Historic Maritime Safety Legislation “Safer Seas Act” Introduced in Full Senate. Bill Now Part of “Must Pass” National Defense Authorization Act & Set to Become Law by End of 2022

New York, NY

By: MLAA

[January 5, 2023 / Edit: The Safer Seas Act was signed into law by President Biden on December 27, 2022 as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023. The full text of the final Safer Seas Act provisions can be found here.]

October 13, 2022

    Historic maritime safety legislation known as the “Safer Seas Act” has been introduced on the Senate floor and appears set to become law by December 31, 2022. 

    On Tuesday October 11 the Senate began deliberations over the Senate version of Congress’ annual defense funding bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The NDAA is “must pass” legislation to fund the U.S. military. 

During Tuesday’s session Senators adopted 75 noncontroversial amendments to their draft bill, including the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022, which cleared the Senate Commerce Committee in September. The Safer Seas Act maritime safety provisions are contained within the Coast Guard Authorization Act, which is now part of the Senate’s NDAA 2023.

The House of Representatives passed its version of the NDAA in July. The version of the NDAA passed by the full House also included the Coast Guard Authorization Act, as well as Safer Seas Act provisions that closely mirror those in the Senate bill.

Jack Reed, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said he is confident that lawmakers will be able to finish work on the NDAA by the end of the 2022, despite a long list of challenges still to be overcome.

Speaking to the Military Times, Senator Reed said, “We’ll get a bill done [by the end of the year]. There’s always some friction, but we will get this bill done. We have to.”

The Safer Seas Act was originally introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Peter DeFazio, and then championed in the Senate by maritime safety crusader Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State.

Work on the Safer Seas Act began following MLAA’s publication of Midshipman-X's bombshell blog post on September 28, 2021. MLAA has since worked with both the House and Senate subcommittees responsible for drafting the maritime safety legislation, and referred more than a dozen brave survivors of maritime sexual abuse to the Senate Commerce Committee staff.

The voices and stories of maritime abuse survivors finally emerging from an industry-wide culture of silencing, coverups, and fear are what have propelled this historic legislation towards what appears to be its now inevitable passage.