Obama signs cruise ship safety bill

[ProSense]

Source: Los Angeles Times

In response to a series of high-profile assaults and disappearances on cruise ships in recent years, President Obama signed into law Tuesday tougher new rules for reporting crimes at sea, improving ship safety and training ship staff on collecting assault evidence.

The $40-billion cruise line industry has long been condemned by critics who say cruise ships registered in foreign countries have taken advantage of murky lines of jurisdiction to ignore the responsibility for misdeeds that occur on ships in international waters.

The bill, authored by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui of Sacramento, requires cruise lines to install peepholes on passenger stateroom doors and crew members' quarters as well as add on-deck surveillance cameras, among other safety improvements.

The law, which takes effect in 18 months, also mandates cruise personnel to contact both the FBI and the Coast Guard as soon as passengers report such serious crimes as homicides, suspicious deaths, missing U.S. nationals, kidnappings or assaults. The law also requires ships to employ a "trained forensic sexual assault specialist" and carry rape evidence kits and anti-retroviral medication.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cruise-ships-20100728,0,7753898.story

[Newsjock]

1. But heaven forbid the gays would want equal protection in the workplace

The country is clearly too busy for that. We have cruise ships to regulate!

[ProSense]

2. Really

people's safety isn't really something to begrudge.

Last year, the President signed hate crimes legislation.

[Tx4obama]

8. There have been a lot of unsolved deaths & missing persons on cruise ships

I'm glad that someone was noticing and got the legislation written to help with this problem.
While equal protection in the workplace is an important issue, I think death is even more of an important issue.

[bemildred]

3. Great, taking a cruise is going to be like flying. nt

[Moosepoop]

5. It is?

How so?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

4. Lots of ships are registered to Liberia, so they don' t have to folllow safety rules.

Flags of convenience, they are called.

This is a good law.

I went on a cruise on a Disney/Premier ship, before Disney totally took over their own cruise offerings. It was called the Big Red Boat. This was 1991. I enjoyed it, and loved the fresh fruit everywhere. It was a 1960s era ship with totally inadequate elevators.

I ran up and down stairs on 7 decks, ate lots of fresh fruit -- really was good for me diet wise.

[ProSense]

7. If they enter U.S. waters

the law applies

[Dennis Donovan]

6. Peepholes?

Scratch her cruise:

[wisteria]

9. This is a great bill, for too many years many assaults,thefts and even deaths

of Americans were not investigated or handled as they would be on American soil. I applaud Senator Kerry for the bill and President Obama for signing it into law so quickly.

[LibDemAlways]

10. As a former travel agent and veteran of many cruises, I feel

safe in saying that cruising is one of the safest ways to vacation. The media has tended to blow a few negative incidents way out of proportion.