Congress quietly expands tax break for maritime fuel suppliers
H.R. 2925 — Maritime Fuel Tax Parity Act · Filed by Aaron Bean (R-FL) · 10 cosponsors · Introduced Apr 17, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill extends a federal excise tax exemption on alternative motorboat fuels to include certain vessels that operate between Atlantic or Pacific ports. Currently, the exemption applies to vessels engaged in trade between multiple coasts; this bill expands it to vessels serving only one coast, retroactively to January 1, 2024.
Why we flagged it
The bill narrows the scope of an existing excise tax exemption to benefit a specific class of commercial maritime operators. It is a tax relief measure for a defined private sector, not a broad public-interest reform.
What the text implies
- The retroactive effective date (January 1, 2024) means the exemption applies to fuel already purchased and taxed, potentially triggering refund claims or credits for affected vessel operators.
- The bill references IRC 4042(c)(1) without restating it; the scope of 'vessel' eligible for the exemption depends entirely on that definition, which is not quoted in this text.
- Expansion to single-coast vessels may incentivize fuel-supply consolidation or regional maritime operations, with unknown competitive effects on smaller operators or non-exempt vessels.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill reduces federal tax revenue by exempting a narrower class of commercial maritime operators from an excise tax. The benefit flows to vessel operators and fuel suppliers, not to ordinary citizens. No offsetting public benefit (lower consumer prices, improved safety, environmental gain) is stated or apparent.
Who stands to gain
- Commercial maritime operators (vessel owners/operators)
- Alternative motorboat fuel suppliers and distributors
- Shipping companies operating between Atlantic or Pacific ports
Named in the bill
Internal Revenue Code Section 4041(g), Internal Revenue Code Section 4042(c)(1), U.S. Department of Treasury, Commercial maritime industry, Alternative fuel suppliers
Where it stands
10 cosponsors: 6 Republicans, 4 Democrats.
- Apr 17, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Apr 17, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $138,253 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Aaron Bean, the sponsor, reported $1,227,650 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Saltchuk Resources, Inc. — $100,000 on 2 filings
- Center for Biological Diversity — $38,253 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 17, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (732 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 17, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress quietly expands tax break for maritime fuel suppliers” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr2925 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.