An amendment numbered 7 printed in Part A of House Report 111-582 to prevent oil companies from shifting oil spill cleanup costs onto taxpayers by ensuring that Oil Pollution Act liabilities of an oil subsidiary will be inherited by the parent oil company in the event the subsidiary goes bankrupt and does not sell its assets. The amendment does not alter underlying liability provisions of OPA, and includes technical corrections from the Department of Justice.

1. Adds SEC. __. EXTENSION OF LIABILITY TO PERSONS HAVING OWNERSHIP INTERESTS IN RESPONSIBLE PARTIES at the end of title VII

   Adds a section

   Inserted: SEC. __. EXTENSION OF LIABILITY TO PERSONS HAVING OWNERSHIP INTERESTS IN RESPONSIBLE PARTIES.

   Inserted: (a) Definition of Responsible Party.--Section 1001(32) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701(32)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

   Inserted: "(G) Person having ownership interest.--Any person, other than an individual, having an ownership interest (directly or indirectly) in any entity described in any of subparagraphs (A) through (F) of more than 25 percent, in the aggregate, of the total ownership interests in such entity, if the assets of such entity are insufficient to pay the claims owed by such entity as a responsible party under this Act.".

   Inserted: (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply to an incident occurring on or after January 1, 2010.

   Original wording

   At the end of title VII add the following new section:

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As printed