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Multiple amendments to section 315: adds a new estuarine research guideline paragraph requiring coordinated long-term data monitoring and methods for tracking climate change impacts; adds new subsections establishing System-wide elements, place-based program elements, and an 'existing uses' provision; and updates terminology to use 'National Estuarine Research Reserve' / 'Reserves' throughout specified subsections.
Revises subsection (a)(2) authorization amounts to specify funding for grants under section 315.
Redesignates existing numbered definition paragraphs and inserts a new definition for 'National Estuarine Research Reserve'.
Replaces a textual phrase in section 312(c)(1) to use the term 'National Estuarine Research Reserve'.
Amends section 307A of the Coastal Zone Management Act (16 U.S.C. 1456–1) to revise the Coastal and Estuarine Resilience and Restoration Program: updates subsection (a) program purposes; expands eligible grantees to include National Estuarine Research Reserves and NGOs meeting new subsection (k) requirements; modifies consult/coordination language and 'shall identify' to 'may identify' in subsection (c); revises priority criteria in subsection (c)(7); changes a periodic requirement from 'triennially' to 'every 5 years' in subsection (c)(10); updates valuation considerations in subsection (f); inserts a new subsection (k) establishing NGO grant eligibility and compliance measures; redesignates former subsections (k) and (l) as (l) and (m); and updates the authorization fiscal years to 2025 through 2029.
Updates and expands federal coastal programs to strengthen restoration, climate resilience, and research. It revises the coastal resilience and restoration grant program to clarify eligible participants, set priorities for which coastal and estuarine lands receive support (including restoration, carbon storage, and shoreline migration), impose new requirements for nonprofits that use federal grants to acquire land, and adjust timing and funding periods. It also expands the National Estuarine Research Reserve System by adding at least five new reserves, boosting system-wide and site programs, requiring climate-impact monitoring, creating a graduate fellowship, preserving existing permitted uses, and setting funding and reporting deadlines.
Amends Section 307A of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (16 U.S.C. 1456–1) by revising multiple subsections and adding new provisions.
Authorizes the Secretary to conduct a Coastal and Estuarine Resilience and Restoration Program in cooperation with State, regional, and other units of government, the National Estuarine Research Reserves, and non-governmental organizations.
Defines the program purposes: (1) protecting important coastal and estuarine areas that (A) have conservation, recreational, coastal access, ecological, historical, community protection, or aesthetic value, (B) are threatened by conversion from natural/undeveloped/recreational uses, or (C) could be managed or restored to conserve, enhance, or restore ecological function or mitigate climate change; and (2) restoring developed or degraded property in vulnerable coastal and estuarine areas to a natural state to restore ecological function, allow shoreline migration, and protect coastal communities.
Amends subsection (b) to allow grants or participation by National Estuarine Research Reserves and non-governmental organizations that meet the requirements set out in new subsection (k).
Modifies subsection (c): changes consultation language to require activities be done 'in coordination' (instead of 'after consultation') and changes 'shall identify' to 'may identify' for a specified identification step.
Primary impacts will fall on coastal communities, public and private coastal managers, conservation NGOs, and scientific partners. Coastal shoreline communities stand to benefit from increased federal investment in restoration, resilience projects, and science that could reduce flood and erosion risk and improve natural carbon storage; underserved communities are specifically prioritized to receive assistance. Nonprofit conservation organizations that acquire land with federal grants will face new regulatory requirements for stewardship, reporting, and possibly constraints on disposition or allowed uses. State coastal management agencies and reserve administrators will need to implement new designation procedures, monitoring programs, and reporting deadlines and may receive additional funding to expand reserve capacity. Academic institutions, researchers, and graduate students will gain opportunities through expanded reserves and a new graduate fellowship program, increasing regional research and workforce development in estuarine and coastal climate science. Overall, the bill expands federal authorization and oversight rather than creating broad new regulatory burdens on unrelated sectors; its primary costs are program funding and administrative implementation by federal and state partners.
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Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced April 9, 2025 by Mike Levin · Last progress April 9, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House