Oceanside CA— MiraCosta College Technology Career Institute (TCI) is one step closer to receiving additional funding and resources for San Diego’s maritime technology (Blue Tech) industry thanks to a proposed piece of federal legislation, H.R. 2286 – Domestic Maritime Centers of Excellence Act of 2017. H.R. 2286, included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed out of the House of Representatives on Friday, July 14.
Authored by Representative Gene Green of Texas with bipartisan co-sponsors, H.R. 2286 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to designate centers of excellence for education and workforce training in the domestic maritime field. If signed into law, this bill will address the shortage of workers in the maritime industry, a pillar of San Diego’s economy. Furthermore, MiraCosta College Technology Career Institute would be considered a “center of excellence,” meaning the institution would become eligible for maritime training programs and additional workforce education under the act, according to a news release from the college.
“On behalf of TCI and our maritime industry partners, we sincerely thank our congressional representatives for supporting us in our promise to train the maritime workforce in San Diego County,” TCI Director Linda Kurokawa explains. “I am truly encouraged that the bipartisan effort behind this legislation will lead to its passage.”
San Diego has one of the largest clusters of technology firms specializing in ocean/hydro applications in the country, thanks to the large U.S. Navy presence in the region and research centers such at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It is estimated that about 19,000 jobs are related to Blue Tech, such as desalination and clean water technologies, maritime robotics and ocean science, and another 18,000 jobs are in industries that include some maritime activities but are not exclusively maritime industries. The increasing need for training and education in maritime technology is an ever-growing concern in San Diego.
A copy of the text can be found [Here].