Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1988

Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1988 - Authorizes appropriations for the Coast Guard for FY 1988 and 1989 for: (1) operation and maintenance; (2) acquisition, construction, rebuilding, and improvement for aids to navigation, shore and offshore facilities, vessels, and aircraft; (3) research, development, test, and evaluation; (4) retirement pay and benefits; and (5) alteration or removal of bridges constituting obstructions to navigation.

Authorizes the end strength for active-duty personnel of the Coast Guard for FY 1988 and 1989.

Specifies the authorized average military training student load for the Coast Guard for FY 1988 and 1989.

Authorizes the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating (Secretary) to transfer up to five percent of the appropriations made under certain provisions of this Act to the Commandant of the Coast Guard for discretionary use in meeting unanticipated needs for Coast Guard operation and maintenance. Requires the Secretary to give the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and the Appropriations Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives 15 days' notice of any proposed transfer.

States that it is in the national interest for the Coast Guard to maintain its logistics capability. Requires the Secretary, no later than January 31 of each year, to provide a list of activities necessary to maintain such logistics capabilities to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committees. Specifies certain activities to be excluded from such list. Provides that such necessary activities may not be contracted for performance by non-government personnel, except in specified circumstances. Requires the Secretary, before the beginning of each fiscal year, to submit to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committees a list of activities that will be contracted for performance by non-government personnel during that fiscal year.

Requires each contract awarded by the Coast Guard in FY 1988 and 1989 for construction or services to be performed in a State having an unemployment rate in excess of the national average unemployment rate to include a provision requiring the contractor to employ local residents to fulfill the work requirements of such contract.

Revises the limitations on transfer to and the amount in the Boat Safety Account (BSA) within the Aquatic Resources Trust Fund. Extends to April 1, 1994, the authorization of expenditures from the BSA for contract spending in connection with recreational boating safety programs. Revises formulas for the allocation of the BSA monies. Makes available to the Coast Guard between one and two percent of the funds which would be allocated to the States to pay the costs incurred by the Federal Government in administering the BSA. Increases from one-third to one-half of the amount transferred to the BSA the amount available for services provided by the Coast Guard for recreational boating safety.

Amends Federal law to prohibit States from allocating to freshwater fish projects less than the amount allocated in FY 1988, unless the apportionment to that State is less than the amount apportioned in FY 1988.

Authorizes States to use contributions in lieu of payment of the State share of the cost of fish restoration and management projects under existing provisions.

Directs the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Transportation to jointly conduct a survey of fuel use by recreational vehicles. Authorizes both Secretaries to enter into contracts for the survey. Directs both Secretaries to jointly submit a report to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate no later than November 15, 1992. Allows the study and report to be carried out using amounts available under existing provisions relating to fish restoration and management projects and recreational boating safety.

Requires specified numbers of licensed mates to be working certain mobile offshore drilling units.

Authorizes the Secretary to exchange certain land and buildings in Florida for construction, improvements, or services to land or buildings in the same area.

Terminates the Coast Guard Academy Advisory Committee on September 30, 1992.

Authorizes, under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating and with the approval of the Attorney General, civilian special agents of the Coast Guard to carry firearms or other appropriate weapons while assigned to investigative or law enforcement duties.

Requires the Secretary of Defense to provide certain relocation assistance in connection with the closure, in whole or in part, of Coast Guard bases. Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to reimburse the Secretary of Defense.

Sets forth requirements regarding the Coast Guard academy cadet service obligation. Authorizes the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating to transfer to either the Coast Guard Reserve or to active duty any cadet who breaches the cadet's service agreement.

Empowers the Secretary to authorize retroactive pay and allowances in certain circumstances involving administrative error or oversight.

Amends the Inland Navigational Rules Act of 1980 to: (1) substitute "mineclearance" for "minesweeping" in certain provisions; and (2) increase the danger zone around a mineclearance vessel.

Amends Federal law to add the Coast Guard to a provision relating to defense of certain suits arising out of legal malpractice.

Declares a specified tributary of Newton Creek in New Jersey to be nonnavigable waters of the United States for purposes of the General Bridge Act of 1946.

Amends Federal law to expand the primary duties of the Coast Guard to include law enforcement over, as well as on or under, the high seas and waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Deems a specified railroad bridge over the Mississippi River between Illinois and Missouri and a specified railroad bridge in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to be unreasonable obstructions to navigation.

Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to submit to the Congress, no later than October 1, 1988, a report regarding the Maritime Defense Zone and the antisubmarine warfare mission of the Coast Guard.

Amends Federal law to change the requirements for serving on the National Boating Safety Advisory Council. Requires the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to carry out such changes as vacancies occur.

Requires rules and regulations regarding openings of drawbridges to provide for regularly scheduled openings during seasons of the year or times of the day when such schedules would help reduce motor vehicle traffic delays.

Directs the Secretary to evaluate and report to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries of the House of Representatives regarding the advantages and disadvantages of acquisition by the Coast Guard of a mobile semisubmersible law enforcement base.

Directs the President to review existing national needs for polar icebreakers and to submit a report concerning such review to specified congressional committees.

Directs the President to include in the budget submitted to the Congress for FY 1990 a single proposed budget for the Coast Guard for FY 1990 and 1991 and, thereafter, to submit a proposed two-year budget for the Coast Guard every other year. Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to submit to specified congressional committees, not later than October 1, 1988, a report regarding a two-year cycle.

Requires the Secretary, within 30 days of the date the President submits to the Congress each budget request for the Coast Guard, to submit Coast Guard budget estimates to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

Prohibits Coast Guard vessels and major components of their hulls and superstructures from being constructed in foreign shipyards. Allows the President to authorize exceptions to such prohibition if the President determines such exception is in the national security interest. Requires the President to notify the Congress of such determination. Prohibits the making of any contract under such exception until 30 days after the Congress is so notified.

Directs the Secretary to establish a full-time permanent base for the operation of a recovery helicopter at Charleston, South Carolina, without resulting in a relocation of helicopters from any Coast Guard air station as of July 13, 1988. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1989.

Directs the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is operating to give the city of Grand Haven, Michigan, the first opportunity to purchase specified property in that city at less than fair market value if the Coast Guard ceases to use the property or determines it to be excess.

Authorizes the Secretary of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating to conduct operations with Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, facilities, or personnel in such a way as to give assistance to commercial or noncommercial producers of cinema, television, or videotape. Requires costs to be paid by the producers, but authorizes the Secretary to waive costs for noncommercial productions which the Secretary determines to be in the public interest.

Amends Federal law concerning the Coast Guard's powers with regard to saving life and property to direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to make full use of all available and qualified resources, including the Coast Guard Auxiliary and individuals licensed to operate towing vessels, in rendering aid in nonemergency cases.

Amends the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1982 to direct the Commandant to review policies and procedures for towing and salvage of disabled vessels to minimize Coast Guard competition or interference, other than by the Coast Guard Auxiliary, with private towing activities or other commercial enterprises. (Current law contains the same provision, but without reference to the Coast Guard Auxiliary.)