Sponsors (27)
The bill brings Mississippi Sound into the National Estuary Program—creating eligibility for planning, restoration, and improved intergovernmental coordination that can protect fisheries and local economies—but delays federal funding and introduces regulatory, timing, and legal uncertainties that could raise costs and stall conservation projects unless Congress provides additional appropriations or clearer language.
Residents, coastal communities, and local governments in Mississippi gain formal inclusion of the Mississippi Sound in the National Estuary Program, making them eligible for estuary-focused planning, technical assistance, habitat protection, water-quality monitoring, and restoration support.
Improved coordination among state, local, and federal agencies under the designation can better prevent pollution and protect fisheries and other estuary-linked local economic activities.
Taxpayers face constrained federal spending on the National Estuary Program in FY2025 with FY2026 funding made conditional, which limits new federal obligations absent additional appropriations.
Local governments, nonprofits, and coastal businesses cannot receive EPA support for a management conference, estuary conservation planning, or Clean Water Act §320 restoration and protection grants in FY2025, delaying projects and harming fisheries, recreation, and organizations that rely on estuary health unless Congress provides at least $850,000.
Designation and associated federal or state project conditions could impose new regulatory requirements, planning obligations, and matching-fund needs that increase costs and administrative burden for local governments, developers, and certain businesses.
Unclear timing and conditional funding create uncertainty for planners and grant applicants about when federal support will be available, complicating project timelines, matching-fund commitments, and partnership planning.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Adds Mississippi Sound to the National Estuary Program list but bars EPA use of FY2025 funds to implement the designation and conditions FY2026 action on a $850,000 funding increase over FY2024.
Adds the Mississippi Sound to the federal list of designated estuaries under the National Estuary Program and alters introductory language in an existing Clean Water Act provision. The bill also forbids the Environmental Protection Agency from using FY2025 funds to implement the new designation (including convening a management conference, developing or carrying out a comprehensive conservation and management plan, or issuing related grants) and blocks FY2026 implementation unless funding for the National Estuary Program in FY2026 exceeds FY2024 levels by at least $850,000. The law also sets a short title.
Introduced June 12, 2025 by Shomari C. Figures · Last progress December 16, 2025