Mariner Credentialing Program Transformation

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY <SUBAGY>Coast Guard</SUBAGY> <CFR>46 CFR Parts 1, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. USCG-2021-0834]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1625-AC86</RIN> <SUBJECT>Mariner Credentialing Program Transformation</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Coast Guard, DHS. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Coast Guard's Mariner Credentialing Program issues merchant mariner credentials and medical certificates, approves training courses and programs, and approves other qualifications such as a Qualified Assessor and a Designated Examiner. Under this rulemaking, the Coast Guard proposes to allow for the electronic submission of information required for credentialing to allow for the future implementation of a new information technology system to support the mariner credentialing process. The Coast Guard also proposes to require the electronic payment of mandatory fees for merchant mariner credentials through <E T="03">Pay.Gov</E> , to remove the requirement for prospective mariners to take an oath before an authorized official, and to change the requirements for the Certificate of Discharge to Merchant Mariners. Finally, the Coast Guard proposes technical amendments to update addresses and websites, to remove antiquated terminology, and to amend language to use gender-neutral terms. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments and related material must be received by the Coast Guard on or before May 13, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-2021-0834 using the Federal Decision-Making Portal at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> . See the “Public Participation and Request for Comments” portion of the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section for further instructions on submitting comments. <E T="03">Collection of information.</E> Submit comments on the collection of information discussed in section VI.D of this preamble both to the Coast Guard's online docket and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) using their website <E T="03">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</E> . Comments sent to OIRA on the collection of information must reach OMB on or before the comment due date listed on their website. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For information about this document call or email Mr. Charles J. Bright, CG-MMC-1, Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-1046, email <E T="03">Charles.J.Bright@uscg.mil</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents for Preamble</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Public Participation and Request for Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Abbreviations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Basis and Purpose</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Discussion of Proposed Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Regulatory Analyses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Regulatory Planning and Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Small Entities</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Assistance for Small Entities</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Collection of Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Unfunded Mandates</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Taking of Private Property</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Civil Justice Reform</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Protection of Children</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. Energy Effects</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">L. Technical Standards</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">M. Environment</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Public Participation and Request for Comments</HD> The Coast Guard views public participation as essential to effective rulemaking and will consider all comments and material received during the comment period. Your comment can help shape the outcome of this rulemaking. If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this rulemaking, indicate the specific section of this document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation. <E T="03">Submitting comments.</E> We encourage you to submit comments through the Federal Decision-Making Portal at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> . To do so, go to <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> type USCG-2021-0834 in the search box and click “Search.” Next, look for this document in the Search Results column, and click on it. Then click on the Comment option. If you cannot submit your material by using <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> call or email the person in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section of this proposed rule for alternate instructions. <E T="03">Viewing material in docket.</E> To view documents mentioned in this proposed rule as being available in the docket, find the docket as described in the previous paragraph, and then select “Supporting & Related Material” in the Document Type column. Public comments will also be placed in our online docket and can be viewed by following instructions on the <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> Frequently Asked Questions web page. We review all comments received, but we will only post comments that address the topic of the proposed rule. We may choose not to post off-topic, inappropriate, or duplicate comments that we receive. <E T="03">Personal information.</E> We accept anonymous comments. Comments we post to <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> will include any personal information you have provided. For more about privacy and submissions to the docket in response to this document, see DHS's eRulemaking System of Records notice (85 FR 14226, March 11, 2020). <E T="03">Public meeting.</E> We do not plan to hold a public meeting, but we will consider doing so if we determine from public comments that a meeting would be helpful. We would issue a separate <E T="04">Federal Register</E> notice to announce the date, time, and location of such a meeting. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Abbreviations</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">ACH Automated Clearing House</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">BLS Bureau of Labor Statistics</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">CBO Congressional Budget Office</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">CFR Code of Federal Regulations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">CG-MMC Coast Guard Office of Merchant Mariner Credentialing</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">CG-719B Application for Merchant Mariner Credential</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">DHS Department of Homeland Security</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">EFT Electronic Funds Transfer</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">Form CG-718A Certificate of Discharge to Merchant Mariner</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">FRED Federal Reserve Economic Data</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">GS General Schedule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">GSA General Services Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">ICR Information Collection Request</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IT Information Technology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">MCP Mariner Credentialing Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">MMC Merchant Mariner Credential</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">MMLD Merchant Mariner Licensing and Documentation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">NMC National Maritime Center</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">NPRM Notice of proposed rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">OMB Office of Management and Budget</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">OPM Office of Personnel Management</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">RA Regulatory analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">REC Regional Exam Center</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">§ Section </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">U.S.C. United States Code</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">USCG United States Coast Guard</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Basis and Purpose</HD> The legal basis of this proposed rule is title 46 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), Sections 7101(b) and 7301(b), which authorize the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the experience and professional qualifications required for the issuance of merchant mariner licenses and documents. The DHS Secretary has delegated the rulemaking authority under 46 U.S.C. 7101 and 7301 to the Coast Guard through DHS Delegation No. 00170.1(II)(92)(e) and (f), Revision No. 01.3. Additionally, 14 U.S.C. 102(3) grants the Coast Guard broad authority to issue and enforce regulations for the promotion of safety of life and property on waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, which includes establishing the experience and professional qualifications required for the issuance of credentials. The purpose of this proposed rule is to revise title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), subchapter A, part 1, and subchapter B, parts 10-16, to allow for the electronic submission of information to the Coast Guard for the issuance of a Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) and the supporting administrative processes, including requiring the payment of mandatory fees through the federal government-recognized system, <E T="03">Pay.gov</E> . The Coast Guard also proposes removing the requirement for prospective mariners to take an oath before an authorized official and changing requirements for the completion and issue of a Certificate of Discharge to Merchant Mariner (Form CG-718A). In addition, the Coast Guard proposes technical amendments, such as updating addresses and websites, removing antiquated terminology, and adopting gender-inclusive language by replacing gender-specific terms. <HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. Background</HD> The Coast Guard's Mariner Credentialing Program (MCP) issues MMCs and Medical Certificates to applicants who have met the regulatory criteria established in 46 CFR subchapter B. This includes the evaluation of individual ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 230k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━