Sponsors (2)
The bill modernizes and clarifies the Marine Debris Act—making partnerships, definitions, and governance more flexible and easier to navigate to enable more cleanup and prevention work—but it also risks short-term administrative disruption, potential weakening of tribal consultation protections, uneven incentives from in-kind support, and greater competition for limited funds without adding new money.
Nonprofits, state and local governments can launch more marine-debris projects because NOAA can use 'other agreements' and provide in-kind resources, lowering cash barriers to partnerships and enabling additional cleanup and research work.
Federal programs will be easier to run and navigate because the bill clarifies statutory language, updates cross-references, and creates a defined Foundation governance structure (director terms, CEO authority), improving management and accountability for marine debris efforts.
More organizations can access program support and funding because the bill explicitly expands eligible recipients (regional organizations, Tribes/Tribal organizations, foreign governments) and clarifies who counts as nonprofit/coastal community participants.
Nonprofits and state/local partners may face unequal incentives and more complex funding choices because NOAA can provide in-kind resources only through contracts or 'other agreements' (not grants or cooperative agreements), potentially favoring some arrangements over others.
Allowing foreign governments as authorized recipients and centralizing Foundation authority (CEO/director structure) and headquarters location risks diverting limited U.S. funding and concentrating decision-making or jobs away from some domestic, especially rural, communities.
Clarifying that outreach does not equal government-to-government consultation could be interpreted as weakening formal tribal consultation rights, raising concerns among Tribes about meaningful consultation on actions that affect their lands and resources.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Integrates Save Our Seas 2.0 into the Marine Debris Act, restructures the Marine Debris Foundation, updates definitions, expands recipient eligibility, and allows specified NOAA in-kind contributions.
Official title: Amend the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act to improve the administration of the Marine Debris Foundation, to amend the Marine Debris Act to improve the administration of the Marine Debris Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Daniel Scott Sullivan · Last progress December 26, 2025
Makes targeted amendments to the Marine Debris Act to incorporate and reorganize provisions from the Save Our Seas 2.0 Act, clarify authorities and definitions, and revise the statutory Foundation that supports marine debris work. It updates grant/contract authority, allows NOAA to provide certain in-kind contributions, expands definitions to include tribal and circular-economy terms, and makes conforming text and structure changes across the statute. Also transfers and redesignates multiple Save Our Seas 2.0 subtitles into the Marine Debris Act, restructures the Foundation’s governance (including creating a CEO position and specifying office location requirements), expands eligible recipients for authorized funding, and directs improved outreach and technical assistance for Indian Tribes while stating it does not replace government-to-government consultation duties.