civil penalties for violations of provisions regarding documentation of vessels.

Revises Federal provisions to make a vessel and its equipment liable to seizure by, and forfeiture to, the U.S. Government if: (1) the owner of the vessel or a representative or agent of the owner knowingly falsifies or conceals a material fact or makes a false statement or representation about the documentation or in applying for documentation of the vessel; (2) a certificate of documentation is knowingly and fraudulently used for the vessel; (3) the vessel is operated after its endorsement has been denied or revoked; (4) the vessel is employed in a trade without an appropriate trade endorsement; or (5) in the case of a documented vessel with only a recreational endorsement, the vessel is operated other than for pleasure.

Removes specified limitations on the operation of recreational vessels.

(Sec. 304) Directs the Commandant to operate a rescue and patrol vessel on the Mississippi River in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to support Coast Guard rescue, law enforcement, marine safety, marine environmental protection, and port security missions.

(Sec. 305) Directs the Secretary, for purposes of altering the Florida Avenue Bridge in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, to treat the drainage siphon that is adjacent to the bridge as an appurtenance of the bridge.

(Sec. 306) Amends the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1991 to terminate the Houston-Galveston Navigation Safety Advisory Committee and the Lower Mississippi River Waterway Advisory Committee on October 1, 1999.

(Sec. 307) Prohibits the Secretary of Transportation from consolidating the Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices in Galveston and Houston, Texas.

(Sec. 308) Directs the Coast Guard to: (1) transfer to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy $500,000 to continue the oil spill simulator activities at the Academy; and (2) designate the Center for Marine Environmental Protection and Safety at the Massachusetts Marine Academy as a regional facility for the conduct and evaluation of annual response area management team exercises for two response areas in the East Coast.