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S. 1894: A bill to exempt Puerto Rico from the coastwise laws of the United States (commonly known as the “Jones Act”).

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About the bill

Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico and left millions without electricity, as the only Category 5 hurricane to ever strike the territory. But critics say that an obscure law from 1920 prevented disaster relief from being as effective as it could have been.

The Puerto Rico Humanitarian Relief Act would overturn that law.

Context

The law is popularly called the Jones Act, formally named the Merchant Marine Act of 1920. It requires that all goods transported on water between U.S. ports be on American ships, for which both the owners ...

Sponsor and status

Photo of sponsor John McCain

John McCain

Sponsor. Senator for Arizona. Republican.

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Last Updated: Oct 2, 2017
Length: 4 pages
Introduced:

Sep 28, 2017

Status:

Ordered Reported on Oct 2, 2017

The committees assigned to this bill sent it to the House or Senate as a whole for consideration on October 2, 2017.

Prognosis:

3% chance of being enacted according to Skopos Labs (details)

History

Sep 28, 2017
 
Introduced

Bills and resolutions are referred to committees which debate the bill before possibly sending it on to the whole chamber.

Oct 2, 2017
 
Ordered Reported

A committee has voted to issue a report to the full chamber recommending that the bill be considered further. Only about 1 in 4 bills are reported out of committee.

If this bill has further action, the following steps may occur next:
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Passed Senate

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Passed House

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Signed by the President

S. 1894 is a bill in the United States Congress.

A bill must be passed by both the House and Senate in identical form and then be signed by the President to become law.

How to cite this information.

We recommend the following MLA-formatted citation when using the information you see here in academic work:

“S. 1894 — 115th Congress: A bill to exempt Puerto Rico from the coastwise laws of the United States (commonly ...” www.GovTrack.us. 2017. September 25, 2018 <https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/s1894>

Where is this information from?

GovTrack automatically collects legislative information from a variety of governmental and non-governmental sources. This page is sourced primarily from Congress.gov, the official portal of the United States Congress. Congress.gov is generally updated one day after events occur, and so legislative activity shown here may be one day behind. Data via the congress project.