HMT in the CARES Act

AAPA’s years of effort to get the full annual Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) tax revenues to be appropriated for their intended purpose of federal navigation channel maintenance has been finally  realized. On Friday, when the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act,  was signed into law, it included a full use provision for federal navigation channel maintenance. Senator Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, led the effort in Congress. The CARES Act language will go into effect on January 1, 2021, or the date of enactment of a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill, whichever comes first. While this is a tremendous achievement for AAPA, additional work remains to address language in a WRDA bill that will include the remaining components of AAPA’s HMT solution for donor and energy transfer ports as well as funding assurances for emerging harbors and the Great Lakes region. AAPA expects WRDA to be enacted later this year.

Congress took a major first step in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) of 2014 to establish spending targets that would lead to full HMT utilization by 2025. The CARES Act language will accomplish the goal to have the full revenues, tax collections plus the interest on the $9.3 billion in collected but unspent HMT funds, flow to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps).

The CARES Act language will help enable the Corps to address harbor maintenance needs, resulting in safer and more efficient cargo movement that will benefit the nation’s consumers, manufacturers and farmers. 

Staff Contact: Jim Walker