1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Duck Boat Safety Enhancement Act of 2019 . 2. Safety requirements for amphibious passenger vessels (a) Remaining afloat and upright in the event of flooding (1) Regulations required Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commandant of the Coast Guard shall prescribe in regulations that operators of amphibious passenger vessels provide reserve buoyancy for such vessels through passive means, including watertight compartmentalization, built-in flotation, or such other means as the Commandant shall specify in the regulations, in order to ensure that such vessels remain afloat and upright in the event of flooding, including when carrying a full complement of passengers and crew. (2) Interim requirements Commencing as of the date the regulations required by paragraph (1) are prescribed, the Commandant of the Coast Guard shall require that operators of amphibious passenger vessels that are not in compliance with the requirements in the regulations do the following: (A) Remove the canopies of such vessels for waterborne operations, or install in such vessels a Coast Guard-approved canopy that does not restrict either horizontal or vertical escape by passengers in the event of flooding or sinking. (B) If the canopy is removed from any such vessel pursuant to subparagraph (A), require that all passengers don a Coast Guard type-approved personal flotation device before the onset of waterborne operations of such vessel. (C) Reengineer such vessels to permanently close all unnecessary access plugs and to reduce all through-hull penetrations to the minimum number and size necessary for operation. (D) Install in such vessels independently powered electric bilge pumps that are capable of dewatering such vessels at the volume of the largest remaining penetration in order to supplement either an operable Higgins pump or a dewatering pump of equivalent or greater capacity. (E) Install in such vessels not fewer than four independently powered bilge