On Tuesday July 21^st 2026, the House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee’s Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation conducted a roundtable, “Intersecting Courses: Maritime Safety Regulation and Technology.” The roundtable featured members of the Coast Guard and industry representatives. During the roundtable, the representatives and panelists discussed balancing safety regulations with national shipbuilding ambitions. The group also contended with the Coast Guard’s ability to meet new national security and modernization priorities while maintaining its domestic maritime safety mission.

There was support on both sides of the aisle for rebuilding the domestic maritime industry with safe and responsible safety regulations. However, Democratic members were more critical of the Trump Administration for Jones Act waivers, citing these as counterintuitive to the goal of making the US industry more competitive. Members and witnesses also discussed efforts to begin to regulate autonomous vessels.

Witness List:

• Rear Admiral David C. Barata, Deputy Commandant for Operations Policy and Capabilities, United States Coast Guard
• Andrew Sargis, Director of Sales for Wendella Tours & Cruises in Chicago, IL and, Chief of Operations of the Chicago Water Taxi
• David Kennedy, Boat Owners Association of The United States
• Dave Marlow, Senior Director of Product Integrity, Brunswick
• Jennifer Carpenter, President and Chief Executive Officer, The American Waterways Operators
• Cameron Humphrey, Director of Government Affairs, Saronic Technologies
• Ken Franke, President, Sportfishing Association of California
• Chris Woodley, United Fishermen of Alaska
• Aaron Smith, President, Offshore Marine Services Association
• Donald F. Josberger, President, International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, AFL-CIO

Support for Domestic Industry Build Out

T&I Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-CA), and Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) spoke in support of the Jones Act, both to support the domestic shipbuilding industry and to ensure that more ships in US waters are held to the safety standards of US shipbuilding. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) said that the current waiver of the Jones Act has been the longest and broadest in history and called on the witnesses to continue to sound the alarm to the Administration about their concerns with the waiver.

Rep. Garamendi also criticized the Trump Administration for stopping implementation of penalties on China under section 301 of the Trade Act to achieve other priorities in negotiations at the expense of the US maritime industry. Rep. Garamendi did speak in support of the Administration’s overall goal of rebuilding the domestic marine industry but was concerned about inconsistency in implementation.

Rep. Garamendi also highlighted the importance of the SHIPS for America Act in providing funding to help replenish the domestic shipbuilding industry at both large and small ports. However, he raised concerns about the Rules Committee removing provisions to support LNG and oil carriers.

The Coast Guard spoke in support of dedicating its assets to military work and utilizing commercial off-the-shelf vessels for other operators. They also emphasized the importance of supporting domestic shipbuilding to achieve this vision.

Woodley said shipbuilding provisions must be tailored to vessels of different sizes and functions. He emphasized the importance of domestic fishing vessel safety and shipbuilding efforts but said that policies must account for the different geographies and scales of fishing operations. He spoke in support of Title 9 provisions in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act providing support for new vessel construction to increase competitiveness of the seafood industry. Rep. Addison McDowell (R-NC) inquired as to why domestic fishing boats are so outdated. According to Woodley, the existing fleet of fishing boats is aging out as it has become increasingly more expensive to build new ships. He said there is a limited number of shipyards and new ships are very technologically sophisticated and emphasized the importance of long-term financing opportunities.

Woodley also said the Coast Guard’s current requirements for ships under 79 feet create an unrealistic safety standard. He called for the reconstitution of the Coast Guard Fishing Advisory Committee to address these issues. Woodley was supportive of safety standards for ships over 79 feet.

Smith called for the establishment of a civilian group within the Coast Guard focused on ensuring regulatory decisions are reflective of national priorities. He said that goals of safety and industry strength are not inherently in conflict, because the Coast Guard can currently develop safety regulations without consideration of their impact on the domestic industry. He said this places US vessels at a disadvantage as they must deal with costly regulatory compliance that non-US vessels are not required to meet. Smith cited the example of $100,000 per vessel camera requirements in the Safer Seas Act for domestic vessels. He called for the same standards to be applied to foreign and domestic vessels operating on US waterways.

Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) asked what is being done to ensure that the regulatory environment does not make it impossible for new domestic vessels to compete with foreign flag vessels. The panelists discussed deregulatory efforts by the Coast Guard. Last year, the Coast Guard met with industry partners and developed a list of 400 regulatory changes to make regulatory improvements without significantly impacting safety. Smith spoke highly of these efforts to level the playing field with foreign vessels but said more work is needed to address unnecessary inspection requirements.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) raised concerns about CVC Policy Letter 202’s classification requirements for inspectors creating unnecessary burdens for shipbuilders to get their vessels inspected and approved as organizations must submit separate applications to approve different functions within a ship, pricing out small operators. The Coast Guard said they are focused on ensuring constructed vehicles are surveyed by the appropriate people and added that the National Association of Maritime Surveyors has been added to the list of organizations that can approve new vessels. They also said that the letter is clarifying existing US code in response to Van Drew’s concerns that the letter is reimposing unauthorized classification requirements.

Alternatively, Rep. Carbajal raised concerns that the Coast Guard is not doing enough to ensure high standards for third party partners of the Coast Guard, citing a 2025 Government Accountability report that found the agency has not appropriately assessed third parties as required in the Hamm Alert Maritime Safety Act. Carpenter said third parties are force multipliers in the Coast Guard and spoke in support of efforts by the Coast Guard to ensure compliance requirements for third parties are not duplicative of existing requirements.

Domestic Security

Chair Ezell inquired into best practices to address the problem of illegal chartering. Barata said the Coast Guard has augmented its investigations into bad actors, including increased collaboration with local law enforcement and the Department of Justice. According to Sargis, many members of the public do not know that not all ships are insured, safe, and staffed by licensed mates and that many times those operating illegal charters are also part of other extreme organized crime activities. He said that while the Coast Guard has been able to implement some surge arrests, there is a need for greater resources for enforcement and a higher penalty on illegal operators to create greater disincentivize. Sargis highlighted the Government Accountability Office’s report on illegal for-hire passenger operations and said he hopes the study results in legislation from Congress to address the current lack of capacity the Coast Guard has to adequately address the problem.

Coast Guard Labor

According to Josberger and Rep. Larsen, the Coast Guard is currently short of 300 inspectors. Rep. Larsen highlighted that without a significant number of inspectors, constructed ships will not be able to carry passengers. According to Barata, to address this the Coast Guard is recruiting already enlisted marine inspectors and incentivizing inspectors to stay in the service longer. Carpenter and Woodley emphasized that both a consistent group of inspectors near where ships are being built will be a continued need for the industry.

Carpenter emphasized that lapses in appropriations create a security concern as they can push workers out of the industry. Kennedy spoke in support of the Pay Our Coast Guard Act to provide paychecks to members during government shutdowns. Josberger also emphasized the importance of ship personnel capacity to promote safe operations and raised concerns about unnecessary paperwork contributing to ship staff fatigue. Baratta shared that the 10% shortage in staffing the Coast Guard was experiencing two years ago has been significantly alleviated through additional recruiting efforts. However, since new crew members are more juniors, the Coast Guard must now focus on developing the new talent base. Rep. Garamendi was more critical of the advancements in Coast Guard recruitment and called for staffing plans from the Coast Guard to ensure that they will be able to fully utilize new funding.

Rep. Van Drew highlighted $500 million in new infrastructure investments that will be delivered to Cape May, where 85% of Coast Guard members train, for new barracks, a new pistol range, and new training areas. Rep. Larsen also called for continued efforts by the Coast Guard to prevent sexual assaults within the maritime industry.

Focus on Safety Mission

Sargis emphasized the importance of prioritizing the Coast Guard’s safety mission as modernization occurs. Rep. Scholten and Rep. Larsen raised concerns about potential closures of search and rescue units across the country and asked how such closures would undermine progress in marine safety. Sargis said there are already cases where local police and fire units are having to fill in for the Coast Guard due to a lack of capacity. He emphasized concerns that the Coast Guard modernization plan is prioritizing resources on military operations over the Coast Guard’s role in ensuring safety on waterways.

Kennedy spoke against the usage of the automatic identification system for enforcement activities, citing that this will undermine trust in a system built to support safety.

Rep. Carbajal asked for a timeline on a final rule on safety management systems for smaller passenger vessels. The Coast Guard could not provide a timeline but pointed to past rulemakings on fire safety and night watch requirements as examples of efforts to enhance small passenger vessel safety. The Coast Guard is pressing forward on the safety management rule, working on establishing programs for companies to institute safety cultures onto their vessels, working on a verifiable process to audit safety culture, and working to make the interim rule on fire suppressants final.

Marlow emphasized the importance of private-public partnerships in ensuring continued safety gains in the recreational boating industry. He specifically called for continued support for the Sportfish Recreation Boating Trust Fund, support for grant programs for education and standard setting for boating, and the reestablishment of the Boating Standards Advisory Committee.

Rep. Larsen also inquired about the Coast Guard’s plan to monitor increased tanker traffic with the construction of a new Canadian Pipeline. Barata said the Coast Guard is tracking the decision but has seen an update to the Joint Pollution Contingency Plan.

Autonomous Vessels Regulation

Chair Mike Ezell (R-MS) spoke in support of the advancement of maritime technologies for vessel use and construction but highlighted that some technologies will make safety issues more complex. Humphrey, representing an autonomous vessel manufacturer, discussed the safety measures undertaken by his company, including remote shut down and collaboration with surrounding operators. However, he emphasized the need for a regulatory framework to reduce uncertainty for autonomous operators. Josberger emphasized the importance of the establishment of pilot programs around autonomous vessels to ensure that standard practices are developed for when incidents occur. He also emphasized the importance of ensuring vessels are operated by US citizens and following Coast Guard standards. He called for the development of a centralized center for excellence for Coast Guard incident response. Rep. Carbajal inquired about the greatest risks to maritime safety from new technologies. Josbeger said the Coast Guard already faces profound challenges with limited resources and said autonomy without experienced personnel on shore and a lookout plan will be a disaster. Rep. Scholten said that no technology is able to replace the role of the Coast Guard in terms of ensuring safety on the seas.

Rep. Webster and Rep. McDowell inquired as to how the Coast Guard is keeping up with evolving technologies. Barata said the Coast Guard is starting to catalogue small autonomous operators and local responses to develop a wider framework for the industry. Rep. Ezell said the Coast Guard cannot wait for the International Maritime Organization to develop standards. Barata agreed and emphasized that the IMO regulations will be only targeted at larger vessels. He said the Coast Guard’s current efforts in information gathering on small vessels will help to inform efforts to address potential challenges of autonomous vessels including more uncertainty and congestion in waterways. The Coast Guard also emphasized efforts to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities for both autonomous and non-autonomous vehicles. Humphrey said there is room for more regulatory updates, including clear operating standards, clear inspections standards, and standards for remote mariners.