Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Clarification Act of 2014

Floor Speech

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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, first, as the prime sponsor of this legislation, let me thank Chairman Kline, Ranking Member Miller, and the talented staff on the Education and the Workforce Committee for their leadership and guidance in bringing forth this bipartisan piece of legislation.

This is a project that has been bipartisan from the start, and I think it is unfortunate that my colleague, although speaking in favor of the bill, has chosen to stray from the bipartisan commentary that we should be working together on this legislation.

The bill before us, the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, would reinstate the intent of Congress to ensure that workers in the recreational marine repair industry have adequate workers' compensation coverage. That is the crux of the matter that is before us.

In 2009, Congress passed section 803 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which expanded an existing exception that allowed more recreational marine repair workers to receive workers' compensation coverage under State law, rather than under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act. This was necessary because repair workers were simply not buying the more expensive policies and, thus, they were left undercovered. Businesses found that it was difficult for marine underwriters to determine what law their employees fell under. Therefore, section 803 expanded the exception for the recreational marine repair industry from the requirement to purchase higher cost workers' compensation insurance under the Longshore Act. And as part of this provision, a repair worker was required to be covered by the lower-cost State compensation insurance in order to take full advantage of the exception. As a result, more workers would be covered--a good thing.

The Recovery Act, signed into law in 2009, provided the clarity for workers to get the coverage they needed under State workers' compensation laws. And marine insurance underwriters began to write State policies because of this clarity.

Unfortunately, new regulations were issued in 2011 that adopted a definition of recreational vessel which was far more complicated and onerous than the existing law. In so doing, this new regulatory definition ran counter to what Congress intended. It contracted the exception, rather than expanding it to ensure that we could get more employees covered. It muddied the waters of when longshore coverage was required and when the new congressionally mandated exception to use State law applied. And as a consequence, these new regulations caused the underwriters to simply stop writing policies under State law, leaving many recreational workers in the same predicament that they were in before passage of section 803.

The bill that we are considering today establishes a workable definition for a recreational vessel. In doing so, it restores the intent of Congress in the original 2009 enactments to get coverage for these workers under less expensive State workers' compensation insurance.

Put simply, this bill is about protecting jobs and keeping workers covered.

In Broward County, Florida, alone, there are over 90,000 jobs in the recreational marine industry. We are the yachting capital of the entire world in Broward capital, particularly in Fort Lauderdale.

These jobs allow workers to buy homes, provide for their families, and contribute significantly to local economies. And 95 percent of these marine businesses have fewer than 10 employees, Mr. Speaker. Congress intended in 1984 and in 2009 to make sure these workers and their families were covered. And this bill keeps that promise. It does so in a bipartisan way. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

At this time, I have no further requests for time. So in closing, I will, again, simply say that I appreciate Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller's support and the work of all of the Members who have significant marine industries in their congressional districts. I am really pleased that we are going to be able to finally make sure that the intent of Congress is carried out and that these marine workers, who are vital and a part of the backbone of so many economies, will have the coverage that they need, rather than forgoing that coverage, and that we will be able to make sure that the employers who employ them will be able to provide less expensive coverage. It is a win-win, and I look forward to seeing it become law.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

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