Sponsors (21)
The bill creates federal grants and a permanent loan fund to help preserve working waterfronts and bolster coastal business resilience, but relies on future appropriations and imposes matching, administrative, and property-use constraints that may strain low-income communities and waterfront property owners.
Small businesses, fisheries, boatbuilders, aquaculture operations, and coastal communities gain access to new federal grants and a permanent revolving loan fund to preserve and improve working waterfronts, supporting local economies, jobs, and long-term financing capacity.
Coastal users (including fisheries, boatbuilders, and aquaculture) receive support for resilience projects against sea-level rise and storms, reducing vulnerability and protecting livelihoods and infrastructure.
Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations are explicitly included in planning and set-asides, increasing equitable access to funding and decision-making.
Implementation and funding depend on future appropriations and agency actions, so projects promised by the statute may be delayed or never funded.
Federal cost-share limits (typically 75%) and matching requirements could impose financial burdens on low-income or disadvantaged communities and local governments unless waivers are granted.
The program creates new administrative requirements and compliance burdens for states, applicants, and loan/ grant managers, increasing staffing, planning, and reporting costs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a NOAA-led Working Waterfronts Task Force to identify needs, outline adaptation options, assign federal responsibilities, and report to Congress; agencies to act as practicable subject to funding.
Official title: To amend the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to establish a working waterfronts Task Force and working waterfronts grant and loan programs, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 3, 2025 by Chellie Pingree · Last progress March 3, 2025
Creates a federal "Working Waterfronts" Task Force within the Coastal Zone Management Act framework (led by the Commerce Department/NOAA) to identify, prioritize, and recommend actions to support working waterfronts in coastal states with approved coastal management programs. The Task Force must consult states, tribes, stakeholders, and federal agencies, deliver a report to Congress within 18 months, and prompt identified federal agencies to implement recommended options where practicable within 30 months, subject to available appropriations.