Sponsors (3)
The bill modernizes and makes mariner exams fairer and more evidence-based, but does so at the cost of longer review timelines, added administrative burden and potential short-term reductions in available exam questions that could slow credentialing.
Commercial mariners and applicants will receive more relevant credentialing exams because exam content will be updated and outdated topics removed, aligning tests with current industry practices.
Mariner candidates will face fairer and more valid exams because working-group approval and inclusion of recent successful test-takers in review processes improves question selection and oversight.
The Coast Guard will collect pass/fail data on exam questions and full exams, enabling evidence-based test improvements that could reduce arbitrary failures and improve exam quality over time.
Commercial mariners and applicants may face slower implementation of needed exam updates because review timelines are extended (from 90 to 180 days, and some deadlines to 270 days), delaying credentialing improvements.
The Coast Guard will likely incur increased administrative burden and costs from new procedural requirements (working-group approvals, expanded reviews, data collection), which could slow processing and impose costs on taxpayers.
Prohibiting use of newly developed questions until working-group approval could temporarily shrink available question pools, complicating exam scheduling and retesting and potentially creating delays for mariners and small employers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Revises how Merchant Mariner Credentialing Examination questions are reviewed and approved and requires the Commandant to review and modernize the exam with a plan and congressional briefing.
Official title: To amend title 46, United States Code, with respect to merchant mariner credential examination working groups, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 13, 2025 by Salud Carbajal · Last progress May 13, 2025
Changes how the U.S. Coast Guard develops, reviews, and approves Merchant Mariner Credentialing Examination (MMCE) questions and requires a near-term review and modernization plan for the exam. It lengthens some review deadlines, requires the exam working group to include recently-tested mariners, mandates annual (or as-needed) working-group meetings with remote participation allowed, and directs the Commandant to complete a review and produce a modernization plan within set timeframes and brief Congress on the results.