A bill to establish a process for waiver of coastwise endorsement requirements.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 4090 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4090 To establish a process for waiver of coastwise endorsement requirements. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES March 12, 2026 Mr. Lee introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation _______________________________________________________________________ A BILL To establish a process for waiver of coastwise endorsement requirements. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Protecting Access to American Products Act''. SEC. 2. WAIVER OF COASTWISE ENDORSEMENT REQUIREMENTS. Section 12112 of title 46, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(c) Waivers In Cases of Product Carrier Scarcity or Unavailability.-- ``(1) In general.--The head of an agency shall, upon request, temporarily waive the requirements of subsection (a), including the requirement to satisfy section 12103, if the person requesting that waiver reasonably demonstrates to the head of an agency that-- ``(A) there is no product carrier, with respect to a specified good, that meets such requirements and is available to carry such good; and ``(B) the person made a good faith effort to locate a product carrier described in subparagraph (A). ``(2) Duration.--Any waiver issued under paragraph (1) shall be limited in duration, and shall expire by a specified date that is not less than 30 days after the date on which the waiver is issued. ``(3) Extension.--Upon request, if the circumstances under which a waiver was issued under paragraph (1) have not substantially changed, the head of an agency shall, without delay, grant one or more extensions to a waiver issued und