SENATE DOCKET, NO. 617        FILED ON: 1/13/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 980

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to port security.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. There is hereby established a Special Commission for the Licensing of Docking Pilots, whose purpose shall be the development of regulations for the licensure and oversight of individuals engaged in the docking of vessels in Pilot District 1 in the Commonwealth, as defined in Section 1 of Chapter 103 of the General Laws.

For the purposes of this act, a “docking pilot” shall be defined as an individual who facilitates the docking, undocking, and maneuvering of ocean-going ships through the direction and control of the ship being docked, undocked or maneuvered and one or more assisting vessels such as tugboats.

The commission shall be established within the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, and shall be chaired by the Secretary of Public Safety and Security or his designee. There shall be six additional members of the commission, to be appointed by the Security as follows: one member who shall be a member of the Boston Harbor Docking Pilots; one member who shall be a harbor pilot commissioned pursuant to Chapter 103 of the General Laws, one member who shall be a pilot commissioner in District One, the Director of the Department of Environmental Police or his designee, and two members who shall represent the interests of those operating ships which utilize the services of docking pilots in District One; provided, that the latter two members be selected from separate lists prepared by the Boston Marine Society and the Boston Harbor Docking Pilots, each of whom shall prepare a list for the Secretary containing the names of three potential members for the Commission, from which the Secretary shall select one name from each list; provided, that said lists shall be provided to the Secretary within 15 days of the Secretary’s request for said lists.

The Commission shall develop regulations for the licensure of docking pilots in District One, and shall take into account both the type and level of United States Coast Guard licensure and/or certification and the type and amount of experience as a docking pilot, as they are necessary to the licensure of such pilots. Said regulations shall provide for the exemption from licensing requirements of pilots currently docking and undocking ocean-going ships in District One, subject to such other regulations as the Commission deems appropriate.

The Commission shall produce said regulations not later than 180 days following the passage of this act; provided, that the Commission shall deliver a draft of the regulations to the House and Senate chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security and the clerks of the House and Senate not less than 30 days prior to said production; provided, that the Secretary shall promulgate said regulations not less than 60 days following the completion of the Commission’s work.