Sponsors (16)
Introduced June 17, 2025 by Chellie Pingree · Last progress June 17, 2025
The bill increases Tribal and stakeholder participation and clarifies program priorities—improving equity and the focus of research—at the cost of higher administrative and programmatic burdens, potential delays in implementation, and narrower statutory language that may change interagency roles.
Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and Tribal consortia gain explicit statutory recognition and two formal Advisory Board seats, giving Tribal governments and communities a direct voice in ocean acidification research, monitoring, and program decisions.
Coastal stakeholders — including small businesses, rural communities, and Tribes — will have sustained, structured engagement channels (liaisons, meetings, online platforms) and a required Tribal engagement policy, improving local input into research, adaptation planning, and access to NOAA technical assistance.
NOAA and program partners are required to prioritize underserved populations and identify collaboration with States, localities, Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations in strategic research and reporting, helping target resources and vulnerability assessments to more vulnerable coastal communities.
Taxpayers, federal employees, and program administrators may face increased ongoing program costs and administrative workload to support expanded Tribal consultation, Advisory Board representation, engagement mechanisms, and prioritization requirements.
Small businesses, coastal stakeholders, and federal staff could experience slower decision timelines (for example, siting monitoring instruments or delivering technical assistance) because expanded stakeholder engagement and consultation requirements add steps to planning and implementation.
Some communities or stakeholders that previously received NOAA support risk receiving fewer resources if the program explicitly prioritizes underserved populations, creating potential perceived or real inequities for those displaced from prior funding streams.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Amends the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act to add tribal and Native Hawaiian definitions, require tribal representation and engagement, expand stakeholder engagement, and make technical edits.
Amends the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act to add and clarify definitions (including "Indian Tribe" and "Native Hawaiian organization"), expand stakeholder engagement requirements, change Advisory Board composition to include tribal representatives, and require the Advisory Board to adopt a Tribal engagement policy within one year. The bill also makes several technical and clarifying edits to the existing statute, and requires NOAA or the designated Subcommittee to maintain ongoing mechanisms for input from industry, coastal stakeholders, fishery bodies, Indigenous groups, non‑Federal resource managers, and non‑Federal scientific experts to support research, monitoring, and on‑the‑ground adaptation. Most edits are definition, governance, and engagement changes rather than new funding or program creation; one wording change narrows a prior term (replacing "interagency" with "the") which may limit the referenced entity or collaborations in the statute.