WHEREAS, California has over 3,000 miles of coastline and a shoreline of bays and inlets with 12 ports that make it a critical hub of the nation’s transportation system; and

WHEREAS, California’s domestic maritime industry provides an annual $12.2 billion economic contribution to the state’s economy, including $3.6 billion in labor income across more than 51,000 jobs; and

WHEREAS, The State of California provides a significant role in supporting America’s maritime industry through the California State University Maritime Academy in Vallejo, a leader in maritime education; and

WHEREAS, The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, known as the Jones Act and codified in Title 46 of the United States. Code, requires that vessels carrying cargo between locations in the United States be owned by American companies, crewed by American mariners, and built in American shipyards; and

WHEREAS, Cargo ships calling on California ports covered by the Jones Act, and the mariners who work on those ships, provide an essential service, and carry 40 percent of all containerized imports and thirty percent of all exports in the United States; and

WHEREAS, The tragic March 26, 2024, collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland that took six lives and occurred after the bridge was struck by the cargo ship MV Dali, and the April 5, 2024, power failure on the cargo ship APL Qingdao that caused it to lose propulsion as it traversed a shipping lane between Staten Island, New York, and Bayonne, New Jersey, demonstrate the important role professional mariners and well maintained and fully operational equipment play in protecting human life, infrastructure, and the environment; and

WHEREAS, Jones Act vessels and mariners are critical to transporting the state’s growing renewable fuels resources and will be critical to developing California’s offshore wind energy industry; and

WHEREAS, The domestic maritime industry has been a perennial leader in environmental stewardship, representing the cleanest, safest, and most fuel efficient way of moving cargo; and

WHEREAS, California is home to the first zero-emission tugboat in the United States and

WHEREAS, Maritime industry jobs provide Californians an opportunity for a high-paying, living-wage career that offers significant career advancement opportunities, generally without the need for advanced formal education or extensive student loans; now, therefore, be it